Mixing in Yoga & Pilates

After a year of consistent twice weekly weight training along with my cardio, I decided it was time to give yoga a try to see how much flexibility (aka injury resistance) I could gain through regular stretching. Increased flexibility is something I value much more at 52 than I did at 32.

This past year I didn't follow through in actually doing various pre-post running stretches I had found online, I hadn't found any TV shows or DVD's that focused solely on stretching(I have since located a title but haven't ordered the DVD), and I really felt I needed full body stretching to complement all the weight training I was doing. Whenever I talked with trainers about wanting to incorporate more stretching and flexibility work into my routines, they recommended a yoga class.

I had already tried the do-it-yourself-with DVD route but had apparently chosen DVD's not fully suited to giving this novice the detailed instruction and observation and feedback I needed to learn correct form. So I decided not to let the whoo-whoo spiritual emphasis get to me and to take some classes with an instructor two trainers I trust recommended. Though performing some of the poses was impossible for me and my range of flexibility was a world away from that of the instructor, at the end of my first hour class I knew this was something I had to keep doing - my entire body felt more stretched out and relaxed than it had felt for many months.

After a month of this once a week class, I discovered "Namaste Yoga", a half-hour show on Fit TV that was broadcast several times in each 24 hour period and began adding that stretching discipline to my day several days a week. I still cannot do some of the poses, but my performance of each pose is improving, my flexibility is gradually increasing, and I have found the emphasis on deep, focused breathing helpful in my weight training and cardio, in addition to its role in deepening the stretches I am able to do.

Then, a week and a half ago I took my first pilates/yoga fusion class, followed by a full hour of pilates the following week in addition to the combo class. Like the yoga, I'd been wanting to take a pilates class for sometime, but hadn't felt I was strong enough yet to keep up., having seen several classes in session. All I can say is WOW! These instructors have come up with beguiling ways of using resistance bands and large exercise balls to inflict torture on the novice student's core muscles group.

I am glad the classes are small - about 4-6 women - because I am struggling mightily to keep up, and on almost every exercise, the instructor is correcting my form faux-pas. I have become aware I adopted numerous "wrong-form" postures in my earlier years of exercising at home and aerobics classes that enabled me to keep up with the instructor and feel good about my achievement, but either didn't help the muscle groups for which they were intended, or courted injury.

All that said, I can see the yoga practice helping the pilates, and the pilates workout gradually producing more core strength needed to do the yoga poses, and both helping me to regain and hopefully maintain the flexibility I want for quality of life during this latter portion of my life.

So now, the next thing to add to my triathlon training mix is swimming - I believe our close outdoor community pools open up in April....on to the next adventure.