Yoga and Strength Training: An Unlikely Combo?

When you think of people who are yogis and people who primarily lift at the gym, you wouldn’t think that they have much in common. But, in reality, yoga provides a ton of benefits for those that strength train. Let’s dive in…

We’re all after balance right?

Yoga and strength training are often thought of as opposite ends of the fitness spectrum, and in many ways they are. Practicing yoga offers a different type of mind / body connection, one where you can hone your proprioceptive skills. Often referred to as our sixth sense, this set of skills helps us understand and recognize where our body is in space, which is great for any activity and for everyday life.

A slower, sometimes deeper connection to our bodies that yoga offers is very different from the way we connect to our bodies when we are strength training. Usually including some sort of weight and striving toward specific goals, strength training allows us to focus on something we are looking to achieve, evaluate each rep, and track progress. While yoga forces us to be in the moment and accept where we are, strength training keeps us looking and progressing forward.

These two mental states: being in the moment and looking forward to progression, work off of each other nicely both inside and outside of the gym. These combined with building proprioceptive skills help strengthen the whole human vs just one muscle group.

Surprise! Your core is engaged.

Both strength training and yoga work your core, well, if you are doing each correctly. One major part of most strength training movements is to engage the core to stabilize and support the rest of the body, as well as maintain proper bracing for heavy lifts. One of the biggest parts of yoga is breathing, and breathing deeply while holding poses, releasing stress from the body and mind, and during yoga flow. 

And guess what? When you breathe deeply and hold poses in yoga class, you are training your core for both breathing correctly in strength movements and for future mastery of the yoga breath. It’s a win-win for the core! (And for you!)

Make time for stretching and mobility

We are all strapped for time and have busy schedules and stretching often is the first thing that gets cut from a workout session; even though we all wish it wasn’t. Committing to a yoga session provides dedicated time to stretching and improving mobility. We’ve seen so many clients come in feeling tighter in the hips or shoulders and wish we could take a whole 60-minute session to work on loosening muscles and mobility movements… this is where a regular yoga routine can be incredibly beneficial. 

Are you up to the challenge?

Both yoga and strength training are challenging physically and mentally, but in different ways. Yoga takes a softer, slower approach to pushing your limits. It forces us to slow down in our fast paced worlds and connect with our bodies in the moment, which is definitely challenging. Yoga also pushes us to hold stretches and poses for longer than we stay in many strength training movements, which can be difficult if you are used to moving quickly through a workout.

Strength training pushes us mentally and physically in a more traditional sense, building confidence in more weight and more reps while physically breaking muscles down and building them back stronger. Again, what a beautiful balance between these two activities.

In closing…

If you look at our crew of coaches and trainers, you could probably guess which of us practice yoga often. That doesn’t mean that we don’t fully believe in and appreciate its effects on our clients when they find their balance between the two.

We see improved mobility, improved flexibility, improved focus, and love to watch clients discover a new side to their fitness journey that translates off the mat and into daily life. 

A message about Yin Yoga:

Our Yin Yoga class will be taking a hiatus until springtime as we balance (see what we did there?) client sessions with our current coaching staff. So stay tuned for updates, but don’t be surprised when we work some yoga movements into your sessions.