Healthy Weight Loss Exercise Tips
Want to Lose Weight? Try Yoga!
Well known for its ability to bring down your stress levels, promote flexibility and build and tone lean muscle, yoga is less known for its equally powerful ability to speed up weight loss. You may not have heard yoga mentioned in this context, but it can be a great way to burn off calories.
Traditional yoga is not an extremely active pursuit. While it conditions and tones your muscles, you’re not likely to work up a sweat during a yoga session. However, the fact that your muscles are being given a workout means your body is utilizing calories more effectively. So, cardiovascular exercise will yield better results if you also practice yoga regularly.
Yoga also teaches discipline, which will assist you greatly in sticking with your exercise program or new diet. Yoga reinforces the link between your body and your mind, increasing your desire to look after your body. Lack of motivation is a frequent problem among those who want to lose weight, so this is a very important benefit.
If you plan on using yoga by itself to help you drop some pounds, there are some new variations on the traditional practice of yoga that might be quite helpful. Many of these offer the benefits of yoga and cardio exercise at the same time. Here’s a look at some of them.
Vinyasa – This type of yoga is based on movement from one pose, or asana, to another while practicing yoga breathing techniques. Sun Salutations are a common pose in Vinyasa yoga, but there are many other poses used also. This style is sometimes practiced in a heated room to promote sweating.
Ashtanga – Ashtanga is a complex style of yoga that includes six different series of poses. They increase in complexity as you progress, so you must perform them in order, improving your skill as you go.
Power yoga – This “westernized” type of yoga features more activity and fast movements alongside of yoga breathing. It’s more likely to increase your heart rate and work up a sweat than traditional yoga.
While they may not give you as much of a workout as aerobics, these non-traditional styles of yoga combine weight loss and cardiovascular benefits with the muscle building and flexibility training of yoga. And they’re great for people who are too busy for more than one workout routine in their schedule.
Other than both being forms of exercise, yoga and aerobics seem to have little in common. But traditional yoga can enhance the effects of more intense workouts, and these newly popular styles of yoga can give you the best of both worlds. If you are less than enthralled with the results you’ve gotten from other workouts, adding yoga to your regimen or switching from your current fitness routine to yoga may work well for you
About the Author:
Learn more about the ancient tradition of yoga at Simple Yoga, a guide to yoga exercises that will improve your body, mind and spirit.
Want to Lose Weight? Try Yoga!
Well known for its ability to bring down your stress levels, promote flexibility and build and tone lean muscle, yoga is less known for its equally powerful ability to speed up weight loss. You may not have heard yoga mentioned in this context, but it can be a great way to burn off calories.
Traditional yoga is not an extremely active pursuit. While it conditions and tones your muscles, you’re not likely to work up a sweat during a yoga session. However, the fact that your muscles are being given a workout means your body is utilizing calories more effectively. So, cardiovascular exercise will yield better results if you also practice yoga regularly.
Yoga also teaches discipline, which will assist you greatly in sticking with your exercise program or new diet. Yoga reinforces the link between your body and your mind, increasing your desire to look after your body. Lack of motivation is a frequent problem among those who want to lose weight, so this is a very important benefit.
If you plan on using yoga by itself to help you drop some pounds, there are some new variations on the traditional practice of yoga that might be quite helpful. Many of these offer the benefits of yoga and cardio exercise at the same time. Here’s a look at some of them.
Vinyasa – This type of yoga is based on movement from one pose, or asana, to another while practicing yoga breathing techniques. Sun Salutations are a common pose in Vinyasa yoga, but there are many other poses used also. This style is sometimes practiced in a heated room to promote sweating.
Ashtanga – Ashtanga is a complex style of yoga that includes six different series of poses. They increase in complexity as you progress, so you must perform them in order, improving your skill as you go.
Power yoga – This “westernized” type of yoga features more activity and fast movements alongside of yoga breathing. It’s more likely to increase your heart rate and work up a sweat than traditional yoga.
While they may not give you as much of a workout as aerobics, these non-traditional styles of yoga combine weight loss and cardiovascular benefits with the muscle building and flexibility training of yoga. And they’re great for people who are too busy for more than one workout routine in their schedule.
Other than both being forms of exercise, yoga and aerobics seem to have little in common. But traditional yoga can enhance the effects of more intense workouts, and these newly popular styles of yoga can give you the best of both worlds. If you are less than enthralled with the results you’ve gotten from other workouts, adding yoga to your regimen or switching from your current fitness routine to yoga may work well for you
