All of us want to have a healthy body and overall health. To achieve that, we are often advised to eat healthy foods, avoid bad vices that can harm the body, and exercise regularly.
Nowadays, it’s easy to have access to such a healthy lifestyle. There are tutorial videos and online tips to prepare healthy and nutritious meals, and also the proliferation of gyms and yoga studios in every street corner in your area.
Speaking of exercise, among most popular workouts today include lifting weights and doing yoga. The former are more popular among men, while a lot of women prefer or are interested to do the latter.
With that said, the question is, which is the better workout especially if you are targeting weight loss or to build muscle – yoga, weights, or both? Are there other effective ways to achieve these body goals? Let’s find out.
Why Some Prefer Yoga
Contrary to popular belief, yoga practice can be done both by men and women, although more women do yoga than men. Yoga involves meditation, concentration, coordination, and achieving the balance between body and mind. Yoga is not your usual fancy type of workout. In fact, yoga can really do wonders on your body aside from making you more flexible with all those yoga poses.
For one, doing yoga regularly can help reduce the risk of injury and help condition your body in doing simple daily tasks such as walking, bending, and lifting stuff. Yoga also helps tone and elongates – not bulk up – muscles in your body. Plus, it encourages using all parts of your body, unlike weight training where it only focuses on one muscle group at a time.
Yoga also helps increase your endurance. Doing poses are not actually as easy as it seems. In fact, it can require you to hold and repeat any pose for a specific period of time. In effect, it can truly test your endurance and end up sweating buckets.
Rodney Yee, a yoga expert, finds it funny when people ask him if he “lift weights”. He responds, “Yes – I lift my own body weight!” According to Yee, doing yoga poses enables you to put “your body in positions… that you ultimately have to support your muscles. So you are lifting weights.” Nicholas DiNubile, MD, agrees likewise. He said that yoga is “just as effective as weights when it comes to building a stronger, more impressive physique.”
Why Some Prefer Weights
As mentioned earlier, weight training/strength training is more popular among males to help them gain muscles. After all, having muscles do make them manlier and ooze with more sex appeal. In fact, lifting weights is more practical if you want to build muscle, according to DiNubile.
Weight training involves progressive resistance to a certain weight range. The more you lift weights, the more you’ll get used to lifting heavy weights. In effect, your body will get used to that certain weight range and would have to add more weight to add more challenge to your training. Your muscles will also eventually grow and develop the more you add weight.
Nonetheless, gaining muscle will be in vain if you do not use it. That is why is important to maintain your muscle and make it beneficial into your everyday life such as lifting heavy objects and improving your endurance as well.
At the end of the day, the question of whether yoga or weights is better depends on your body goal. If you want to bulk up, then weight training is the better choice. On the other hand, if you want to develop endurance and flexibility without making you look bulky, then you can try yoga as part of your exercise routine.
Finding Your Workout Style
Aside from yoga, doing various cardio workout can help in increasing heart rate which in turn can aid in effective fat burn and weight loss. One way to achieve the benefits of cardio workout is by engaging in high-intensity exercises. A high-intensity workout involves combining both aerobic and strength training exercises which can be done with or without gym equipment.
Doing high-intensity workouts aims to build strength and endurance. It also spikes up your heart rate because it requires little to no rest in between routines. This kind of workout is perfect for those wanting to lose weight and getting a total body workout in a short amount of time.
Meanwhile, aerobic training aims to target and improve your cardiovascular system. Typical aerobic training includes biking, running/jogging, swimming, and other cardio exercises. Aerobic exercising is also ideal for those who want to lose weight and improve their endurance and performance (ex. when joining in marathons). It also helps in reducing the risk of illnesses such as heart disease and obesity.
There is also flexibility training. This type of workout is not just about yoga. Rather, it involves corrective exercises such as stretching. It aims to improve your flexibility, mobility, and balance. Among common flexibility training exercises include running, dancing, and yes, yoga practice.
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of ways to lose weight, improve your appearance and overall health. Then again, whichever workout routine you choose depends on your long-term health and body goals. You can do weight lifting, yoga, or both – whatever suits your preference and lifestyle.
Likewise, it is also important to remember that there’s no fast and easy way to lose weight. Whether you are eating healthy and avoiding junk foods, engaging in regular exercise, or both, perseverance, dedication, and consistency are the key to achieve the results you want.
