41–50 of 222 posts
I disagree with doing a crossword puzzle (or other mentally stimulating activity) mid-squat if you're working with any interesting amount of weight. Once you're at a weight that's challenging, things get potentially dangerous, and the last thing you want to be thinking about is what's a four letter word for a small quantity of whiskey.
My theory is that anaerobic exercise, like squats, uses up ATP in the muscles. To replenish the ATP, muscle cells pull glucose from the bloodstream thus lowering your blood sugar level which leaves you feeling relaxed. If done prior to sleeping it can help you sleep through the night rather than wake up at 2am. There may be other benefits as well. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
I think at least one study has shown that strenuous exercise before sleep is not good for your sleep.
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Look for a yoga class with power, core, ashtanga or vinyasa in the name. Avoid hatha.
I'd actually encourage everyone here to avoid classes. There has been quite a bit of controversy around instructors exploiting students for money or otherwise. The culture is a bit zany. And there's pressure to become an instructor which requires spending more money. But primarily, classes are inconvenient. Do it on your own and you can just roll out of bed and straight onto the mat, and 30 mins later you're done and…
Funny how people become obsessed with specific movements, specific exercise styles, etc. I’ve done it all including becoming obsessed with Mark Rippetoe and the derivatives, cardio like running and mountain biking, swimming 2km a day (80 lengths) etc. The one thing that has absolutely transformed my life is yoga. No more back pain, insane strength I never had, no more injuries from eg lifting a 100 lbs propane tank a…
Elite athletes use squats of different varieties to achieve maximal speed, strength, and explosiveness, something that you're not going to get from yoga as much as I also would recommend it.
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there are 2 types of yoga that I found. one focusing on strength and flexibility, like you talked about. and one that feels like meditation, with a pagan ritual to the sun. when looking for a yoga program, how can I specify the former?
Unfortunately type 1 is a classic case of cultural appropriation. Yoga is fundamentally a spiritual exercise that aims to strengthen not just the body. Therefore, practices like Surya Namaskara are not just a series of exercises for strength and flexibility but also a must for spiritual improvement.
Funny how people become obsessed with specific movements, specific exercise styles, etc. I’ve done it all including becoming obsessed with Mark Rippetoe and the derivatives, cardio like running and mountain biking, swimming 2km a day (80 lengths) etc. The one thing that has absolutely transformed my life is yoga. No more back pain, insane strength I never had, no more injuries from eg lifting a 100 lbs propane tank a…
I'm a little bit surprised that yoga beats swimming for you. I play whole lots of sport, never done yoga. I found swimming is the best for me. But I can see yoga is safer than swimming butterfly (but it builds muscle!), and tendon stretched more, and doesn't require a swimming pool! May be I should try yoga seriously
Swimming is the one thing that fixed chronic back pain for me which I acquired from rollerblading half pipe in my late teens and repeatedly falling on my ass in the transition from pretty high up. It trashed my lower back. Swimming fixed that - as long as I kept swimming. And the trouble is that I've moved around a lot and I've had periods of a year or more without a pool. And inevitably my back issues would come back.
Also with swimming, if I tried to do anything else that required using my full posterior chain (like deadlifts) I'd injure myself. I was fit and pain free, but I couldn't really push it when doing heavy lifting work.
Yoga, for me, has some major advantages over swimming. Firstly I can do it absolutely anywhere. I got this incredibly thin travel mat that you can stuff into a small backpack and I take that to hotels with me. As long as I can stand up straight and spread my arms wide, that's all the space I need. So I'm able to do it no matter where I'm living or traveling to. Secondly, it has massively improved my ability to lift heavy random stuff at awkward angles without getting injured, and with more strength than before. Nothing else has done that for me including lifting, swimming, etc.
Since you sound interested, I'd like to offer a few more tips:
Avoid classes. The social aspect of yoga can be a bit weird. You'll find people who think they breathe through their eyelids. Others that want to hug you a lot. There's the subtle pressure associated with the various biz models around classes. There is a hierarchy you'll discover. You'll also find that hot yoga is brilliant in it's business model because you can't do it at home - you have to go to a hot yoga class. Which is seriously limiting if you travel. I've mentioned the beachbody 3 week yoga retreat here which is what I use. But I'm sure there are a bunch of other apps and resources that are great, so find something that gets you from zero to yoga and then just keep doing a routine that works for you.
I have two routines that I do using the beachbody app. One is 20 mins and one is 30 mins. The 20 is called "flow on the go" and it's super fast and flowy. The 30 minute routine starts off slower and is more meditative. Depends what mood I'm in or I'll just randomly pick on.
I'd also recommend that you don't do yoga if you've been drinking heavily the night before. For some reason when I was starting out, I'd get injured doing that. Just a mild injury. I can only surmise that it's because my body was in an inflamed state from the hangover. THC/CBD the night before is totally fine and I find it actually makes yoga quite enjoyable the next morning. YMMV.
I still mountain bike, stand up paddleboard, hike, occassionally do short runs while I'm hiking. But yoga makes all of that far more enjoyable, has reduced my injury rate and improved my balance, flexibility and strength.
Don't get sucked into the whole zen, mindfulness, meditation circle, speaking slowly in droning tones bull. Yoga is amazing. It's the cults and cultists that make it expensive, inconvenient, weird and just kind of awful. With yoga you get meditation free. As long as you're breathing and focusing on the breath while doing the movements, doing a flow or holding a pose, you're already meditating. The rest is just window dressing.
Best of luck.
No explanation of the benefit doing squats, I am afraid. My guess is increased BDNF and maybe neurogenesis(scientifically disputed)? I heard sleep is a mechanism in which the brain clear out debris, so that might be a potential benefit of doing squats.
I definitely sleep longer the night after a good workout. Not sure if that's universal?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
there are 2 types of yoga that I found. one focusing on strength and flexibility, like you talked about. and one that feels like meditation, with a pagan ritual to the sun. when looking for a yoga program, how can I specify the former?
Unfortunately type 1 is a classic case of cultural appropriation. Yoga is fundamentally a spiritual exercise that aims to strengthen not just the body. Therefore, practices like Surya Namaskara are not just a series of exercises for strength and flexibility but also a must for spiritual improvement.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
there are 2 types of yoga that I found. one focusing on strength and flexibility, like you talked about. and one that feels like meditation, with a pagan ritual to the sun. when looking for a yoga program, how can I specify the former?
Unfortunately type 1 is a classic case of cultural appropriation. Yoga is fundamentally a spiritual exercise that aims to strengthen not just the body. Therefore, practices like Surya Namaskara are not just a series of exercises for strength and flexibility but also a must for spiritual improvement.
I disagree with doing a crossword puzzle (or other mentally stimulating activity) mid-squat if you're working with any interesting amount of weight. Once you're at a weight that's challenging, things get potentially dangerous, and the last thing you want to be thinking about is what's a four letter word for a small quantity of whiskey.