Is Yoga All You Really Need?

I had a student ask me the other day if I thought yoga was the only exercise he needed (he's in his early 50's) or should he incorporate weight training into his exercise routine. Regardless of your age or fitness level, I feel that yoga is a well rounded form of exercise, but it can only do so much. In order to stay strong and build additional strength, you'll need more than your daily practice. Yoga does indeed build strength, but you'll eventually reach a plateau as you can only lift your own body weight.

There is a large variety of yoga classes out there, but not all of them focus on strength. If this is the case for your regular class, then you would definitely want to add weight lifting or a type of circuit class to your routine. One of the biggest dangers of yoga is hyper-flexibility. Once your muscles go past their stretch point (the point where they don't bounce back and protect your joints, think of a rubber band being over stretched) your major joints are left unprotected. This can lead to injuries and chronic pain.

If you're already at the point of hyper-flexibility, a good strength training routine will help prevent anymore damage and may help with chronic pain that you're already experiencing. Make sure to start slow though. When your muscles are over stretched it's easy to strain your tendons (where muscle connects to bone) which can cause tendinitis. The only way that heals is to not use the affected joint, which means no yoga or strength training for at least 4-6 weeks and in some cases even longer. 

Adding strength training will help keep your muscles in balance. It will also give you added strength and stamina that will take your yoga practice to a whole new level. It will improve your postures therefor protecting you from injuries because of weak muscles putting you into incorrect alignment.

Circuit training classes also help to boost your cardio. Yoga does have some cardio benefits, but not necessarily to the point that one should count on it as your only source.

Finding balance between building strength and a yoga routine will be different for everyone. You'll want to make sure that you've recovered from class before you go to another one, be it yoga or strength training. For example, I have a circuit class that I love and it's offered 5 times a week. I used to go Monday, Wednesday and Friday and do yoga on Tuesday and Thursday. My body told me pretty quick that I was over doing it. The fact that I was still sore by the time I went to my next class should have been a red flag for me to slow down.

Over use injuries are common in strength and circuit training. A lot of times injuries from this type of exercise is what brings people to yoga in the first place. As with anything, the type of exercise is all about balance. I now only do one or two circuit training classes a week. It all depends on how active I've been and how my body is feeling. The point of all this exercise is to make your body stronger, not weaker and more vulnerable to injury. If you feel sore or over tired, don't go to class. Consider a restorative practice instead. Exercise should give you energy. If it's only making you tired, you're doing too much.

Another great thing about adding strength to your routine is you can work out muscle imbalances in the body faster. Yoga is great at pointing out your imbalances, but slow at fixing them. Adding weights into the picture will speed up your body's ability to balance out, therefor allowing it to function better and less pain will be the result.

Yoga isn't a magic pill that can fix everything. It's important to keep other forms of exercise in your life. Just be mindful that the exercises you're doing are kind to your body and giving you some type of benefit. Keep the same mindfulness with your yoga practice. Injuries can and do happen, some slowly over time. The most important thing is to listen to your body.