By now all of you would know that I do yoga and I also work out regularly. I don’t do one over the other and I find that they work well together. But, we know there are countless people who think doing one over the other is a better option and would tell you that just doing what they do is enough. I don’t doubt that their routine works for them, but doing just one is not enough for me. And instead of just listening to me, them or anyone else, every one of you should try out different things to figure out what works best for your body. I’m currently on week 8 of Fresh Body Fit Find by Amazing Bisk, I do 20-60 minutes of HIIT workouts or kickboxing on Saturday and I do at least 15 minutes of yoga every single day. This is my usual active schedule unless I go to a yoga class – then it’s 90 to 120 minutes of practice and no other exercise that day. I enjoy my routine because yoga and exercising compliment each other. I’m making progress in all the aspects I want to and I’m not having setbacks except where it involves my diet – unfortunately some things are beyond my control when it comes to eating! (Anyone else here with a granny who cooks some not so healthy food?) My usualy routine during the week looks like this: AM session: 15 -30 minutes of strength based yoga 20 minute workout 15-30 minutes of flexibility based yoga PM session: 15 minutes of yoga 20-40 minute workout 5 minutes of yoga Of course, there is flexibility with the amount of time i spend on each portion depending on the time I have to actually workout. I know it can seem time consuming - everyone wants the maximum amount of results from the minimum amount of work done. I did too, but now that I know this works for me, I love doing it. Whenever I say this, I get asked how i feel like i'm benefitting from doing both. All my flexibility, a lot of my core strength and balancing progress has definitely been thanks to yoga. I find that the usual post-workout stretching is no where near what I need so having at least 15 minutes a day keeps me progressing at a safe pace. It's also a lot more "fun" to do a proper yoga flow than just stretching after a workout is finished. And as much as I love ab workouts, there’s nothing really like learning core strength through yoga, it’s less movement and more balance, and strength. Sometimes it's not about how many reps you can do or how much you can lift but instead how good your navasana hold is. With working out, I’m such a huge fan of using weights that I add it to any workout that I can. I was just like anyone else who though using any weight would make you “big” but let’s throw that silly idea out the window right now.
I’m a fan of HIIT, strength training and the occasional run. As great as yoga is, I need this to give me the real strength and progress and the physical changes that I’m looking for. I love yoga, but the strength i learn from yoga is completely different from the strength I learn from working out. And the satisfaction I get from yoga is different from the same satisfaction I get from increasing my weights or building some muscle. It's all a happy fitness high, but it's a different kind of high, and I love both feelings. Either way I'm proving, growing, getting stronger. So I think doing yoga and working out is the perfect mix for me. Even though this is my ideal, it doesn’t matter if someone else prefers 100% yoga or running or pure gym workouts. As always, for anything that involves your health and fitness, I say figure out what works for you.
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