Yoga/barre/Pilates bodies

[Anonymous]

18:07, I was afraid you were going to say solidcore! Only because of the price, it otherwise sounds perfect for me. I'm actually trying it next week (my best friend is a devotee and has been after me to try a class with her)--pretty sure I'll fall in love with it and then contort myself into rationalizing the cost.

-12:04

[Anonymous]

Thanks 18:07!

[Anonymous]

You're not going to transform a fat body to a lean body by just doing Pilates or solid core. If you're skinny Fat maybe , and even then you can't eat like crap and you have go more than once a week. If you look at the instructors , those that look muscular do other types of exercise. Cardio and weight training are equally important if not more. Diet is even more important .

[Anonymous]

I'm naturally a bit soft and pear shaped. In my 20s I got very fit through cardio and weights and, feeling rather burned out, thought I'd switch to power yoga a la Madonna. I am pretty advanced in yoga but gained the weight back FAST.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to transform a fat body to a lean body by just doing Pilates or solid core. If you're skinny Fat maybe , and even then you can't eat like crap and you have go more than once a week. If you look at the instructors , those that look muscular do other types of exercise. Cardio and weight training are equally important if not more. Diet is even more important .

I don't think that was the question, though, more whether people who naturally bulk up through weights can gain strength without bulk through yoga/barre/pilates. No one is talking about eating like crap and only exercising once a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to transform a fat body to a lean body by just doing Pilates or solid core. If you're skinny Fat maybe , and even then you can't eat like crap and you have go more than once a week. If you look at the instructors , those that look muscular do other types of exercise. Cardio and weight training are equally important if not more. Diet is even more important .

If you eat like crap and only exercise once a week, no form of exercise is going to do it for you. I only do yoga now (60-90 minutes a day, 6 times a week) and I am both lean and toned (defined stomach muscles, arms, back, legs) so it is possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to transform a fat body to a lean body by just doing Pilates or solid core. If you're skinny Fat maybe , and even then you can't eat like crap and you have go more than once a week. If you look at the instructors , those that look muscular do other types of exercise. Cardio and weight training are equally important if not more. Diet is even more important .

I don't think that was the question, though, more whether people who naturally bulk up through weights can gain strength without bulk through yoga/barre/pilates. No one is talking about eating like crap and only exercising once a week.

New poster. The question is essentially flawed. Hypertrophy is one of the biological bases of strength, so gaining strength without "bulk," taken to mean an increase in the size of muscle fibers, is difficult. "Bulk" in the sense of fluid retention in response to new stimuli is different, though, and is a common occurrence when women (or anyone) start lifting weights. The phenomenon can last weeks or months, but can be off-putting to people who are overly sensitive to minute visible changes in their bodies. The best advice would be to relax about temporary inflammation, and forge ahead until your body gets used to the stimulus. An average woman is unlikely to put more than 2-3 lbs of muscle tissue on per year, and that is assuming she is training hard and progressively, and overeating consistently. That amount is unlikely to be noticeable spread over the entire body. It will be more noticeable if she loses fat concurrently.

Yoga, pilates, and other flexibility-based training is probably best treated as a supplement to a training program, rather than as the main component, since there is virtually no impact on muscle hypertrophy or strength qualities, fat loss, or any other trainable quality save for flexibility. If it helps you relax and/or improves your posture, that's a good thing. Whether these objectives can be achieved more efficiently and economically through other means is something to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to transform a fat body to a lean body by just doing Pilates or solid core. If you're skinny Fat maybe , and even then you can't eat like crap and you have go more than once a week. If you look at the instructors , those that look muscular do other types of exercise. Cardio and weight training are equally important if not more. Diet is even more important .

I don't think that was the question, though, more whether people who naturally bulk up through weights can gain strength without bulk through yoga/barre/pilates. No one is talking about eating like crap and only exercising once a week.

