A woman in the change room at my new studio today (she was going into 12 pm class while I'd just done 10 am, my first am class in about 4 years), said she'd just gone for a 45 minute run. This really piqued my interest. Why? Well, as I've mentioned in a previous post, at an improved state of fitness, the yoga is starting to feel on some days like it's not quite enough, especially seeing as I cannot for the life of me seem to control my eating (Christmas does have something to do with this). Before the core Christmas season, which exhausted me, threw me off balance, and had me on a less rigorous schedule of exercise, I did do a couple of double classes, and also combined yoga with weights at the gym and/or swimming laps. When you have nothing else to do in life, this can be great! But throw in work, family, and holiday obligations, and it just gets to be too much. During the holidays, the BY was well enough, believe me. But now that we're all easing out of that period, I feel my energy levels beginning to rise again, and after pushing myself to the maximum throughout my last four classes in four days, I do feel like I could be incorporating something else into my life at this time.
However, I am also concerned about wearing oneself out, and my back has been "talking to me", so to speak - when I was a bit younger and doing the yoga, I didn't worry too much about injury, but now that I'm in my mid 30s I am very keen on protecting myself from any injury or straing whatsoever. At the same time, exercise is so important to my mental well-being and keeping my weight down, so the question of how much exercise is too much has become a daily ponderance (this is not a real word). Does a person really need this much exercise,and when might it be harmful?
I do believe that double classes are beneficial for several reasons - after the second class (for which you feel much more stretched out and flexible), you really can reach a new place of elation, both during the practice and afterwards. A new level of fatigue as well, but sometimes that's part of it. I have my own private theory that when you sweat out all your toxins in the first class of the day and go into the second one clean and fresh, you're somehow able to access more deeply stored poisons and hurts that you've been holding in the body. Knowing this, however, the idea of nine weeks of doubles (ie teacher training) completely blows my mind, and I would have to assume that many attendees feel compelled, physiologically, to pull back their practice and ease up somewhat at times, or perhaps during the entire period. I've read in the teacher training blogs about the pain and soreness (edging on injury?) people tend to feel during that time, and that it's often attributed to transformation occurring in the body. However, might it not be sheer excess of physical exertion? (I'd really want to talk to an expert about that before I ever subjected myself to such a rigorous agenda. Basically what I'm saying is that doubles here and there are totally great, but doubles six days a week for nine weeks is beyond my grasp at this time, and I am not knowledgeable enough to feel confident that this would not damage the body, especially in conjunction with the reported restricted sleep teachers in training are forced to endure, because MAN do I need my sleep when I have a regular practice. It feels vital!).
Moving on to other forms of exercise alongside Bikram style yoga, I get concerned that yoga isn't doing enough for my arms or other muscle groups, even though it supposedly is (I'm not educated enough in kinesthetics or human physiology to really know, I'm just a regular person looking for palpable results.) In addition to this, although I do think that although holding certain postures requires a great deal of strength and endurance so that your heart absolutely races throughout the class, (and for this reason it is rightly classified as cardiovascular/aerobic), I still feel that I need a regular degree of higher impact or plyometric action (ie jumping or running) as well as repeated movements - basically getting the heart pumping through motion - in my fitness routine. Producing sweat and an elevated heart rate like this several times a week (or even daily, especially during the warmer months) also gives you that feel good hormone, that precious sense of well-being. However, many advocates of yoga as well as the primal lifestyle say that all other forms of exercise, even in what some consider moderate levels, like being a jogger, eventually wear down the body, cause premature ageing, excessive and unnatural levels of hunger, and have other negative consequences. This is quite worrisome considering one of the main reasons people exercise in the first place is in order to promote better health. Not declining health! Of course, not everyone is an expert, and every body is different, but you grasp for educational tidbits where you can, and this is something I've heard expressed numerous times. This being said, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that some degree of this type of exercise is vital to a healthy body as it develops and then ages, so I guess the real question is how much. How much is too much, and how do you know when you've exceeded your limit?
At this point, I can't imagine going for a 45 minute jog and then diving straight into a 90 minute BY class. Well, I could imagine it, and I could probably do it, but I wouldn't want to because I feel it would really tire me out, and cause excessive eating and/or need for sleep later on in the day. I could probably do the jog in the morning and the yoga in the afternoon, with a meal and some rest in between. Does that mean the woman who spoke in the change-room is more physically fit than I am? Is she in better health? Is she going too far? Will this wear her body out in the end and even lead to a shunning of exercise altogether? For the record, she wasn't that young - she was at least approaching early middle age, I would guess. I really don't know the answers to these questions. I understand the simple logic behind the phrase, "do what feels right for your body", but as many health advocates have correctly pointed out, as is VERY obvious with the level of overweight, injury, and disease prevalent in our society and around the word, we often have no clue what feels right for our body.
I guess that can only mean that experimentation is in order. Experimentation that keeps me fit, allows me to progress with my own personal fitness regime, and does cause me any injury or wear and tear.
Right!
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