This is what confuses me about Yoga. I always see video’s on Youtube of Yoga exercises that help build a ‘flatter stomach’. So if I want a flatter stomach, and a six-pack/toned stomach, should I be doing YOGA for that, or just regular muscular exercise’s? Cause that’s what I have trouble understanding. Thanks for your input!
There are many different styles of yoga. A fast-paced vinyasa practice which is cardiovascular in nature would help to reduce your body fat percentage, and if the practice has a lot of focus on abdominal muscles and balancing, you could build a nice strong core. With regular practice, I definitely notice a strengthening of the abdomen and reduction of fat, but my practice was also custom-designed by my teacher for my specific needs and limitations… so you’ d be best off with a teacher. In lieu of that, if you want an actual six-pack and you aren’t close now, you’ll probably have to practice a lot of very specific movements and postures. Or you could try visiting some ‘power vinyasa’ style classes or maybe an Ashtanga Yoga class, which is likely to help you build a lot of muscle with very regular practice.
When a thing becomes popular it can be adopted by those who do not know how to use it or by those who have little to no understanding of it. When a neophyte runs around in a china shop with a jackhammer all sorts of mayhem can occur. But a jack hammer is not made for a china shop. Likewise Yoga (classically speaking) was not given to us, used, refined, or intended for an appearance of “ripped abs”.
Some do not know or understand the tool while others are simply trying to capitalize on what they think YOU are interested in.
[QUOTE=suryadaya;68767]There are many different styles of yoga. A fast-paced vinyasa practice which is cardiovascular in nature would help to reduce your body fat percentage, and if the practice has a lot of focus on abdominal muscles and balancing, you could build a nice strong core. With regular practice, I definitely notice a strengthening of the abdomen and reduction of fat, but my practice was also custom-designed by my teacher for my specific needs and limitations… so you’ d be best off with a teacher. In lieu of that, if you want an actual six-pack and you aren’t close now, you’ll probably have to practice a lot of very specific movements and postures. Or you could try visiting some ‘power vinyasa’ style classes or maybe an Ashtanga Yoga class, which is likely to help you build a lot of muscle with very regular practice.[/QUOTE]
Sorry but this is hard for me to understand lol :(… I am incredibly confused. So you’re saying Yoga would be more effective than doing ab exercises like crunches,etc? I don’t understand. I’m not really trying to build muscle. I’m just trying to flatten my stomach more, and get nicer abs really. That’s why I’m trying to figure out what the heck to do. Yoga, or actual exercises. Cause from how I understand it, Yoga is just for relaxation and stress relief. Then other people tell me it’s for building a stronger core,etc. It doesn’t register in my mind lol. So I really don’t know what route to choose. I don’t know if Yoga would be more effective for building a stronger core, or should I just do traditional ab exercises instead? That’s what confuses me really…
There is some thinking required to understand why Yoga practice dates back thousands of years and to give it respect it deserves. Hearsay is not the right source for authentic knowledge. If Yoga is seen delivering flat stomach it is like flying a Boeing 747 to reach the neighborhood school. Can it take you there? Yes, even without flying. Does it make any sense? Of course not.
One needs to be ready for real Yoga.
[QUOTE=Suhas Tambe;68773]There is some thinking required to understand why Yoga practice dates back thousands of years and to give it respect it deserves. Hearsay is not the right source for authentic knowledge. If Yoga is seen delivering flat stomach it is like flying a Boeing 747 to reach the neighborhood school. Can it take you there? Yes, even without flying. Does it make any sense? Of course not.
One needs to be ready for real Yoga.[/QUOTE]
What?
MG - The yoga you’re thinking of is an effective way to tone muscles and lose weight in order to get the body-look you are after. In fact, if practiced daily, you can achieve outstanding physical results in a relatively short period of time, providing asanas are done correctly and it is coupled with a proper dietary routine. Choose a style that is vigorous - Ashtanga, or any modern Vinyasa style like those taught by Rodney Yee or Baron Baptiste. I am not a fan of hot yoga, but many swear by it.
