Scott Lamps Yoga
  • Home
  • Journal
  • Calendar
  • About
    • About Scott
    • Books
  • Contact

How Strength Might Help Flexibility

1/15/2014

0 Comments

 
I have been doing some strength training for the past couple months to compliment my yoga practice. From the start I have been worried that lifting weights and doing exercises to build strength would limit the range of motion in my muscles and joints. I have been monitoring the depth of my postures as I start to lift more weight, and to my surprise all my postures have gotten deeper. I have seen absolutely no stiff side effects to the weight lifting. Quite the opposite, really. I think the strength training is making me more flexible. I have two theories why that may be true.

1) Stronger muscles mean that I can engage with more power. With more back strength I can straighten my back more. With more abdominal and quad strength I can pull my upper body and lower body together with more force. But the place where I have noticed it the most is in my hips. I have been doing Squats, Deadlifts and One-Legged Bridges (like the Bridge pose in yoga) that have made a huge difference in the strength of my hips, gluts, hamstrings and quads. So in a posture like Tree Pose, I have much more strength to pull my knee back. I never realized how the strength of one muscle can aid the stretch of another.

2) My second reason is a little bit more theoretical. I think that the strength in my muscles is increasing the stability of my joints. And since "flexibility" is a neurological relationship between the muscles, the nerves and the brain by which our nervous systems halt further movement when they sense danger, I think that increased stability in my joints is relaxing my nervous system. My body can sense greater stability and therefore it is willing to permit greater length and greater depth. More strength means less chance of injury, so a deeper stretch is possible.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    This journal honors my ongoing experience with the practice, study and teaching of yoga.

    My Favorites

    - Lessons From Tony
    - Lessons From Tony, 
    Part 2

    - This Complete Stillness
    - Truth Is a Pathless Land

    Popular Posts

    1) Sridaiva Yoga: Good Intention But Imbalanced
    2) Understanding Chair Posture
    2) Why I Don't Use Sanskrit or Say Namaste
    3) The Meaningless Drudgery of Physical Yoga
    5) Beyond Bikram: Why This Is a Great Time For Ghosh Yoga

    Categories

    All
    Community
    Ghosh Study In India
    History & Theory
    Kolkata
    Meditation
    Physical Science (Anatomy/Mechanics Etc)
    Postures
    Practice
    Pranayama
    Pratyahara
    Spirituality
    Sun Salute
    Teaching
    The Mind
    Tony Sanchez Advanced Practice

    Archives

    November 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

©2016 by Scott Lamps. Madison, WI. All rights reserved.
Classes | Journal | About | Contact
  • Home
  • Journal
  • Calendar
  • About
    • About Scott
    • Books
  • Contact