Yoga Vs. Cardio
By: SudbyTotal Views: 72, Word Count: 609,
Yoga and cardio are exercises that help you to lose weight and increase your flexibility. However, the issue of yoga vs. cardio is under argument as both give long term effective results. Before we move to which of these exercises is better to perform, let’s talk about how these exercises are effective and why they must be performed.
Cardio: Cardio workout increases your heart rate for 20-30 minutes. It is effective more on major muscle groups. You will sweat more and breathe hard while performing the intense part of this workout.
Yoga: When it comes to yoga, it focuses more on improving flexibility. It is a meditation which effectively gives relief from stress. Yoga is good for stretching, which your exercise like cardio might not give you. It is also effective in burning calories. However, as compared to cardio, you lose fewer calories. Hence, yoga alone cannot help you lose weight.
Relation between Yoga and Cardio
Yoga is said to be an additional exercise to a complete cardio or other type of exercise. Cardio not only helps you to burn calories, but also changes the lifestyle. It keeps you active throughout the day. Cardio is effective for you to maintain a healthy weight.
If you are working out for certain sports or even marathon, then yoga is not enough. It will not increase your stamina or speed to cover up for the event. To practice for such events, you should work on the same muscles that are mostly going to be used in the event. Suppose for marathon, using the treadmill is effective, whereas for some other sport using an elliptical is useful.
Yoga Vs Cardio
If you have some kind of injury or want to improve your breath control, then yoga is helpful. It also improves your stamina, which is needed during marathon or such event. Thus, yoga is an add-on to sports related training to keep the muscles supple and let the mind focus.
If your aim is to simply stay fit, then yoga is perfect. Most of the people perform this exercise just to stay fit. The areas of fitness like muscular strength, flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, body composition etc. must be included to stay healthy. Dynamic styles of yoga are Power Yoga, Ashtanga etc.
If you are going to stop your cardio workout and switch to yoga, make sure you are clear about the intention. If you are completely focusing on fitness, then yoga is the best option. However, if your intension is to lose weight, then yoga can be quiet challenging. It will also need lots of patience and time to get the results.
When it comes to yoga, you don’t have to follow a strict diet like that of a cardio workout. Whereas in cardio you have to be careful with the intake of calories you can take.
Yoga cannot solely provide you everything right from weight loss till flexibility and also it gives you the result late. However, when it comes to cardio, you get quick results of weight loss. Yoga improves your flexibility and stamina. However, in case of cardio even if it improves the stamina, workout can be exhaustive. To get complete results, you will have to do the combination of both yoga and cardio.
Most of people in US have started taking yoga completely for physical reasons, may be to be flexible or to lose weight. However, the trend of cardio is still poplar there for quick weight loss and strength training. Even today the argument on yoga vs. cardio is still going on, but the fact is that both the exercise together can give effective results.
About the Author
Robert Sudby has practiced as a General Physician in Cleveland for a number of years. He is retired but still likes to share fitness secrets and tips with people. You can benefit from his articles on fitness and general well being
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