You can also get into shape by going to a gym for substantially less money. Most yoga studios will charge you $100 - 140 per month for unlimited access, while a lot of gyms charge around $50 per month, with the added benefit of saunas and steam rooms with most memberships. And, any physical exercise will result in relaxing the body and reducing stress. You could get similar results by jogging with discipline.
[QUOTE=FlexPenguin;68787]MG - The yoga you’re thinking of is an effective way to tone muscles and lose weight in order to get the body-look you are after. In fact, if practiced daily, you can achieve outstanding physical results in a relatively short period of time, providing asanas are done correctly and it is coupled with a proper dietary routine. Choose a style that is vigorous - Ashtanga, or any modern Vinyasa style like those taught by Rodney Yee or Baron Baptiste. I am not a fan of hot yoga, but many swear by it.
You can also get into shape by going to a gym for substantially less money. Most yoga studios will charge you $100 - 140 per month for unlimited access, while a lot of gyms charge around $50 per month, with the added benefit of saunas and steam rooms with most memberships. And, any physical exercise will result in relaxing the body and reducing stress. You could get similar results by jogging with discipline.[/QUOTE]
But i don’t understand what “astanga vinyasa” that stuff means… I have no idea of anything about Yoga :/. I just want to get into shape. I don’t know where to start. It feels too overwhelming for me to understand how to get into shape. Nothing seems to work anymore. I haven’t gotten the money to sign up for a Gym either… The only resource at my disposal is the internet… So yeah. I just really want to get into shape, mainly my core, I want my abs to look more defined and a more slimmer stomach. That’s what I’m trying to work towards. But it’s just hard to even understand where to begin because I’m not familiar with anything Yoga related so I wouldn’t even know what exercises to do or what routines to do… That’s the problem. I’m not really sure what would be better for me. All I know about Yoga is how to do a few poses, thats about it… Maybe if somebody can give me a Yoga routine for building a stronger core, I can try to do it every morning I wake up and tell you guys if I see any progress…
MatrixGravity, there are some yoga style ab exercises done akin to pilates that you may have seen on youtube and they will be good for working your abs. But I also find just a regular yoga practice is great in itself for not only a myriad of other wonderful health/wellness & physical benefits but also for flattening the abs, perhaps even better than doing the dedicated “ab work”. While practicing yoga you usually keep your core strong, your abs pulled in while doing the postures (poses), thus you have effective isometric contraction that effectively strengthens the core muscles and flattens the abs.
For example, it is said holding a plank pose (top of a pushup) for a length of time is more effective and better for you than lying on your back doing crunches. You will see that and similar poses in yoga. This is something you can try!
[QUOTE=Missi;68789]MatrixGravity, there are some yoga style ab exercises done akin to pilates that you may have seen on youtube and they will be good for working your abs. But I also find just a regular yoga practice is great in itself for not only a myriad of other wonderful health/wellness & physical benefits but also for flattening the abs, perhaps even better than doing the dedicated “ab work”. While practicing yoga you usually keep your core strong, your abs pulled in while doing the postures (poses), thus you have effective isometric contraction that effectively strengthens the core muscles and flattens the abs.
For example, it is said holding a plank pose (top of a pushup) for a length of time is more effective and better for you than lying on your back doing crunches. You will see that and similar poses in yoga. This is something you can try![/QUOTE]
Yes exactly that is something that is exactly what I’m looking for! Just a regular Yoga practice that will overall help me with everything at once! Where might I find such a Yoga routine such as this? 
Matrix, if you’re going to do the internet such as youtube to learn yoga, look for “beginner yoga”. Watch it first to make sure it really is geared to instruction for an actual beginner and is something you can do.
Alternately, and maybe even better, you can look for DVDs at your library to try, also look for beginner, or even order/buy one, they’re relatively innexpensive. One I recommend to look for for a complete beginner is YogaWorks Beginners AM/PM. Actually, come to think of it, YogaWorks has a DVD called “Fit Abs” which is good too and sounds right up your alley, though I’d still probably suggest starting with the first one for Beginners. The first segment is a full regular yoga practice, like I mentioned to be effective in my previous post, and the second is a shorter yoga style abs exercise focus segment. There are video clips of both workouts on youtube to look at and see if you’d like them.
