Yoga As Strength Training?

Question

Tuesdays & Thursdays I do HIIT(sprinting/walking) & on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays I do regular interval training (running/walking). I normally do strength training on Tuesdays & Thursdays, calisthenics and weight lifting.

But I feel weight lifting and calisthenics are basically going against my goals.

My goal is a thin, slim look. I don't care for the muscle or toned look. I rather the slim, somewhat toned look. I plan on getting a belly piercing and hip piercing in February so I'm going to keep up the core exercises that I do!

I'm interested in both Yoga and Pilates, so I'm willing to give them a shot, Yoga first. Sooo...yoga as strength training, what are the pros & cons?

I am gonna replace weight lifting and calisthenics with yoga regardless, but I'm interested in educated opinions.

PHLove · Accepted Answer

Depends on what kind of yoga you do. Some yoga won't do anything and other types of yoga will kick your @ss. I do yoga as strength training and it does give you a slim toned look. There's no yoga class in my area that fits my time schedule or my budget but I'm a huge fan of Shiva Rea and her yoga DVD's (she's got like 20 of them). If you've never done yoga before and aren't familiar with basic poses (downward dog, upward dog, warrior 1 & 2 etc.) then get the flow yoga for beginner DVD because it goes over all the basic poses, if you've done yoga before (even if you weren't serious about it) then don't get it because it's crazy easy and boring. I have the Daily Energy Vinyasa Flow Yoga DVD which I've had for about 10 months now and I love it! There's one practice, fire, that has push ups, there's a 7 minute core practice that you really feel after about 2 minutes. It's a great DVD, its good for strength and flexibility and I think most of her DVD's (this one included) have this amazing yoga matrix. She has pre-set practices that combine segments but you can pick from any of the practices and mix them around whatever way you want so it's not like it's just one workout that you memorize after a few weeks and get bored with. But there's only 2 segments where you'll be 100% relaxed, the rest you'll definitely feel and in fire you will break a sweat.

I also just got her Yoga Shakti DVD. I've been busy so I've only done each of the 4 practices once but it's much more challenging but I still like it. Still helps with building strength but there's a lot in there that builds on flexibility and she goes through the poses in stages so you can stay where you feel comfortable and then move on when you're ready (some of the poses you'll look at and think, "wtf?!"). Just a warning, if you get that DVD go out and get yoga blocks and a yoga strap and have a chair ready and be near a wall that doesn't have a bunch of stuff on it, you'll need it. That one also has a yoga matrix. The segments are shorter than the ones on the other DVD I mentioned but there's a lot more of them so it evens out.

So anyway, now that I've given this woman tons of free advertising, I do that and then I go to the gym and use the elyptical machine (I hate treadmills) or if the weather's nice and it's not dark out I go running for 3 miles. I alternate everyday so yoga one day and then gym/run the next. But anyway her DVD's are pretty cheap (some are $9.99), you can find them on her website and amazon.com has all of them too (they even have ones she doesn't have on her website). Also, it's been proven that yoga has a ton of health benefits and can help improve your sex life.

WeaponZero · Accepted Answer

Yoga doesn't really work as a standalone form of strength training. It can be ONE of the things you do, but not the ONLY thing you do. The main reason why is because there are certain muscle groups in your upper body that can only be worked by doing "pulling" motions with weights. The biggest of which being a large part of your back. When doing calisthenics on the floor, you can only do pushing motions, and this leaves many muscle groups in your arms and back completely untouched because the only time these muscle groups are worked is when you're doing pulling motions with weight or with your body (like you would be on a chinup bar).

I recommend picking up a set of resistance bands solely for the purpose of hitting these muscle groups that get ignored by floor calisthenics if you plan on using yoga as your main form of resistance training.

Phoenix1991 · Accepted Answer

Yoga can build up core strength and or build up strength in a certain body part, its sort of like calisthenics if you think about it.

I personally do all of the above, weight lift, cardio training and yoga often now. I'm told I'm very flexible so I might as well put it to good use. I notice that yoga is very difficult, I tried many positions, the tree dance,sun salutation,etc, they seem easy but very hard to maintain over time.

So in a way it builds up strength in certain parts of the body, For example, the Tree dance I believe works out your whole cores balance as well as your legs. So yeah I think it will work for you. Good luck.

TheRealAttila · Answer

Honestly, for men or women, I'd never cut weight training for the aesthetic and health benefits. Even if it means just scaling back and doing a few light weight exercises, yoga just can't replace that. Especially with the hiit you're doing, staying slim shouldn't be an issue?

marksmith108 · Answer

Drop the weight training. You don't care about building muscle so you don't need it. toning is just losing fat so focus on cardio. You should still have some strength training but yoga is enough for the look you're going for.

raptor · Answer

i'd say go with the yoga, keep the calisthenics, and do bodyweight exercises in place of weight lifting.

Caustic_Fox · Answer

yoga equals strengh training not. you want strength lift weights everything else for the most part is a waste of time

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