I'm planning to start yoga and was curious to hear about peoples experiences with it, could help as I hear that weight lifting without proper stretching will redue your full range of motion.

I'm planning to start yoga and was curious to hear about peoples experiences with it, could help as I hear that weight lifting without proper stretching will redue your full range of motion.


I've been off and on with Yoga for several years, but always find I just feel better overall with it. I find it very helpful with keeping me in better shape and less injury prone in all the sports I play when I'm keeping it consistant in my workout schedule. I've tried several flavors of it and my personal favorite is the Bikram yoga, but it requires getting to a studio which unfotunately rarely fits into my time schedule. More often I settle for a few various astanga style tapes that I can do at home.

I've been off and on with Yoga for several years, but always find I just feel better overall with it. I find it very helpful with keeping me in better shape and less injury prone in all the sports I play when I'm keeping it consistant in my workout schedule. I've tried several flavors of it and my personal favorite is the Bikram yoga, but it requires getting to a studio which unfotunately rarely fits into my time schedule. More often I settle for a few various astanga style tapes that I can do at home.
Bikram Yoga is yoga under high-heat, right? So the room is like 100 degrees or something? I've always wanted to try that.

I took Yoga in college, and I didn't experience much fitness benefit beyond having additional flexibility and knowing how to adequately stretch my body. I don't stretch too much usually, and I probably should.

I bought BKS Iyngar's "Light on Yoga" and have found it a continual source on positions and on helping to reduce ailments. Good stuff, I recommend it.

I'm planning to start yoga and was curious to hear about peoples experiences with it, could help as I hear that weight lifting without proper stretching will redue your full range of motion.

I did a lot of yoga and ballet related exercises when I was a competitive fencer. We did ungodly amounts of stretching.

As far as I know the real value in yoga is that some of it is actually resistance exercise and some of it helps breathing.

As far as the stretching goes, recent studies pretty much show that there is very little benefit, and more risk than was expected. For most people, the corresponding resistance exercise is preferred to stretching. I stopped stretching at all a while back and don't plan to start stretching again.

Bikram Yoga is yoga under high-heat, right? So the room is like 100 degrees or something? I've always wanted to try that.

Yes, it is done under the high-heat with rooms averaging about 105-110 depending on facility and instructor. It's also a very structured form of yoga and one of the more challenging that I have expirenced.

I did a lot of yoga and ballet related exercises when I was a competitive fencer. We did ungodly amounts of stretching.

As far as I know the real value in yoga is that some of it is actually resistance exercise and some of it helps breathing.

As far as the stretching goes, recent studies pretty much show that there is very little benefit, and more risk than was expected. For most people, the corresponding resistance exercise is preferred to stretching. I stopped stretching at all a while back and don't plan to start stretching again.

Even with all the studies out there, I still believe stretching is a neccessary component to a balanced fitness program. Expirence has taught me that no stretching at all is more harmful then to much stretching, but admittedly, my shoulder injury last year was related to the fact that my shoulder was simply too flexible for the sport I play. Of course, my knee was saved by the fact that it was flexible enough to take the hit without tearing any ligiments and greatly increased my ability to heal quickly.

Though many of these studies have changed the way I stretch and is why I like yoga so much now. I no longer stretch at all before workouts and rarely stretch afterwards. I've found by doing yoga 2-3 times a week in the evenings has been enough to keep my body from completely stiffening up on me.

I do basic stretches like you would see in any doctors guide. I find them relaxing, and they all but eliminate most DOMS.

Even with all the studies out there, I still believe stretching is a neccessary component to a balanced fitness program. Expirence has taught me that no stretching at all is more harmful then to much stretching, but admittedly, my shoulder injury last year was related to the fact that my shoulder was simply too flexible for the sport I play. Of course, my knee was saved by the fact that it was flexible enough to take the hit without tearing any ligiments and greatly increased my ability to heal quickly.

You're probably right about the shoulder and wrong about the knee. It's sort of obvious that since the shoulder is only held together by muscular tension, that stretching to increase flexibility can increase the risk of shoulder injury. But one of the things people have studied a lot is how stretching increases the risk of knee injury.

It's really hard to get the idea that stretching is harmful into people's heads; partly because everyone is used to stretching and because it normally feels good. It's sort of like cigarette smoking - it took a long time for people to understand that something that seemed so innocuous had anything to do with lung cancer. We will just have to wait long enough for the injury statistics to really pile up.

I do basic stretches like you would see in any doctors guide. I find them relaxing, and they all but eliminate most DOMS.

As time goes on, fewer and fewer medical publications will recommend stretching. Oddly enough, one of the things that has been studied and rejected as a possible benefit of stretching is reduction of DOMS.

You're probably right about the shoulder and wrong about the knee. It's sort of obvious that since the shoulder is only held together by muscular tension, that stretching to increase flexibility can increase the risk of shoulder injury. But one of the things people have studied a lot is how stretching increases the risk of knee injury.

Actually that would be the DR.s that could be wrong... but then you are only stating an opinion.

It's really hard to get the idea that stretching is harmful into people's heads; partly because everyone is used to stretching and because it normally feels good. It's sort of like cigarette smoking - it took a long time for people to understand that something that seemed so innocuous had anything to do with lung cancer. We will just have to wait long enough for the injury statistics to really pile up.


I've always noticed how with everything the pendulum takes wide swing (Stretching a lot is great to no stretching at all) until it settles somewhere in the middle ground). Right now I just see this as the swinging pendulum on stretching. I haven't seen enough, nor believe there's been enough controlled studies to make me believe stretching is evil.. though there is enough to make me believe there is a fine line somewhere.

