The Truth About Yoga And Pilates
By: Jon Le Tocq
There's no doubting that those who practice yoga and pilates often have very impressive abilities to bend themselves into positions which are enough to make the rest of us wince at the thought.
Is this really a good thing though? How much do these abilities transfer to daily life and exercise?
Is there a more effective way to achieve the benefits which yogi's believe can only be gained from their chosen methods?
These are questions I will try to answer in this article based on personal experience and scientific fact. I'll start with the positives of taking part in regular yoga and / or pilates sessions.
Firstly it can only be a good thing when people realise the importance of performing specific work to improve their flexibility and core strength. It's a key part of enjoyable living.
The typical Brit is now characterised by poor posture due to sitting at a desk all day and lack of exercise. Consequently they're in desperate need of corrective work to address this.
Second, many of the methods can be seen in strength and conditioning settings all across the world. There must be some benefit to the underlying principals!
However, they are limited to effective mobility and flexibility practices in warm and cool-down routines and as supplemental work as part of a much more complex routine. They should not be seen as an end in themselves.
The following discussion illustrates how spending your life performing yoga as an end product is doing your body a disservice. You're also wasting a lot of time which could be used more productively.
Many yoga or pilates students argue that it helps build strength. Whilst this may be true for a complete beginner who is unable to control their body weight, there soon becomes a point where no more gains can be made because the student is able to control their bodyweight with little effort.
This relates back to the key principal of progressive overload. This is a scientifically proven concept that to make continued strength gains you must continually lift heavier weights.
Like aerobics, the only way to apply this to yoga and pilates is to put on weight. That way your muscles have a greater resistance to work against, but clearly this isn't desirable!
Whilst on the subject of strength, the whole point of increasing strength is to be stronger and more powerful in dynamic situations. This includes lifting things in daily life.
Why on earth would you look to become stronger standing in one position with very little dynamic movement? If you are training to be one of those guys who paints himself silver and stands perfectly still in the town centre for money, pilates may be a good option.
The strength benefits gained from these practices can be gained much faster using other methods. Methods used by strength and conditioning coaches and personal trainers the world over.
There is also virtually no limit to the progress which can be made using resistance training for strength compared to the limits imposed by using bodyweight only. Sure bodyweight training should be the first method used by beginners but progress in the medium to long term is severely limited.
Other strength training methods will transfer much more effectively to daily life and sports performance whether on an amateur or professional level. Surely this is more desirable?
Strength and conditioning. Two qualities everyone should be looking to improve. We've just covered strength but what about conditioning? I have heard certain, more intense forms of yoga touted as great for conditioning.
In my opinion, conditioning is the process by which you become better able to perform movement based activities of an intense nature. How can this possibly be improved if there is very little movement involved?
My final point is on the people themselves who follow yoga almost as a religion. I appreciate this does not apply to all and I am not suggesting it does, but many students of such practices seem to promote yoga and pilates as the be-all and end-all of health and fitness and life itself.
I have methods which I favour because they have been proven to be the most effective. Hpwever, I believe it is wrong to shut out all other methods in the blind belief you already have all the answers.
Every day I spend in this job I realise there is so much more I don't know. This can only be a good thing in the interests of progression of me as a person, a student and a teacher or trainer of others.
In conclusion, whilst yoga and pilates undoubtedly can provide benefits to complete beginners to exercise, they are limited in their application to those looking to live a life of intense exercise and movement performance.
Author Resource:-> Jon Le Tocq created the online Storm Force Fitness concept which continues to produce amazing fat loss and conditioning results without gym membership! You can join the fun at http://www.stormforcefitness.com
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