Well, I posed this question to you guys yesterday:
Is doing yoga a sufficient form of strength training?
Either you guys are very, very smart, or Im just inclined to think so because you guys agree with my opinion- but im going to have to go ahead and say no.
While it does take strength and muscle power to hold yourself in various poses, and fluidly transfer from one to the other, I do not believe the muscle is significantly overloaded to the point of fatigue.
Remember: when you do a set of weights, like a biceop curl, you want to do as many reps as it takes to your muscle to the point of exhaustion (you can’t do another with good form.)
However, this isn’t the main reason for the absolute truth my opinion.
Aside from building and sculpting killer muslce tone, strength training provides many other benefits, most important of which for women: increased bone denisty.
The only way to increase the density of your bones is apply stress to them, either in the form of impact or weight. When you think of bones, you want to think Form Follows Function.
This means that the more impact you apply, the stronger the bone will grow. Running strengthens your leg bones, and unless you can run on your hands***, you need to lift weights to increase the bone density in your upper half.
While I agree that yoga is a GREAT WORKOUT, Im sorry to say you have to lift weights, too. Lifting weights is my favorite thing to do in the world, but i guess a lot of people don’t like it.
To which I say, “too bad.”
***Which reminded me of the days when I used to be able to do this:
Today’s Grounded Fitness post: Distraction is….Uh….What Was i Talking About?