Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Question of the Week




I am constantly being bombarded with questions about fitness, healthy eating, and just health in general, so I have come up with a new segment that I am going to implement into my blog! I will post a question that I receive through e-mail or Facebook along with my answer every Tuesday. So here we go...
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Hillary,

I've slowly been changing my eating habits and work out habits, but i've noticed that i gain muscle REALLY fast (i played sports for over 10 years) and if i work out with weights i tend to bulk up really fast. Is there a specific workout or excercise routine you recommend for people, especially girls, who are beginning to work out for the first time in a while?




Thanks,

Susan


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Susan,

Thank you for such a great question!  This is something that I get asked all of the time!

My first suggestion would be to increase your cardio. Whenever you increase cardio in your workout you begin to burn more fat without bulking up as much.

Another great workout for maintaining a long, lean muscle is yoga. Yoga is especially important if you are doing a lot of running or exercises that can build a lot of muscles in your lower body. By doing yoga you can begin to lengthen out those muscles that tend to become compact when doing other weight lifting exercises or even cardio (such as running or jumping rope).

I personally like to run and can always tell how tight my muscles become after I run. This is where yoga can come in and stretch them out so that they become less bulky but still just as strong.

In fact, some yoga incorporates cardio into the class so that your heart rate rises while also using your body as your "weight".

As for upper body- most women are worried about having a bulky upper body and don't want to lift weights because they think their arms will get "big.". Yoga is also great for this. By using your own body as your "weights" you begin to become strong without building huge muscles. You can lengthen out your arm muscles so that you have lean, shapely arms without looking like you should be on the cover of muscle mag. :)

Hope that this helps! I would love for you to come to my yoga class on Saturday mornings. This Saturday I am running a special where if you bring 2 friends you will get in free. Let me know if you ever have anymore questions because I love to help! :)

Namaste,

Hillary


Do you want your question on the Life Yoga blog? E-mail me at hillary@lifeyogatulsa.com or Facebook me your question and look for the answer every Tuesday!


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