yoga and weight lifting

[Cad2]

I have been lifting weights on and off for a couple of years and also have done yoga as well for the same amount of time, the question I would like to know is I would like to become more involed in my yoga pratice as I feel so good and relaxed after I do it, my weight lifting has made me very bulky I'm not big just firm, will yoga help to give me back the nice long lean look and can I use this as my single source of weight brearing exercise, I do cardio for 45 min 5x a week and will continue to do this. How longg before I star to get rid of the bulk.

[Chandra]

Not sure how much muscle tissue you are talking about. Serious weight lifters, when not training, continue to have increased muscle mass, but lose the tonus of the muscle. You may find that for some of the poses, the increase in muscle mass will affect your ability to move into the "picture perfect" pose. Don't sweat it, however. Yoga's aim is an integration of body, mind and spirit. Your physical self is a part of who you are, and you have an opportunity to practice Santosha (contentment) through your self acceptance. Practicing the poses mindfully, with acceptance of your unique shape is more important than attaining a particular external appearance. I hope that you will receive some reflections from other forum readers.

Namaste,
Chandra

[scholar warrior]

I was in your boat. When I started doing Bikram, I was a little bulky and very tight in the shoulders and lower back/hamstrings. I eventually loosened up. Between the heat of the Bikram studio and the 3 times a week practice, I lost some uneeded weight and I am way more flexible now. My over all physic looks better than before because I am more defined now.

As an aside, I no longer lift heavy. For the past year I have been doing nothing but body weight exercises, Chin ups, pull ups, dips, push ups, etc... I feel I am in the best shape of my life at 43 yrs old...

[GunshySlycat1]

That's exactly the exercises I do! I want to learn new methods of that as well, i'm googling it. I love doing push ups!

[John101]

I also have been doing yoga for about 3 years. I usually do it once a week for 1 .5 and I have really enjoyed it. My body has more tone. However, I started working out about 9 months ago. I work out for 45 min and swim for 30 min four times a week. Do you think I should do yoga maybe 2 or 3 times a week as well? How often do you all do yoga?

[Flex]

Originally Posted by John101

I also have been doing yoga for about 3 years. I usually do it once a week for 1 .5 and I have really enjoyed it. My body has more tone. However, I started working out about 9 months ago. I work out for 45 min and swim for 30 min four times a week. Do you think I should do yoga maybe 2 or 3 times a week as well? How often do you all do yoga?

Although yoga is good all round exercise, particularly if vigorous ashtanga (which does give you a reasonable cardio workout over a long practice), at the level most of us practise it some supplementary forms of exercise are beneficial and can be complementary. Cardio is the obvious one, with proper stretching of muscles after a cardio session.

There are also areas for strength that yoga is not so good on. e.g. some yoga postures work on pecs and triceps, but few or none on biceps; some on quads, but few on strengthening rather than stretching hamstrings etc.

I think your supplementary cardio and (?resistance?) workouts are a good idea, and certainly you should do yoga practices as well. I aim to do at least four a week, including two classes. In addition, I workout on weights twice a week (enough to maintain the strengths and endurance I built up during more frequent earlier sessions), moderate cardio four times a week x 45 mins; Swiss ball three times a week (a great complement to yoga); and for fun there's dancing three or four evenings .... There's a good measure of cross-training between all of these.

As to the earlier post on weights, it's not how much you lift but how you do it. Sets of 8 - 12 repetitions at around 75% of max lift to build bulk; sets of 2-5 repetitions at max lift to build strength of existing muscles; sets of high (20-50+) repetitions at much lower weights to build tone, definition and endurance without increasing bulk. Also very good to vary the speed of your reps - slower is harder - mixing them with pulses and holding position; and to concentrate on perfect form and muscle isolation rather than going at it with the whole body, hammer and tongs.

As you get older, it's even more important to have a variety of exercise, exercising as many different joints and muscles as possible.

Of course, it must be enjoyable - otherwise you'll stop doing it ...