New poster. The question is essentially flawed. Hypertrophy is one of the biological bases of strength, so gaining strength without "bulk," taken to mean an increase in the size of muscle fibers, is difficult. "Bulk" in the sense of fluid retention in response to new stimuli is different, though, and is a common occurrence when women (or anyone) start lifting weights. The phenomenon can last weeks or months, but can be off-putting to people who are overly sensitive to minute visible changes in their bodies. The best advice would be to relax about temporary inflammation, and forge ahead until your body gets used to the stimulus. An average woman is unlikely to put more than 2-3 lbs of muscle tissue on per year, and that is assuming she is training hard and progressively, and overeating consistently. That amount is unlikely to be noticeable spread over the entire body. It will be more noticeable if she loses fat concurrently.

Yoga, pilates, and other flexibility-based training is probably best treated as a supplement to a training program, rather than as the main component, since there is virtually no impact on muscle hypertrophy or strength qualities, fat loss, or any other trainable quality save for flexibility. If it helps you relax and/or improves your posture, that's a good thing. Whether these objectives can be achieved more efficiently and economically through other means is something to consider.

A lot of generalizations in this post. What are your sources?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to transform a fat body to a lean body by just doing Pilates or solid core. If you're skinny Fat maybe , and even then you can't eat like crap and you have go more than once a week. If you look at the instructors , those that look muscular do other types of exercise. Cardio and weight training are equally important if not more. Diet is even more important .

I don't think that was the question, though, more whether people who naturally bulk up through weights can gain strength without bulk through yoga/barre/pilates. No one is talking about eating like crap and only exercising once a week.

New poster. The question is essentially flawed. Hypertrophy is one of the biological bases of strength, so gaining strength without "bulk," taken to mean an increase in the size of muscle fibers, is difficult. "Bulk" in the sense of fluid retention in response to new stimuli is different, though, and is a common occurrence when women (or anyone) start lifting weights. The phenomenon can last weeks or months, but can be off-putting to people who are overly sensitive to minute visible changes in their bodies. The best advice would be to relax about temporary inflammation, and forge ahead until your body gets used to the stimulus. An average woman is unlikely to put more than 2-3 lbs of muscle tissue on per year, and that is assuming she is training hard and progressively, and overeating consistently. That amount is unlikely to be noticeable spread over the entire body. It will be more noticeable if she loses fat concurrently.

Yoga, pilates, and other flexibility-based training is probably best treated as a supplement to a training program, rather than as the main component, since there is virtually no impact on muscle hypertrophy or strength qualities, fat loss, or any other trainable quality save for flexibility. If it helps you relax and/or improves your posture, that's a good thing. Whether these objectives can be achieved more efficiently and economically through other means is something to consider.

A lot of generalizations in this post. What are your sources?

For the contention that neither yoga nor pilates on their own have significant impacts on hypertrophy, strength, or fat loss?

I don't have any, but I don't know that anyone has even bothered to study this since it's not really plausible that they would have that kind of impact. If anyone is contending that they have 1. increased significantly the amount of lean tissue they carry, 2. increased significantly their capacity for force production, or 3. significantly changed body composition with yoga, pilates, or similar with no other modifications made to diet/exercise regimen, I think they should present that data, because it would be pretty remarkable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to transform a fat body to a lean body by just doing Pilates or solid core. If you're skinny Fat maybe , and even then you can't eat like crap and you have go more than once a week. If you look at the instructors , those that look muscular do other types of exercise. Cardio and weight training are equally important if not more. Diet is even more important .

I don't think that was the question, though, more whether people who naturally bulk up through weights can gain strength without bulk through yoga/barre/pilates. No one is talking about eating like crap and only exercising once a week.

