Benefits Of Combining Weight Training And
Yoga In Your Fitness Routine
Learn why you should have both weight training AND yoga in your fitness routine!
It’s so common that we find one area of exercise that we enjoy and we forget about anything else.
I know I’ve been there! I’ve had times where I’ve been on a yoga kick and was only doing yoga and had times were I’ve been super into weight training and was putting yoga to the side. But I’ll tell you, I’ve been consistently putting both forms of exercise into my fitness routine and I have felt so much better overall! And when I say yoga in this post, I’m referencing types of yoga such as vinyasa or power yoga.
As you’ll learn from other posts on my blog, yoga is much more than just working on the physical body but for the purposes of this post, yoga will mean the types of yoga that are more workout based.
Our bodies are meant to move so any form of exercise is going to be beneficial, but to really care for our physical body we need to work on three different aspects, our strength, our flexibility, AND our mobility.
What is yoga missing that weight training covers?
Although vinyasa yoga most definitely builds strength, it does lack some benefits that weight training provides for you.
The human body is meant to be lifting, squatting, pushing, and pulling but in this modern day, we tend to be mostly sedentary.
Weight training helps us to incorporate these motions into our lives. Weight training is also extremely beneficial for maintaining the health of our bones which is super important as we age.
It’s also somewhat difficult to build strength and adequately work your back muscles and biceps without using weights.
In a vinyasa yoga practice, there are a lot of chaturangas, which work on the triceps and chest muscles, but what poses are really working the lats and biceps? They may be working isometrically, but nothing is really working these muscles through their full range. Strengthening the lats and biceps can easily be accomplished through weight training.
What is weight training missing that yoga covers?
So we talked about what yoga is missing but what is weight training missing?
Most of our weight training exercises are not taking our joints through their full range of motion.
For example, you’re not going to be doing any exercises with weights that take you through the motion you get when performing an upward dog.
Yoga puts the body in positions that we don’t normally do in everyday life. This helps us keep good flexibility in our muscles as well as helps to keep adequate joint mobility!
There is a such thing as too much mobility in a joint so doing yoga doesn’t mean you need to get your body into crazy looking yoga poses. But, the more general yoga poses like low lunge or cobra pose can be really beneficial in helping to keep healthy joint mobility.
Mental Benefits:
Another great thing about yoga is the mental benefits it provides for us. Again, any exercise is going to be good for your mental state but yoga really goes deeper into that mind/body connection.
From personal experience, I find that while I do feel a nice boost in my mental health after weight training, it doesn’t seem to last as long when compared to what yoga offers my mind. This is probably because yoga really does work to profoundly change your inner state of being.
Final thoughts on weight training and yoga
I hope this post has shown you the benefits that these two forms of exercise can have on your body when combined together in a fitness routine. Please remember to make this work for you!
As an example for you, my current fitness plan has me weight training 4 days per week and doing vinyasa yoga 1 day per week. (I do practice other forms of yoga that aren’t physical like meditation daily.) Even though this is my normal workout schedule, some weeks I do change it up and maybe I’ll do 3 days weight training and 2 days vinyasa yoga.
Keep in mind that there are many forms of exercise out there that are beneficial. I know I didn’t mention cardio type exercise in this post which is also important. Find what works for you and your body, your goals, and your schedule!
And the bottom line is that really any exercise you’re doing is great! This post is here to help you to learn new information in order to make the most out of your fitness routine!
