Opinion on discontinuing physical exercise and starting Yoga

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hello,
I started to do jogging in the mornings twice a week for 45 minutes for three years. (from 1997 to 2000). I was also doing brisk walking in the evenings daily for about 30 minutes. Then I stopped jogging and increased my walking for one hour daily for six years (from 1997 to 2003). I loved walking. Then I met a person who briefed me the benefits of yoga. I felt it is better to spend time on Yoga than walking and since then I stopped walking and have been doing yoga for two years now. I had joined yoga classes too.
Now my question is, will this (stopping jogging and walking) adversely affect me physically? It is already 5 years since I stopped jogging and 2 years since I stopped walking. So far I am physically alright. Someone tells me that it is not advisable to stop those things after doing it for many years rigorously. Could someone give me his view please.
One more thing. When I was doing jogging and walking, I never used to do warm up or cool down exercises. I came to know later that it is not good. But I don?t know how bad it is. Please advise.

Thanks,

#2

Hi there,
You were misinformed by the person who told you that it is bad to stop doing exercises that you have been doing for a number of years. Most types of yoga do not stress the cardiovascular system sufficiently to bring about the types of changes that are seen in fast walking and jogging. So theoretically, you should attain a more optimal state of health if you continue with these and other forms of cardiovascular exercises. I would personally recommend walking, because of the lower impact forces than jogging or running, but, assuming you have noyt injured yourself or have bad technique, hard surfaces or bad running shoes, then it should be ok to jog.
The good thing about doing another form of exercise outside of yoga is that it gives you a chance to use the results of your yoga practice in the real world-this should then help you to define what is a good yoga practice-one that accentuates your physical ability in all walks of life.

#3

Yoga has been found to improve the CV system by 7% which is good considering thats not the aim. However, you should definately not discontinue CV exercise.

One reason people are negative about running is the stress it places on knee and hip joints-this is purely down to bad technique.
Buy ‘Chi Running’ by Danny Dreyer- it is the best book on running you will ever read. You will never get injured again!

Also, just be generally active- walk places instead of driving. Get a pedometer and do 10,000 steps a day religiously. You cant go wrong!