New poster. The question is essentially flawed. Hypertrophy is one of the biological bases of strength, so gaining strength without "bulk," taken to mean an increase in the size of muscle fibers, is difficult. "Bulk" in the sense of fluid retention in response to new stimuli is different, though, and is a common occurrence when women (or anyone) start lifting weights. The phenomenon can last weeks or months, but can be off-putting to people who are overly sensitive to minute visible changes in their bodies. The best advice would be to relax about temporary inflammation, and forge ahead until your body gets used to the stimulus. An average woman is unlikely to put more than 2-3 lbs of muscle tissue on per year, and that is assuming she is training hard and progressively, and overeating consistently. That amount is unlikely to be noticeable spread over the entire body. It will be more noticeable if she loses fat concurrently.

Yoga, pilates, and other flexibility-based training is probably best treated as a supplement to a training program, rather than as the main component, since there is virtually no impact on muscle hypertrophy or strength qualities, fat loss, or any other trainable quality save for flexibility. If it helps you relax and/or improves your posture, that's a good thing. Whether these objectives can be achieved more efficiently and economically through other means is something to consider.

A lot of generalizations in this post. What are your sources?

For the contention that neither yoga nor pilates on their own have significant impacts on hypertrophy, strength, or fat loss?

I don't have any, but I don't know that anyone has even bothered to study this since it's not really plausible that they would have that kind of impact. If anyone is contending that they have 1. increased significantly the amount of lean tissue they carry, 2. increased significantly their capacity for force production, or 3. significantly changed body composition with yoga, pilates, or similar with no other modifications made to diet/exercise regimen, I think they should present that data, because it would be pretty remarkable.

The only thing I think might be hard with these methods is capacity for force production, since by nature they tend to be slow movements. But you're also talking about the average woman, and those of us who are interested in this question aren't that, i.e., we're women who tend to bulk up through lifting. Yeah, yeah, I know about temporary inflammation, etc. I also know that when I lift heavy (vs. not), my glutes, thighs, shoulders, all become larger, to the point where my clothing no longer fits. I've gone through enough cycles of lifting heavy vs. not in my life to see this pattern. I don't think people have bothered to study it because it's not a particularly fundable research question. I also think SolidCore might be a bit different in that you're using resistance, but there are plenty of challenging yoga poses that use body weight to build strength. Again, not necessarily for the average person/woman, but for those of us who gain muscle mass easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to transform a fat body to a lean body by just doing Pilates or solid core. If you're skinny Fat maybe , and even then you can't eat like crap and you have go more than once a week. If you look at the instructors , those that look muscular do other types of exercise. Cardio and weight training are equally important if not more. Diet is even more important .

I don't think that was the question, though, more whether people who naturally bulk up through weights can gain strength without bulk through yoga/barre/pilates. No one is talking about eating like crap and only exercising once a week.

New poster. The question is essentially flawed. Hypertrophy is one of the biological bases of strength, so gaining strength without "bulk," taken to mean an increase in the size of muscle fibers, is difficult. "Bulk" in the sense of fluid retention in response to new stimuli is different, though, and is a common occurrence when women (or anyone) start lifting weights. The phenomenon can last weeks or months, but can be off-putting to people who are overly sensitive to minute visible changes in their bodies. The best advice would be to relax about temporary inflammation, and forge ahead until your body gets used to the stimulus. An average woman is unlikely to put more than 2-3 lbs of muscle tissue on per year, and that is assuming she is training hard and progressively, and overeating consistently. That amount is unlikely to be noticeable spread over the entire body. It will be more noticeable if she loses fat concurrently.

Yoga, pilates, and other flexibility-based training is probably best treated as a supplement to a training program, rather than as the main component, since there is virtually no impact on muscle hypertrophy or strength qualities, fat loss, or any other trainable quality save for flexibility. If it helps you relax and/or improves your posture, that's a good thing. Whether these objectives can be achieved more efficiently and economically through other means is something to consider.

+1 to this poster and his/her follow up below. I'm always mystified by women who say they bulk after six or ten weeks of lifting. Even at the upper limit for women of 1 lb per month, that's only 3 lbs. There's something else going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people I know who do these types of exercise are people who naturally have long, lean bodies. They do it and says it has made such a difference for their bodies but they honestly don't look much different than before they started. Sure, they may have toned up a bit but it's not like their body was transformed.