I've personally built my program around my expirence and yes.. I've tried the no stretching line, which pretty much ended when I was getting headaches daily due to muscle stiffness in the neck and shoulder and my knees pretty much refused to climb stairs thanks to overly tight hip flexors and running (I added stretching versus ditching the running and the pain left). I think with everything else, stretching has to be based on an individual basis depending on a person's body make up and activities. I'm fairly happy that my routine managed to get me through the toughest season, where I actually played twice as much, yet my only injury this year was a dislocated finger.. which frankly I doubt any amount of stretching/ non-stretching, lifting/non-lifting was going to help me avoid.

I haven't seen enough, nor believe there's been enough controlled studies to make me believe stretching is evil..

Perhaps you haven't seen them but it seems in the past couple of years everyone is publishing studies about stretching. Probably because they are easy to do - or maybe it's a research fad. As far as I know, none of the more conventional stretching ideas have shown much if any benefit and can cause injury or raise the risk of injury. Less conventional ideas of stretching like "ballistic stretching" is thought to be more risky than the corresponding resistance exercise and not known to provide any benefit over that you can get from the resistance exercise.

It's kind of interesting because we have had a previous incarnation of this realization, many years ago. Back around the time of the Second World War, there was a popular theory that resistance exercise would result in inflexible "muscle bound" physiques. The story is that there was a demonstration where John Grimek showed just how flexible he was, and some noted authority was surprised enough to change his view on the "muscle bound" idea. I suppose if we had been paying more attention to the weight lifting and body building results, the idea that resistance exercise can make you flexible would have made a bigger impression. It's kind of interesting that we all probably have experience of this - heavy Romanians end up making you more flexible and stronger at the same time. Stretching may screw up the balance between flexibility and strength - it tends to increase flexibility but either with no increase in strength or a decrease in strength. Everyone was thinking about stretching allowing the tendons and ligaments to protect the muscles, but that seems to be at the expense of the tendons, ligaments, and joints. Coordinating increase in strength and flexibility (which comes from resistance exercise) probably does have the least risk of injury.

I started doing yoga late last year and did it regularly for months until recently. I haven't been able to get to it much lately due to work and unusual life ccurrences. I can say this, my plantars faciitis and carpal tunnel both cleared up but came back when I laid off yoga for awhile. I built some strength, felt better, more relaxed, and my weight training was better as a result. Deeper squats were a big one. Knees felt stronger and my mind was clearer. I would like to delve in to those studies a bit. I am sceptical intuitively. I must say I have found the lack of physiological documentation for yoga disconcerting. A lot of it is a bit touchy feely.

This seems like a failrly good article. It even discusses Yoga and VO2Max. I don't usually see such articles get that technical plus it does site a number of studies. I think it's important to keep in mind that Yoga is JUST about flexibility but, to some degree, resistance training, breathing technique and stress reduction. It's affect on stress and anxiety has been pretty well documented. I've got to say combining Yoga with exercises like Hindu pushups, squats and bridge along with weight lifting is a very effective protocol.

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/739

As time goes on, fewer and fewer medical publications will recommend stretching. Oddly enough, one of the things that has been studied and rejected as a possible benefit of stretching is reduction of DOMS.

To tell you the truth, I'm not entirely certain the reduction in DOMS is stretching related. I haven't been stretching the past couple weeks and I haven't had any DOMS at all. I only get DOMS when I work out a muscle group that I haven't worked before or do a significantly different routine. I have been doing daily cardio, however, so I wonder if that helps.

I've gotten the distinct impression, Zen, that you are not in favor of stretching, so could I get your educated opinion on this - http://www.elasticsteel.net/ ?

My apologies if you've responded to this elsewhere, but why is it that you feel stretching is bad? Isn't flexibility a desirable achievement?

These are quotes- and I'm still not good at this... but my responses are in italics underneath...

Zen... you have alot of knowledge, and I am always happy to hear your thoughts. But, I don't agree 100 % with what you have to say. This is just sharing thoughts and ideas...

As far as I know the real value in yoga is that some of it is actually resistance exercise and some of it helps breathing.

I agree. I am certified to teach yoga and I think it is the most boring this I have ever had to endure. So the benefits of breathing are not enough for me to do it on a regular basis. Weight lifting for resistance is what works for me.

As far as the stretching goes, recent studies pretty much show that there is very little benefit, and more risk than was expected.

Several studies have shown that stretching cold muscles results in more injuries that no stretching at all. I cannot agree, based on my clinical experience that Stretching at the end is not beneficial. I think it helps, when properly applied, in many ways.


For most people, the corresponding resistance exercise is preferred to stretching. I stopped stretching at all a while back and don't plan to start stretching again.[/quote]

This is where I agree and disagree. Opposing muscle group training forces lengthening of a give muscle group. It works really well to rebalance a body. But... I think stretching that shortened muscle (properly and in a warmed up situation) is good, safe and beneficial.

Just another viewpoint.

I took a seminar a while back by a guy name Geoff Gluckman. Here's his web site. (http://www.musclebalancefunction.com/biography.html)I learned alot. His technique is called muscle balance and function development.

Stretching or strengthening... which ever- to get balance is key. Knowing what to look for is key. Read what this guy has to say.

OH- and I do stretch, and my people stretch. I think it significantly reduces DOMS. I really don't get sore if I stretch. Period.