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Incorporate Yoga, Cardio And Strength Training Into Your Work-Out

Your age, body type, level of fitness and your fitness goals will determine the kind of work-out which will work for you. If you are a marathon runner, your work-out will concentrate on cardio exercises since you will need to build speed and lung power. If your aim is to lose body fat, your workout will be a combination of cardio, strength training and yoga and hence quite different.

Cardio exercises range from light cardio like walking to medium intensity ones like swimming and high intensity exercises like aerobics or kick-boxing. Cardio exercises increase blood circulation, increase the red blood corpuscles in the body, help the heart work better and increase lung capacity. They prevent heart disease and osteoporosis.

Strength training exercises are anaerobic exercises based on the concept of resistance. They are aimed at building up muscular mass and strength. Weight machines and free weights are used to help you achieve this. Along with building strength, these exercises improve bone density and cardiac function and raise the levels of good cholesterol in your body.

Yoga is a complete exercise form that uses exercise and breathing techniques to help reduce body fat and make the body balanced and flexible. It concentrates more on sculpting the body and less on the building of stamina.

You should not try to combine different forms of exercise, e.g. cardio and strength training, as part of a workout on the same day. You will be defeating the purpose of your exercise if you try to do this. This is because any form of exercise creates wear and tear and exhaustion. The body needs time to recover and repair itself in order to rebuild.

A weekly schedule could look something like this, if your aim is to lose body fat and build muscle, and also make the body supple and strong.

If you are already fit, but just want to maintain your fitness levels, you could reduce your cardio exercises to two days per week and do strength training for three days, with yoga for two days.

If you are older, you could opt for light cardio exercises. You can practice this for half an hour, for at least four days a week. Cardio exercises could include walking or cycling. Light cardio exercises would help you lose body fat without creating muscle wear and tear. You could combine this with three days of yoga. Practice the Yoga poses for half an hour per day, to keep you spine supple.

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