Power Yoga vs. Cardio and High-Intensity Training
One of the greatest misconceptions about yoga is that it’s only a good stretch. According to this line of thinking, yoga is merely a supplement to an established workout routine.
To build strength, cardio, and endurance, it takes a high-intensity fitness regiment of weights, kettle bells, car tires, and workouts of the day. Or so the thinking goes.
It’s time to challenge this misconception.
Yoga vs. Cardio
One of the reasons people dismiss yoga is because it doesn’t explicitly involve any cardio: there’s no swimming laps, running intervals, or burning out on a row machine during a yoga class.
So, you might be surprised to hear that yoga actually has at least as many cardiovascular benefits as traditional cardio exercise. Indeed, the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology finds that yoga can be just as effective as walking, swimming, or cycling in lowering heart disease.
More dynamic yoga classes, such as Ashtanga and power vinyasa, are also connected to improving high blood pressure, body weight, body mass, and cholesterol levels.
In any yoga class, there’s also a focus on mindful, deep breathing. This alone can ameliorate your heart health, as proper breathing reduces stress and balances the parasympathetic nervous system.
It doesn’t take a five-mile run on a frigid Colorado day to give you the cardio you need. In fact, you can keep your heart healthy in the comfort of a heated yoga studio.
Yoga vs. CrossFit
On the surface, yoga and CrossFit might seem like polar opposite workouts.
Yoga is peaceful, relaxing, and mostly silent. CrossFit is energizing, exhausting, and can involve lots of grunts.
If you think about it, though, yoga and CrossFit actually have a lot more in common than you might realize. For one, each workout comes with a plethora of physical benefits. They’re strength-building, cardio-intensive, core-reliant, and change-oriented.
Each type of workout also teaches you to go at your own pace and to push yourself to the space between too easy and painful.
Both workouts even strengthen the mind-body connection, where you learn to hone mental focus to be present in the physical moment.
The big difference?
Yoga is low-impact and better for injury prevention.
Yoga Combines The Best Of Both Worlds
If you’re someone who’s dismissed yoga as an easy workout, we dare you to try an Ashtanga class, a podHOT bikram class, or a podFLOW 2 power vinyasa class at Yoga Pod Fort Collins.
We’re sure you’ll find the practice of yoga not only challenging, but also incredibly balancing. Yoga is about pushing yourself, tapping into yourself, and treating your body and mind as a holistic system.
If you think yoga is too slow for you, it might just be that slowing down is the thing you need the most.
$30 For 30 At Yoga Pod Fort Collins
You don’t need to cancel other gym or studio memberships to give yoga a try. Yoga Pod Fort Collins offers $30 For 30 Days to new members, so you get unlimited yoga for just $1 per day. This gives you a chance to try various yoga class types to find the one that works best for you.
Stop by today to see what power yoga is really about.
