Yoga Legs and Weights

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

After years of serious cycling I strolled into the yoga studio around this last Christmas and have been seriously bitten by the bug. I just cannot get enough and am fortunate to have a great studio in Tampa to work on my practice. I have also been working with a private instructor.

Anyway, I came into yoga with a cyclists body. Dense quads, well defined calves and such. My yoga has displaced a lot of the passion that I had for cycling as well as the weather has been pretty crappy this winter. I have not been riding much, if at all. I really liked the look of the cycling legs but needless to say they didn’t serve me well in yoga. Too dense and not very flexible. Anyway, before I lose all the definition in my legs my question is…what about yoga and some weightlifting?

Thanks,
Eric

#2

I think the great thing about yoga is you can do it with any type of sports!! I run and do yoga!! I will eventually get into CrossFit as well…but that’s in the future. But I will not give up on my yoga practice at all!!

#3

Hello Eric,

I believe we’ve covered this topic several times here on this forum.
I’d direct you toward the following posts and if, after reading those, you have other questions, please feel free to pop back with them.

Is Yoga Enough

Yoga for Cross Training

Yoga Strength Training

Is Yoga Enough for Fitness

Yoga and Body Building

Yoga and Exercise

#4

Hello Eric,
Gordon has offered you the best of our discussions here and I hoping that another member, Mike, will check in too. He is quite a cyclist himself and has a regular yoga practice as well. He may be able to offer you some suggestions from his own experience of balancing the two.

I am also going to ask Karen Kalyani Uppendahl, a colleague of mine, and a fellow Structural Yoga Therapist, to add to this thread as well. At one time she was a professional cyclist. She has looked deeply at using Yoga therapy to work with the unique challenges and adaptions of a cyclist’s body.

Kind regards,
Nichole

#5

Thanks to all of you for responding. I will read the links tonight. I truly sense that my loss of leg muscle is affecting my balance in one legged balancing postures. There really seems to be a correlation.

Eric

#6

Hi Eric,

What I would say is that unless you are going to be the next Lance Armstrong, why be concerned about a - possible - loss of peak cycling ability, if you also enjoy yoga. I believe that applies to anything. For example, if you are a swimmer, but not the next Michael Phelps, why be concerned if yoga takes away - if it even does - from your absolute peak swimming performance, if practicing yoga is something you want do?

Just my two cents…