re: Yoga/Mobility/Flexability Thread

I'm a little late to this thread, but I'll add my comments below.

Let me preface this by saying that I've been lifting since probably 7th grade and played sports all through high school. I've always stayed active but never really focused on any sort of stretching or mobility.

I began yoga about a year ago when I moved to Australia. It is easily the best thing I've done from a fitness perspective in years. I don't want to make it sound like some infomercial cure-all, but I absolutely adore it. I'm now in my mid 30s, and I alternate yoga and lifting each day. I will not do the next lift session until I've had my intermediate yoga session. I think it's that important.

I lift Monday - Wednesday - Friday, and I do yoga Tuesday - Thursday - Saturday. I have seen dramatic core strength improvement. My hips have completely released to the point where I have actually been able to surpass squat plateaus that I've been struggling with all my life. I didn't change diet or lifting structure. All I changed is the added yoga, and it's made such an incredible impact.

I also have no objective way to measure this, but aesthetically I absolutely think it's lengthened my physique, which the Mrs agrees with.

Stick with it, commit to doing it repetitively, and you WILL see results. My single leg training has also gotten leaps and bounds better through the improvements in my balance, hips, and core strength.