Tips for Yoga, Pilates, Spinning™, and Cross-Fit
These tips for Yoga, Pilates, SpinningTM, and Cross-Fit are from Janet Lee, the deputy editor of Shape magazine, and Cross-Fit. She can help you achieve your fitness goals!
“Exercise doesn’t have to be drudgery and doesn’t have to be in a gym,” says Lee. “If you find something you enjoy doing - such as dance, tennis, volleyball, or martial arts - it won’t feel like work. Simply being more active in general-not necessarily going to the gym-will improve your health.”
For extra weight loss motivation, click on the The Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga Workout. And, read on for Lee’s expert advice on these four different workouts - which are all effective in their own way!
Tips for Yoga, Pilates, Spinning™, and Cross-Fit
Three of the best “tried and true” fitness trends that show no signs of slowing down are yoga (and all its hybrids), Pilates, and group-cycling or SpinningTM classes. And, Cross-Fit is a new trend that’s quickly becoming more popular.
These four different workouts deliver results - so you’ll continually progress and get stronger. It doesn’t matter how much fun a class is; if you’re not seeing the changes you want, you won’t stick with it. As you progress in yoga, you can try new poses and learn new breathing techniques. In a Pilates workout, you get to move to more challenging exercises, and in group-cycling or SpinningTM , you’re able to push yourself harder for longer while you increase your workout intensity.
The Advantages of Yoga
Yoga improves strength and flexibility, which are two key components of overall fitness. (Pilates workouts do the same, and improve core strength as well - which is key for performance). Yoga decreases stress, which is so important today, when there’s so much anxiety about the economy, jobs, homes, money, etc. Yoga also improves your strength while increasing your range of motion, so you feel stronger and more fluid.
The Disadvantages of Yoga
While yoga increases strength, you’re not continually adding weight so you won’t continue to see muscular changes. That comes through increasing the weight and changing the volume of training. If you’re over 30, and especially over 40, you need to participate in a progressive strength-training program to keep your metabolism elevated and ward off muscle loss. Despite terms like power yoga, yoga is not cardio. Studies show that it doesn’t elevate your heart rate high enough for a long enough time or burn enough calories to classify as “cardio.”
The Advantages of Pilates
A Pilates workout is a fantastic way to strengthen your core muscles, which support and stabilize your spine, which can help prevent injury and improve performance. Pilates workouts are also a creative way to change a weight routine, especially if you take reformer sessions. Reformers use springs to increase resistance and challenge muscles. Pilates exercises are also good for increasing your flexibility.
The Disadvantages of Pilates
Pilates workouts are very precise and methodical, and can become tedious if your teacher has you do the same moves time and time again. While you can always improve a move, the changes can be very subtle and Type-A exercisers may get bored! A good teacher will add new equipment and exercises to challenge both your brain and your body. Also, while mat classes are free at most gyms and clubs (you can also find DVDs with Pilates workouts), reformer sessions are pricey. To save money, partner with a friend or two and ask for a group session.
The Advantages of Group Cycling or SpinningTM
Group-cycling or SpinningTM increases your cardio fitness, which directly improves your health. More and more research points to the benefits of vigorous exercise in improving health and decreasing mortality.
Interval training - which is part of group-cycling or SpinningTM - is one of the most effective ways to improve your fitness level and burn fat and calories. A good instructor will change up the classes and music and offer motivational tips so each session is fun, interesting and effective. And, you can control your intensity on the bike by adjusting the tension, so you can always go at your own pace.
The Disadvantages of Group Cycling or SpinningTM
There are so many mediocre (if not poor) instructors out there! You may have to try out classes at a few different times before you find an instructor you like. And, it’s easy to overdo it in group cycling, especially if you’re a beginner. Doing too many intense workouts weekly can lead to overtraining, which will reverse the benefits you’re seeing and could lead to injury. Doing too much of the same workout, no matter what it is, can overwork muscles and create imbalances and weaknesses. It’s always a good idea to cross-train to avoid over-emphasizing any muscle group.
New Fitness Trend: Cross-Fit Training
One trend I see become very big is very high-intensity strength workouts, such as Cross-Fit. It’s similar to bootcamp; you’re doing dozens of squats, lunges, plyometrics, push-ups, crunches, etc.
The Advantages of Cross-Fit
Cross-Fit is very effective at strengthening muscles and burning calories, and the competitive group atmosphere provides built-in motivation. Many people need that extra push to really challenge themselves.
The Disadvantages of Cross-Fit
While this strength and cardio workout is great way to challenge your body and change up your program (especially if you’ve been working out for awhile), it’s very easy to overdo it the first few times. Some of these classes seem specifically designed to push people to their absolute limit-and beyond. As a result, people end up being extremely sore for several days, which can turn off some exercisers. Others have worked so hard, they end up in the hospital or otherwise injure themselves. While it’s possible to take just about any form of exercise to the extreme, Cross-Fit makes it easier to overdo it. Plus, some instructors are more focused on inflicting pain than in improving clients’ fitness level in a safe, healthy way. Choose your instructor very carefully.
One last tip from Janet: The more active you are, the healthier and fitter you get! “Move more” should be our basic mantra, because movement keeps us strong and healthy. For more info on Shape magazine, go to Shape.com.
Do you have any tips or experience with Yoga, Pilates, Spinning™, or Cross-Fit? Please tell us below…
Comment by yogi-t on 17 December 2008:
This article, I believe misinform people of yoga practices. If you’ve ever tried Ashtanga yoga, it is a great cardio workout. Yoga has so many different types and I think that it should be specified as to which yoga classes she is referring to. Yoga= relaxation seems to be the biggest misconception.