I know there are other benefits to exercise besides that, of course, but I'm wondering if the people drawn to these types of exercise already have the type of body that is conducive to it. I've never seen somebody with a shorter, squatter body type be transformed by yoga, barre or Pilates. Have you?

Just a random question/thought.

I'm the person that you have never seen! I started megaformer pilates on a whim (a studio opened near my house), and it has transformed my body! I'm 5'2" with a muscular build and apple shaped. I also have a sedentary job. Lifting makes me bulky, and cardio makes me starved, so I wasn't able to achieve a lean look before starting pilates. I've lost weight without changing my diet. I eat healthily but I am never hungry. (Pilates doesn't make me more hungry like cardio does.) My physique has totally changed. My torso is much leaner, and I'm stronger than ever without being bulky. I love it! I do pilates 1-2 times per week, other resistance strength training 1x/week, and cardio (zumba, running, walking, spin class) 1-2 x/week. I usually exercise 3-4 x/week.

Oh wow, this is me to a tee - same height, get bulky with too much weights, eat too much after cardio. How long have you been doing the Pilates?

PP here. It has been almost a year. I should add that I work very hard during pilates. I push myself to the limit.

Thank you. Are you doing Solid Core, or can you share the name of your studio? It looks intimidating!!

I would also love to know where you go! I'm taller, but also bulk up through lifting, and much as I love it, it's incredibly annoying to have to buy all new tops and coats. I have a hunch I'd love intense pilates.

I'm the PP that you and 10:13 quoted. I go to solidcore. I see people of various fitness levels there, and there are ways to accommodate various starting points. I have come a long way myself.

PP, how long did it take you to start seeing results from Solidcore? I'm one of the earlier PPs and just started it--am completely hooked and worked it out where I can go twice/week (plus other workouts). Three classes in I'm already much more stable with the different exercises, and looking forward to perhaps some visible results, too. It is SO awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My SIL is a Pilates instructor of a decade.

She is fit-fat and I always think that for the hours she spends in the gym, teaching and training, there's little to show for it. She doesn't appear to be in good shape.

So, she's one of those.

There's a trainer at a gym I used to belong to and neither she nor ANY of her clients transformed. It was companionship, that's what her clients got. I saw the same routine repeated with every client, while chatting. No thanks. I had an engaging trainer, who became a very dear friend over the years. And, I had a killer body, too. My friend is too professional to say anything other than, "Well, people come to the gym for a variety of reasons."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to transform a fat body to a lean body by just doing Pilates or solid core. If you're skinny Fat maybe , and even then you can't eat like crap and you have go more than once a week. If you look at the instructors , those that look muscular do other types of exercise. Cardio and weight training are equally important if not more. Diet is even more important .

I don't think that was the question, though, more whether people who naturally bulk up through weights can gain strength without bulk through yoga/barre/pilates. No one is talking about eating like crap and only exercising once a week.

New poster. The question is essentially flawed. Hypertrophy is one of the biological bases of strength, so gaining strength without "bulk," taken to mean an increase in the size of muscle fibers, is difficult. "Bulk" in the sense of fluid retention in response to new stimuli is different, though, and is a common occurrence when women (or anyone) start lifting weights. The phenomenon can last weeks or months, but can be off-putting to people who are overly sensitive to minute visible changes in their bodies. The best advice would be to relax about temporary inflammation, and forge ahead until your body gets used to the stimulus. An average woman is unlikely to put more than 2-3 lbs of muscle tissue on per year, and that is assuming she is training hard and progressively, and overeating consistently. That amount is unlikely to be noticeable spread over the entire body. It will be more noticeable if she loses fat concurrently.

