Hello,
We're planning a piece for an upcoming issue of SWIMMER on the benefits and downsides of yoga vs. Pilates. We'll talk to experts of course, but wanted to see if anyone on the forums had a strong opinion one way or the other.
Thanks. Feel free to respond here, or message me privately.
Best,
Laura
Yoga definitely teaches you to be more cognizant about what each muscle in your body is doing and how to better position it for greater effect.
I think this feature is the same in a well-taught Pilates program as in a well-taught yoga program. Gaining strength and control in the core and in the muscles that stablilze the hips and shoulders means thinking a lot about muscles that most people don't think about.
I think that both pilates and yoga are beneficial. They are good for improving muscle imbalances, core strength and flexibility.
These should not be the meat and potatoes of your program however. Both activities include a lot of isometric exercises with long holds in certain positions. When training for perfromance it is best to incorporate movement, and eventually explosive movement. Pilates and Yoga do not address these needs.
I sort of agree and sort of disagree with this statement. If I had all the time I wish I had for working out and recovering, I'd do more strength training for my large muscles and I'd do more of what Grif calls "explosive movement." But I don't have anywhere near as much workout or recovery time as I would like. I also have naturally hypermobile joints, and a congenital abnormality in my neck vertebrae. So for me, I think that the limited time I do have is better spent making sure that the weakest links in my kinetic chain stay as strong as they can be, so that I can avoid injury and so that I can use what strength I do have as efficiently as possible. That's why I spend more of my dryland time on Pilates than on lifting or other large-muscle strength training.
Yoga definitely teaches you to be more cognizant about what each muscle in your body is doing and how to better position it for greater effect.
I think this feature is the same in a well-taught Pilates program as in a well-taught yoga program. Gaining strength and control in the core and in the muscles that stablilze the hips and shoulders means thinking a lot about muscles that most people don't think about.
I think that both pilates and yoga are beneficial. They are good for improving muscle imbalances, core strength and flexibility.
These should not be the meat and potatoes of your program however. Both activities include a lot of isometric exercises with long holds in certain positions. When training for perfromance it is best to incorporate movement, and eventually explosive movement. Pilates and Yoga do not address these needs.
I sort of agree and sort of disagree with this statement. If I had all the time I wish I had for working out and recovering, I'd do more strength training for my large muscles and I'd do more of what Grif calls "explosive movement." But I don't have anywhere near as much workout or recovery time as I would like. I also have naturally hypermobile joints, and a congenital abnormality in my neck vertebrae. So for me, I think that the limited time I do have is better spent making sure that the weakest links in my kinetic chain stay as strong as they can be, so that I can avoid injury and so that I can use what strength I do have as efficiently as possible. That's why I spend more of my dryland time on Pilates than on lifting or other large-muscle strength training.
