Yoga at home -- 1 long session? Or multiple short sessions?!
Question: I am doing yoga at home and I have several questions:
1) How much time should I spend on it a day? I would like to do maybe 15mins a day for 4 days a week. Would that be beneficial? Or are you suppose to do 1 hour at a time, maybe once or twice a week? I am not sure if it has to last a long time each session, or if it can be broken up into short sessions.
2) Is it more beneficial if I do the same routine everytime? Or is it better if I do different routines everytime?
**Note: my objective is to maybe my muscles stronger (especially the legs), and I am trying to lose a little bit of weight. My objective isn't really to make myself more flexible.
Answers: I am doing yoga at home and I have several questions:
1) How much time should I spend on it a day? I would like to do maybe 15mins a day for 4 days a week. Would that be beneficial? Or are you suppose to do 1 hour at a time, maybe once or twice a week? I am not sure if it has to last a long time each session, or if it can be broken up into short sessions.
2) Is it more beneficial if I do the same routine everytime? Or is it better if I do different routines everytime?
**Note: my objective is to maybe my muscles stronger (especially the legs), and I am trying to lose a little bit of weight. My objective isn't really to make myself more flexible.
Try an hour a day for 4 days a week, that should be beneficial. 15 minutes a day won't do anything and you'll still look like you do now. If you want to look good you have to work for it--no pain no gain. If you want to pass a test what do you do? You can't study for 15 minutes, you have to study in hourly ranges. And do one session a day, breaking it up is meaningless.....you want one powerful workout to exercise you instead of 3 or 4 little ones. Do yoga exercises that trigger development or weight loss in certain areas--Work on your weakness not your strengths. Do routines that will help you get where you want to be.
If you are looking for weight loss and muscle strength, you would be better off doing aerobics, running, or lifting weights. Really intense yoga like ashtanga and power yoga are helpful for these things, but the results are going to be slower in coming.
However, I fully recommend yoga, because it is great for your mind as well as your body. If you don't want to spend a long time every day on it, I recommend 5 minutes of warm-up, 20 minutes of a sequence, then 5-15 minutes of cool down and savasana. You can find good advice on sequences at Yoga Journal's website.