How do I balance yoga with weight training?

Go Figure viewer question

"I've got bad posture - sway back, and have been working on it for around 5 years now with gym and yoga and 2 years ago started going to an osteo which has helped even more. So I took a break from the gym to do more yoga, but now I'm back at the gym again, as I'm also a Personal Trainer and novice figure girl. My gym workouts are affecting my yoga as I'm quite fatigued trying to hold poses for a while - so my question is, how do I find the right balance of flexibility and strength? I train 5x at the gym and 2x yoga."

The first question I have for you is. Which is more important - gym or yoga? I'm guessing at this stage yoga is a priority in your fitness regime and you'd like to have the energy to do this. So my suggestion would be to schedule your yoga classes where you have the most energy ie early on in the week or first thing in the morning so you make the most of your energy reserves. If you're doing yoga and weight training on the same day, do yoga first and make sure you have plenty of time to recover before undergoing weight training so that you get benefit from both.

The other factors to consider is the volume, frequency and type of weight training you're doing. You might want to drop back to 3 days a week as 5 days a week can be quite draining of your body especially if you're not eating enough - will cover this aspect a little later.

I'd get ‘back to basics' with your weights by doing an all over body workout each time, training just one or two exercise for each bodypart so you can concentrate on gaining strength so you can hold your yoga poses. I'd recommend on 2 of your 3 weight training days, you concentrate on traditional strength movements like bench press, squats, lunges, shoulder press, rows with medium to heavy weights to 10-12 rep range. On the other day of weight training, you do an overall conditioning/plyometric style training so you can incorporate some cardio/core work into your training which will also help your yoga moves.

Ofcourse we can't overlook nutrition as part of your regime. You have to make sure you're eating enough carbohydrates pre and post workout to help you with pre workout energy and post workout recovery. If training at night, don't be afraid to eat a small amount of carbohydrates with your protein as you'll need energy to restore your glycogen cells so you can hit it hard again the next day. As you know protein is important to help our muscle cells recover from training so make sure you get at least 25g of this at each meal as a guide.

Also don't be too hard on yourself on your diet, give yourself some extra calories like some more kumera or rice, if you're feeling flat or muscles feeling 'empty', it won't kill you!

Another factor is allowing for a rest day!!!! you sound like you're a hardworker and you probably drive yourself to the max at each workout so I'm sure you deserve at least one rest day where you can sit back and relax and enjoy the telly and do absolutely nothing. You've earned it.

Hope this helps!
Lisa, Go Figure
22 June 10

Don't waist winter

Hands up who's going to use 'I'm in my bulking up phase' this winter as an excuse to put on weight underneath all those winter clothes! Sure, hiding your weight gain is easy to do in winter. No one sees you as you're all covered up so its easy to get lazy.

As winter sets in your motivation levels to workout are at a low ebb. No longer do we pounce out of bed to do our morning walk or hit the gym as early or who wants to head out into the foggy cold and hit the streets.

Instead we'd rather stay tucked up in our warm bed and wait till the sun rises. Yes, working out during the winter months can be a drag but with some planning and desire you can keep your summer body that you've hard to attain.

Staying motivated
To keep yourself motivated, focus on what you'll gain if you keep exercising throughout winter. If you have a contest in mind later the year, then keeping focused is easier than those who haven't got a goal.

So the best plan to keep motivated during winter is to set your self a mini goal for winter.
Set achieveable goals such as:
-Not going over a certain bodyweight
- Do at least 3 cardio sessions per week
- You'll do at least 3 weight sessions per week
- Set strength goals, such as by the end of 4 week cycle you want to Squat extra 10kg
- Only have one treat each week

Dealing with Muscle Soreness

Ow ow ow, with every step you take you feel those lunges repeating their pain in your glutes. Or maybe its your shoulders that hurt when you raise them after those heavy dumbell presses your trainer made you do. Where ever the aches or pain, it is the pain that us weight trainers live for. Afterall pain is the evidence of how hard we worked out.

This pain is called DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. This type of soreness generally occurs 24 to 48 hours after a new activity and typically lasts about 24 to 48 hours.

DOMS does serve a purpose and is actually a necessary process in preparing the muscles for further development. First, the inflammation process begins as a result of the exercise. Then the muscle cells heal, completing the adaptive process. As a result, the muscle is more resistant to damage from future exercise.

Usually the soreness only happens the first one or two times you perform the new activity as the body does adjust and adapt to the exercises. Which is why its imperative that you regularly change your routines, whether it be through increase in sets, reps or a change in your exercise which will help your body make changes.

Contrary to popular belief though, not everybody loves this pain and it puts a few beginners off weight training. Pain is all part of the process but there are certain things you can do to prevent exaggerated symptoms and ease existing symptoms:

Start Easy And Progress Slowly And Consistently
The greatest instance of DOMS happens in untrained people. Gradually increase exercise intensity over 5 or 6 exercise sessions so the untrained muscles can progressively adapt, which will reduce the severity of muscle soreness. Try not to miss any scheduled workouts, even if you are just starting out. However, you should make an exception and rest a few days if the symptoms are severe--for example, if you can't sit comfortably or walk up stairs.