[QUOTE=MatrixGravity;68790]Yes exactly that is something that is exactly what I’m looking for! Just a regular Yoga practice that will overall help me with everything at once! Where might I find such a Yoga routine such as this? :)[/QUOTE]
Why don’t you search YouTube for Richard Freeman’s Ashtanga video and watch that? It is designed for overall strength and flexibility, and gives an introduction. It is best practiced with a teacher but see if it is worth looking into.
And if you only want flat abs, why not just ride a bike to lose weight and do a bunch of abwork? There are a billion videos On YouTube, and no one here can see you to tell you what be correct for your physical body in a yoga practice. A live teacher is kind of like a personal trainer in that respect. If you want physical health and strength, no good athletic trainer would give you an exact practice without assessment in person.
A “flat stomach” has infinitely more to do with diet and nutrition than yoga. Can yoga aid in that endeavor? Yes, but I would guess that it is about 30% of the equation at best. Get your diet right, do a really good cleanse and THEN focus on exercise. Even at that, spot toning is a complete myth. Your body will chose what area it will give up fat from. Any exercise without a comprehensive eating plan is spinning your wheels.
[QUOTE=Mtnyoga;68795]A “flat stomach” has infinitely more to do with diet and nutrition than yoga. Can yoga aid in that endeavor? Yes, but I would guess that it is about 30% of the equation at best. Get your diet right, do a really good cleanse and THEN focus on exercise. Even at that, spot toning is a complete myth. Your body will chose what area it will give up fat from. Any exercise without a comprehensive eating plan is spinning your wheels.[/QUOTE]
Well, that’s what I’m currently trying to work on for the last three months. I’ve managed to entirely cut out Soda and junk food from my diet. So now I try and eat mostly
-Whole Grain
-Only Water/Green Tea
-Fruits
-Not enough Vegetables too be honest
And this week, I’m going to start making Green Smoothies to drink every single morning and I think that’s going to help me out a lot considering I don’t get a proper amount of vegetables daily so that may aid me in that respect. But aside from that, I guess you guys are right… I just need to start somewhere. I’ll check out some of the video’s you posted and go from there. I truly hope they may help. I’m also going to try and do some ab exercise routines this week that may help me workout my stomach and I hope that may help me as well. There are just too many factors that contribute to something like this…
Exercise
Yoga
Healthy Diet/Proper nutrition
I don’t know if I can keep up with it. I’m generally a very lazy person and I don’t really work out a lot, so that’s why I’m trying to just work on my overall figure and help get my stomach toned, as well as I want to learn how to do Yoga in general, because of all the health benefits it offers. Speaking of which, I downloaded an iPhone app this week that taught me several Yoga poses so at least I know a little. But not enough to do any real help to me… I hope I can get started. Thanks for all your input.!
[QUOTE=MatrixGravity;68765]This is what confuses me about Yoga. I always see video’s on Youtube of Yoga exercises that help build a ‘flatter stomach’. So if I want a flatter stomach, and a six-pack/toned stomach, should I be doing YOGA for that, or just regular muscular exercise’s? Cause that’s what I have trouble understanding. Thanks for your input![/QUOTE]
I think the confusion comes from people like myself, since I’ve been known to take the position that building six-pack abs isn’t really where yoga is at. But I’ve also been known to use asanas like [I]Urdhava Prasarita Padasana[/I] and [I]Ardha Navasana[/I] to work my abdomen. It’s debatable whether those kinds of asanas will produce results that are as good as some of the western methods, but if yoga is your thing, go for it.
