Many people who exercise regularly will add yoga to their exercise routine for flexibility benefits. I add other exercise routines to benefit my yoga practice. It may sound backwards to you, but Pilates core strengthening helps in every yoga pose. Weight training helps with the strength needed to hold yoga poses, and cardiovascular exercises increase lung capacity and keep your heart strong. A complete exercise routine is a good idea to keep your body in balance and continue to improve your yoga practice.

During any yoga practice, there is always something you need to do with your core; pulling it up, activating it into poses to help with balance, etc. Pilates is all about strengthening the core, along with the rest of the body, and adding some flexibility. Practicing Pilates exercises adds flexibility. It is similar to yoga in that you link your breath to your movements. Since teaching yoga is my passion, I am biased in my belief that yoga has more benefits for flexibility. Pilates, on the other hand, has more of a core strength benefit because people will practice some core strengthening poses in yoga, but rarely practice a full core focused yoga session.

Joseph Pilates studied various exercise practices, including yoga. Pilates taught that functional exercise would improve posture and fitness. His exercises were meant to keep the mind, body, and spirit in balance. With physically fit bodies we can live with ease and enjoy life. So, as you can see, there are many similarities in a yoga and Pilates practice: increased strength, flexibility, use of breath-connected exercises, and mind-body connection.

One benefits the other when you practice them regularly. I teach a lot of mixed yoga and pilates classes and I teach them separately. Both are beneficial; they are simply in larger doses when you do them separately.

Weight training brings a host of new benefits to your yoga practice. Strengthening the legs helps to hold the poses a bit longer. Standing poses require some leg strength and that strength will increase by practicing yoga alone, but if you can further strengthen your yoga practice, you’re ahead of the game.

Upper body strength training helps with plank (push-up) poses and any pose that strengthens the shoulders and upper back. If you’re not strong enough to hold yourself in a high push-up, you can always use your knees for support, but if you can strengthen your upper body through weight training, your strength gains will be faster.

When I teach power yoga, I have a series of poses that take you from a top bend (plank) to a low bend where you keep your body straight a few inches off the ground. You then go into an upward facing dog pose and return to a low pushup. This is a great move to strengthen your shoulders and core, but you do need a bit of strength to do it. It requires both upper body strength and core strength. Of course, any yoga pose can be adjusted and you can gain strength by practicing it on your knees, but again, if you gain some strength from other activities, your overall gains will be faster.

Cardiovascular work increases lung capacity. If a sedentary person tried to sprint a mile, the first problem would be that he couldn’t breathe. Someone who regularly does some form of cardiovascular exercise will have a better chance of running the mile. The increase in lung capacity is another of the benefits of yoga, but once again, if we practice cardio regularly, the gains will be faster.

So how often should we be doing each one? Weight training should be 2-3 times a week for 30-45 minutes. You want to work on all muscle groups starting with the largest muscle groups and working towards the smallest. Chest, back, and legs should come first, followed by some shoulders, biceps, and triceps. You can use any type of strength equipment, strength machines at a gym, free weights (dumbbells), or resistance bands work well. Consult someone certified in weight training or research what exercises to start with. Just please be careful about it.

Pilates can be practiced at home with many DVDs available or at a gym or Pilates studio. You can get great results by practicing 2-3 times a week for 30-60 minutes.

Cardiovascular exercises can be done outdoors, that is, walking, jogging or cycling. If the weather is bad, they can be done indoors on a treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike. Dancing, ice skating, and playing soccer with the kids are also good forms of cardiovascular exercise. You want to focus on getting your heart rate up and be a little out of breath; Slightly out of breath, which means you they can Say a sentence while doing the activity.

Interval training is another great way to build respiratory health and lung capacity. If you are walking, you want to bring a way to keep track of time. You can walk slowly for a few minutes, then walk briskly, then slow again, etc. If you are at a higher fitness level, you can walk and run in your intervals, jog and run, etc. You get the idea. You want to get your heart rate up and then let it drop a bit, then back off and continue that way. Cardiovascular exercise of 30 to 60 minutes daily is recommended.
This sounds like a lot of exercise, but an example of a weekly schedule could be:

2 days of weight training for 30 minutes.
2 days of Pilates practice for 30-60 minutes.
3-5 days of yoga for 45-60 minutes.
Add 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise to each day.

You don’t have to do everything at once either, break it up if you only have 20 or 30 minutes at a time to work out. Commit to yourself to have a better balanced physical condition.

You’re looking for an hour a day to improve your fitness, increase respiratory health and lung capacity, and increase your overall sense of feeling good, physically and mentally.
Have fun!