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Warm Up Before You Exercise
Prepare yourself for your workout by moving a little to get the blood flowing. The first exercise in your Workout Circuit will accomplish this for you. Also, consider doing your cardio workout before your Workout Circuits.

Stretch After Exercise
Some research has shown that stretching after an exercise session may help to prevent severe muscle soreness and relieve it when it does occur, but not all evidence agrees. Regardless, you still need to stretch at the end of your workout for flexibility benefits and injury prevention.

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Supplements To Reduce Muscle Soreness
Supplements such as BCAAs, Glutamine and even your regular Vitamin C has been shown to help reduce muscle soreness and enhance recovery so you can give your all at the next workout.

Ice And Ibuprofen
If the pain is too much try applying ice to the area that is stiff or sore generally helps with the discomfort. If that does not offer you enough relief, consider taking a dose of ibuprofen or aspirin to ease your discomfort.

Heat It Up
A hot shower, a hot bath with 1 - 2 cups epson salts or spa can work wonders for achy muscles.

Move A Little
The day after your workout go for a walk, swim or bike ride followed by a light stretch to keep your muscles limber.

Having some pain after your workout is normal, it shows the effort you put into your training. If you're a new weight trainer, you'll probably experience muscle soreness during your first few sessions of working out but this will be less intense as you get used to your new training regime. Stick with it and you'll be loving the pain..and your body will love the changes too!

Lisa, Go Figure
18 May 10

Breaking through plateaus

Are you overtraining? Got a lagging body part?

Try refreshing your training routine with some of the following strategies.

Vary your training program

Try working out with exercises you really enjoy rather than those programmed into a particular workout. Go ahead and do 12 sets of biceps curls, or 16 sets of seated cable rows. The point is that it's worthwhile, even beneficial, to mix it up on occasion. There are many overload techniques that can stimulate a routine. I have seen to many clients that have done the same routine for 6mths or more, without change.

Another suggestion for maintaining mental and physical freshness is to work out at a different gym every so often. The new environment may force you to pick and choose altogether different pieces of equipment for your workout, resulting in surprised (and invigorated) muscles by the end of your session. Variety is the spice of a good training program.

Hiring a Personal Trainer

Hiring a good personal trainer is the best investment in your physique you can make. In addition to offering motivation, he's providing form tips, suggesting alternative approaches, adjusting your goals and, most important, critically assessing your progress.

If you are worried about the cost talk to the trainer there are varying packages depending on what you want and also what you save in misspent supplementation should see you right for a half dozen sessions.

The free alternative to the personal trainer is a training partner. A well-chosen partner can offer the same benefits as a trainer (although he'll probably swear at you more often). And knowing that she/he's waiting for you at the gym for each scheduled workout will prompt you to avoid missing gym time.

Vary your workout patterns

To prevent your muscles from adapting to the stresses(your muscles adapt after about six weeks of the same exercises) placed on them, try training different combinations of body parts. One way is to organise your workouts into a push-pull system or upper lower. On push days you would train chest, shoulders and triceps, and on pull days, back and biceps. On the third day of the cycle, you'd hit legs. Or you could train arms together, then chest, back, legs and shoulders each on separate days (be sure to leave at least one day between shoulders and back to avoid overstressing your shoulders).

Listen to your body
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Are you cranky and easily irritated? Do you look for excuses to skip workouts? Are you overly sore and fatigued? Are you having trouble sleeping?

Are your weights going backward?

If you start to experience any of these symptoms, you're either headed into overtraining syndrome or you've already arrived.

First step? Back off from training; depending on the severity of the symptoms, take some time off -- one, two, three days, even two weeks if necessary.

Next, evaluate your nutrition program. Is your diet nutrient-dense enough to support heavy training efforts? Is there an appropriate balance of macronutrients (carbs, proteins and fats) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals)?
Are you eating often enough to sustain growth and repair?
Do you eat complex carbs and complete proteins within 90 minutes of your workout?
Most clients under eat healthy food for the growth they require.

Last step: Program rest into your schedule.

Rest and sleep put the body into recuperative mode, releasing appropriate growth hormone factors to start repairing the microtrauma of muscle tissue that results from training.

Remember, more is not better, muscles need time to grow

Alter your training cycle

Try creating a simple eight-week training cycle in which you alternate between heavy, medium and light training sessions for each body part. Each time you try a heavy day, push your limit, leaving your medium and light days for building tendon and ligament strength as well as cardio endurance.

At the end of the eight-week cycle, take a week off -- you've earned it, and your body will repay you with improved performance when you start up again. (Rest and Recuperation a must)

Lisa, Go Figure
29 Apr 2010

Reference
Myles Astor, PhD, Ultimate Audio magazine.

How do I balance yoga with weight training?

Don't waist winter

Dealing with Muscle Soreness

Breaking through plateaus

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