[QUOTE=MatrixGravity;68765]This is what confuses me about Yoga. I always see video’s on Youtube of Yoga exercises that help build a ‘flatter stomach’. So if I want a flatter stomach, and a six-pack/toned stomach, should I be doing YOGA for that, or just regular muscular exercise’s? Cause that’s what I have trouble understanding. Thanks for your input![/QUOTE]
of your goal is just great abs…do not bother with yoga stuff…just do regular crunches and legs lift every day…
[QUOTE=CityMonk;68913]of your goal is just great abs…do not bother with yoga stuff…just do regular crunches and legs lift every day…[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I second that.
There are far better fitness methods out there than Yoga for shaping up and getting abs like crunches, and these are intended to get these results. Yoga is not intended to get abs, in fact ironically many of the traditional Yoga teachers are kind of chubby(Swami Sivananda for instance)
I do weight lifting for strength, aerobics for cardiovascular, hatha yoga for flexibility. Find a good balance between all three and you will have good all around general physical fitness.
Be wary of Yoga stuidos promising 6 packs and all that - chances are you will be sorely disappointed.
Why even bother with Yoga, MG if what you’re after are just nice ABS. And you’re right there are non-yoga exercises you can do that are more effective in the goal you seek. Contrary to what you may think, Yoga is not the lazy way to achieve your goal of nice ABS. IMO Yoga is a spiritual exercise that prepares your body for the shock once you start opening your energy centre’s for enlightenment. Although in my case I have just started to do Yoga the past six months, I am frustrated by my body’s inflexibility and weak upper body strength in order to the poses correctly. So I must resort to the gym’s weights to obtain upper body strength and stretching and flexibility exercises to help me do Yoga properly and ultimately help me to prepare to open my energy centre’s eventually when I do meditation.
[QUOTE=MatrixGravity;68788]But i don’t understand what “astanga vinyasa” that stuff means… I have no idea of anything about Yoga :/. I just want to get into shape. I don’t know where to start. It feels too overwhelming for me to understand how to get into shape. Nothing seems to work anymore. I haven’t gotten the money to sign up for a Gym either… The only resource at my disposal is the internet… So yeah. I just really want to get into shape, mainly my core, I want my abs to look more defined and a more slimmer stomach. That’s what I’m trying to work towards. But it’s just hard to even understand where to begin because I’m not familiar with anything Yoga related so I wouldn’t even know what exercises to do or what routines to do… That’s the problem. I’m not really sure what would be better for me. All I know about Yoga is how to do a few poses, thats about it… Maybe if somebody can give me a Yoga routine for building a stronger core, I can try to do it every morning I wake up and tell you guys if I see any progress…[/QUOTE]
I never thought I would find myself on this side of this argument, but I think you guys need to think about who have been the most influential yoga teachers in America. I would say BKS Iyengar and Patabhi Jois. They both took a physical approach to yoga. This ‘yoga is a spiritual exercise’ approach really comes off as elitist and snobbish. Of course it’s true that there’s more to yoga than just the asanas, but why the hard sell? You should be welcoming new people into the fold, not scaring them away. They’ll find out soon enough what its all about.
[QUOTE=Asuri;68931]I never thought I would find myself on this side of this argument, but I think you guys need to think about who have been the most influential yoga teachers in America. I would say BKS Iyengar and Patabhi Jois. They both took a physical approach to yoga. This ‘yoga is a spiritual exercise’ approach really comes off as elitist and snobbish. Of course it’s true that there’s more to yoga than just the asanas, but why the hard sell? You should be welcoming new people into the fold, not scaring them away. They’ll find out soon enough what its all about.[/QUOTE]
Great post, Asuri. I agree.
I started yoga because I wanted to add it to my obsessive fitness repertoire. If someone had told me that I was trying it for the wrong reasons, I might have stopped. Everything for the last seven years - relationships, career, friends, interests, travels, ideals, hopes and dreams — it’s all been designed with connection to the study of yoga. Discouragement could have changed my entire life.
Not everyone can make the jump to a spiritual practice, they need a connection, whatever that connection may be. Some of them find out what it’s all about right away, and some never do. Either way, it’s out of our hands. All we can do is answer the questions to the best of our ability and hope that someone gains something from it.