Bodybuilding and yoga

[Guest guest]

Zekes7 wrote<br>>I've been thinking about

taking some light weights (15-20lbs) to use in some of

the asanas together with the breathing, holding and

flexing in the asana. I've never heard of anyone doing

this, but I have heard some background noises about

bodybuilding/yoga and using weights within the asanas.

<br>_______<br>Wow, you must be one heck of a yogi. Most of us feel

sufficiently challenged by the primary and secondary series

(let alone the advanced series') not to feel the need

to make them more difficult.<br><br>Adding weight

training to yoga asana? Now there’s an idea. Amazing that

in the 5000 odd years of yoga no one has ever

thought of it before. Jois has been teaching nearly 60

years now and the thought has yet to occur to him.

Perhaps ankle weights for navasana, or even a set of full

body armor (available in your local army-navy store)

for backbending. Supta Vajrasana could be improved by

ten-pound weight gaffer-taped to a football helmet. Be sure

to connect the chin strap. Is your insurance paid

up?<br><br>Yes, I'm kidding. Yoga is the one physical activity

that allows skinny guys like me the opportunity to

kick proverbial sand in the face of neckless jocks,

and you provoked me. It is always guilty pleasure of

mine to a see a muscular guy reduced to a puddle of

sweat and tears half-way though the primary series.

Obviously I need to work on this character flaw of mine.

<br><br>But Schadenfreud aside, I think you may be suffering

from a form of denial that affects certain people as

they experience Ashtanga. It begins when they hit a

pose that seems impossible - sometimes it is

Suryanamakara, sometimes it is lotus; Marichasana D is a tough

hurdle for many. Call it the Waterloo pose: you only go

that far and have to turn back. I myself, after 11

years, still have a hard time with Kapotasana. <br><br>I

can guarantee you that weights will NOT help your

Astanga practice. The only thing that may help your

practice (aside from the practice itself) is changing to a

vegetarian diet, living in the tropics, and fasting

occasionally. You need to develop patience, learn to relax,

breath, have faith, discipline and follow the program.

<br><br>Ashtanga yoga will break down the ego whereas I think it

is fair to say that bodybuilding has the opposite

effect. Bodybuilding is an ego feeding enterprise, which

is why you folks spend so much time looking in the

mirror. Yoga is an internal workout. It will also repair

some of the damage that "mindless bodybuilding" (Jois'

phrase) has done to your body. Bodybuilders are not,

generally speaking, healthy people (Arnold Schwarzenegger

has had bypass surgery, btw) and don't age

well.<br><br>Bodybuilding is a cosmetic approach to health, only slightly

less superficial than breast implants, and trades the

appearance of health and strength for real health and core

strength. By core strength I mean the muscles of the lower

back and pelvis, particularly the psoas. I've taught a

few big guys who pride themselves on how much they

can bench press but couldn't hold Utplutti for more

than a few long breaths. They built up their branches

and neglected the trunk of the tree. <br><br>And I’ve

never in my life heard someone say that their Nautilus

or Stairmaster changed their life, though yoga has

changed, for the better, the lives of

millions.<br><br>Let's end this string on the dubious benefits of weight

training for yogis. Nothing could be more

counter-productive.<br><br>If it makes you feel better you could probably kick

my scrawny ass.<br><br>Cheers,<br><br>DMCG

[Guest guest]

"Let's end this string on the dubious benefits of

weight training for yogis."<br><br>You've made your

personal opinion known. Perhaps you will allow this string

to continue, however, since other people seem to

have interest in and knowlege of this subject.

[Guest guest]

hoimbecile wrote:<br><br>>Perhaps you will

allow this string to continue, however, since other

people seem to have interest in and knowlege of this

subject. <br><br>By all means; I don't want to censor

anyone. (Except those who engage in personal attacks on

this list - we've had too much of that in the past)

And I would hope that you realize that most of my

comments were tongue in cheek.<br><br>I would reiterate

that people interested in yoga should first learn to

literally carry their own weight before taking on

additional weight.<br><br>That's good advice on a figurative

level as well.<br><br>Cheers,<br>DMCG

[Guest guest]

"Let's end this string on the dubious benefits of

weight training for yogis. Nothing could be more

counter-productive."<br><br>Come on, Dan. Not really fair to suggest ending a

thread after you get to put in your post on the subject.

And its great to have your input too, of course. I

mean if the point of discussing it turns out to be

that it has no place in Ashtanga, then that in itself

is valuable. And don't you think things have been

pretty interesting (and CIVIL!) here for the last few

weeks. You want "counter-productive", there are several

thousand posts in the archives that would certainly

qualify for that. But really, thanks for keeping an eye

on things here. I wish more teachers would

participate.

[Guest guest]

Slid that one in right under me there. I'll take that as a reply to my post as

well......<br>Thanks

[Guest guest]

i nearly agree with all of dmcg 's points about

yoga combined with body building. BUT-- my experience

has been that my knee pain (which has been

considerable until now) has been lessen with light strength

training using a leg extension machine. I feel that

through lenghtening my quads in poses such as lotus,

kapotasana and even virabhadrasana put extra pressure on the

joints and led to pain. training the muscle to contract

has not shortened it but rather given me it new

ability to contract and take some pressure off my tender

joint. I have also improved tittibhasana by having

stronger quads (not bigger) <br><br>I am not promoting

body building! <br><br>CASEY in Portland, Oregon

[Guest guest]

Just shooting in my thoughts here<br><br>A long

time ago, prior to my discovery of ashtanga, I

was-GASP-a bodybuilder. A very amateur one, but lifting

obsessively none the less. I stumbled into a "power yoga"

class at my gym, and loved it. Gradually, I found

myself wanting to do yoga more, and lifting less--just

what felt right to me. I panicked. I was afraid of

"losing control" over the "perfect" physique i was

working on.<br><br>I realized what felt

better.<br><br>Taking a HUGE jump (about a year ago) I joined an

ashtanga studio and cancelled my gym

memberships.<br><br>I've never looked back.<br><br>I'm not advocating

this, necessarily, for those who "want" to do

both---everyone needs to follow their own path. But it would be

interesting if these folks (people who want to lift/use

weights and do ashtanga) kept a log, here or a private

one, of their evolution with these things over time.

<br><br>Or tried "just yoga" for a month, just to see what

happened.<br><br>Yoga has done way more for me on so many levels than

lifting ever could--- a lot of it is about relinquishing

that "control" model and modality.<br><br>namaste.