Yoga, pilates, and other flexibility-based training is probably best treated as a supplement to a training program, rather than as the main component, since there is virtually no impact on muscle hypertrophy or strength qualities, fat loss, or any other trainable quality save for flexibility. If it helps you relax and/or improves your posture, that's a good thing. Whether these objectives can be achieved more efficiently and economically through other means is something to consider.

A lot of generalizations in this post. What are your sources?

For the contention that neither yoga nor pilates on their own have significant impacts on hypertrophy, strength, or fat loss?

I don't have any, but I don't know that anyone has even bothered to study this since it's not really plausible that they would have that kind of impact. If anyone is contending that they have 1. increased significantly the amount of lean tissue they carry, 2. increased significantly their capacity for force production, or 3. significantly changed body composition with yoga, pilates, or similar with no other modifications made to diet/exercise regimen, I think they should present that data, because it would be pretty remarkable.

You lost me with the contention that it's impossible to change body composition through yoga. I'm a guy who lifts heavy, and I did a bit of yoga for flexibility. I quit eventually because in an hour I was doing the equivalent of about 200 pushups, and it was screwing up my recovery. I have no problem believing that an untrained woman could recomp with hard core yoga.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to transform a fat body to a lean body by just doing Pilates or solid core. If you're skinny Fat maybe , and even then you can't eat like crap and you have go more than once a week. If you look at the instructors , those that look muscular do other types of exercise. Cardio and weight training are equally important if not more. Diet is even more important .

I don't think that was the question, though, more whether people who naturally bulk up through weights can gain strength without bulk through yoga/barre/pilates. No one is talking about eating like crap and only exercising once a week.

New poster. The question is essentially flawed. Hypertrophy is one of the biological bases of strength, so gaining strength without "bulk," taken to mean an increase in the size of muscle fibers, is difficult. "Bulk" in the sense of fluid retention in response to new stimuli is different, though, and is a common occurrence when women (or anyone) start lifting weights. The phenomenon can last weeks or months, but can be off-putting to people who are overly sensitive to minute visible changes in their bodies. The best advice would be to relax about temporary inflammation, and forge ahead until your body gets used to the stimulus. An average woman is unlikely to put more than 2-3 lbs of muscle tissue on per year, and that is assuming she is training hard and progressively, and overeating consistently. That amount is unlikely to be noticeable spread over the entire body. It will be more noticeable if she loses fat concurrently.

Yoga, pilates, and other flexibility-based training is probably best treated as a supplement to a training program, rather than as the main component, since there is virtually no impact on muscle hypertrophy or strength qualities, fat loss, or any other trainable quality save for flexibility. If it helps you relax and/or improves your posture, that's a good thing. Whether these objectives can be achieved more efficiently and economically through other means is something to consider.

A lot of generalizations in this post. What are your sources?

For the contention that neither yoga nor pilates on their own have significant impacts on hypertrophy, strength, or fat loss?

I don't have any, but I don't know that anyone has even bothered to study this since it's not really plausible that they would have that kind of impact. If anyone is contending that they have 1. increased significantly the amount of lean tissue they carry, 2. increased significantly their capacity for force production, or 3. significantly changed body composition with yoga, pilates, or similar with no other modifications made to diet/exercise regimen, I think they should present that data, because it would be pretty remarkable.

You lost me with the contention that it's impossible to change body composition through yoga. I'm a guy who lifts heavy, and I did a bit of yoga for flexibility. I quit eventually because in an hour I was doing the equivalent of about 200 pushups, and it was screwing up my recovery. I have no problem believing that an untrained woman could recomp with hard core yoga.

I agree that if you do hard core yoga properly it could work. But you would need to go frequently and do it properly. I do vinyasa once a week to supplement crossfit. It is good for stretching, a decent workout for arms and legs. Compared to lifting you would need to go a lot to have a significant benefit. Like every day. You would also need to push yourself. A lot of people doing it seem to flop between high plank to the floor rather than lowering themselves to a low plank. I think there are a lot of ways to make even hard core yoga pretty easy.