Yogalates?

Yoga

    As you walk into the room you are quickly soothed by the dimly lit room, which has a calm relaxing atmosphere. The first part of the class consists of lying on your yoga mat and stretching to get your muscles loose.

    Once everyone is warmed up the instructor then leads the class into poses. Some of the poses being the camel pose, alligator breathing, warrior II and plank pose. Most of the poses are not hard and can be easily done by beginners. Although most are easy some really do make you work. Two of these are the downward dog and the plank pose. These make you use your arms to hold up your body and quickly become tiring.

    The most relaxing position to do is alligator breathing. This is when  you lay on your side   and take deep breaths. As you inhale you raise your arm into the air and when you exhale you lower it. the repetative motion leaves you calm. Alligator breathing can also help if you are unable to sleep at night.

    After going through the sequence of poses that the instructor has planned there is a “cool down” time. This is where everyone lies on their mats with a towel covering them to keep their muscles and body warm.  Even though this may not seem important cooling down is essential. If your muscles get cold quickly they will tighten up and can be pulled.

    The cool down is also used as a time to relieve yourself from all the stress that you have. Nobody is allowed to speak during this time, and many close their eyes and take a quick nap.

    Doing yoga has many physical and mental benefits. Physically the body becomes flexible, stronger, toned and your breath is improved. Since you are stretching the body in different ways it affects the body by making your hamstring, back, shoulders and hips more flexible.

    There is not just one type of yoga, there are many. Some of these consist of Bikram, Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga (power yoga), Iyengar and Kundalini. Hatha yoga is typically a slowed paced yoga class which is the opposite of Ashtanga which is a fast paced intense type of yoga. Vinyasa focuses on using Sun Salutation which are a type of poses, it is closely related to Hatha.  
 
    The rave around AHS is Bikram yoga, known mostly by the name “hot yoga.” Brikram yoga is done in a room that is slowly heated to 95-105 degrees. There are a total of 26 poses and two breathing exercises that are done during the course of the 90 minute class.  During this class your muscles become extremely loose.

    Senior Nicole Jolly said, “I like [Bikram yoga] because you lose a lot of weight.”  Bikram causes weight lose because of the heat.  The heat of “hot yoga” enduces sweating.  During sweating, water weight is lost quickly.

By Lyndsay Jacobs
Sports Xtra Editor

Pilates

    Excited for summer? Start working on your bathing suit body now.  A consistent Pilates workout will surely get you a gorgeous and toned beach body.

    But do not be fooled, Pilates is not easy.  I tried Pilates for the first time and I was exhausted afterward.  The workout began with a few easy and simple exercises. The first few positions helped to loosen muscles and warm them up for the workout.  Then the real work began.

    The second set of exercises was a lot more difficult.  I definitely felt a lot of pain in my abdominal muscles.  Sometimes an exercise would hurt so much that I could not breathe.  In Pilates, breathing is used to engage abdominal muscles.  The instructor helped by reminding me to breathe.
Personally, one of my favorite poses was the saw.  The saw is a sitting pose that works the oblique abdominal muscles.  It also trims the waistline and helps to stretch the hamstring muscles.  The stretching is beneficial for other exercises.

    One of the hardest exercises was the double leg stretch.  Although the double leg stretch leads to toned abdominals, it is a tough price to pay.
Another beneficial abdominal exercise is leg circles.  Leg circles also tone your quadriceps.  I could definitely feel a lot of strain in my legs muscles during leg circles.

    An effective Pilates workout has few repetitions for each position.   Each movement needs to be controlled by your breathing to get a quality work out.  At first I had trouble synchronizing my breathing with my movements.  It is hard to breathe while your muscles are under immense strain.  However, I found the exercises more bearable when I incorporated proper breathing.

    Pilates is used to improve flexibility and tone muscles.  The exercises focus on strengthening core muscles including your abdominals, lower back muscles, and your buttocks. After the session my core muscles were noticeably sore, as well as the day after. 

    The exercises I tried were performed both sitting and laying down, and on my back, side and stomach.  Each position focused a different set of muscles to work the entire body.

    In each position, the best quality workout was achieved by tightening the core muscles.  Each exercise can be made more challenging or easier depending on body positioning.  Body positioning affects how the core muscles are engaged, which changes the difficulty of an exercise.  Personally, the easier positioning served as a nice break, and the more challenging positioning was nearly unbearable.

    Short breaks were also incorporated into the workout.  The breaks used simple yoga poses to relax muscles.

    Having trouble staying awake in class? Pilates helps to improve posture which will make it easier to stay awake in class.

    In addition, proper breathing helped me to relax.  It was nice to combine relaxation with an intense workout.  Afterward, I felt both relaxed and accomplished.

By Marisa Tordella
Sports Xtra Editor