Yoga/barre/Pilates bodies

[Anonymous]

I am 5'7.5 and tend to be around 148 pounds, carrying weight in my hips and butt. I have a slim build but have had "saddle bags" since college. Pilates has whittled those suckers down like nothing else and I've done every kind of exercise/class/studio/cardio out there. So, while I wouldn't say it has "transformed" me, it has taken care of a 20+ year problem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 5'7.5 and tend to be around 148 pounds, carrying weight in my hips and butt. I have a slim build but have had "saddle bags" since college. Pilates has whittled those suckers down like nothing else and I've done every kind of exercise/class/studio/cardio out there. So, while I wouldn't say it has "transformed" me, it has taken care of a 20+ year problem

How often do you do Pilates? I have a similar build and am about the same weight but taller. I have been doing barre twice a week (I also run about 12 miles a week and bike communte about 15 miles a week) and Barre but still have my saddlebags(only thing I have noticed are more toned arms).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 5'7.5 and tend to be around 148 pounds, carrying weight in my hips and butt. I have a slim build but have had "saddle bags" since college. Pilates has whittled those suckers down like nothing else and I've done every kind of exercise/class/studio/cardio out there. So, while I wouldn't say it has "transformed" me, it has taken care of a 20+ year problem

What type of Pilates - mat or reformer? This is encouraging!

[Anonymous]

Answering both of the questions above:

I've done mostly Mat/tower with some reformer. Note that I think the tower is key here. You need to look for classes that derive from the authentic Joseph Pilates approach of which the tower and other components are key (saddle etc). I went 3-4x a week doing no other exercise but walking for about 3 months and noticed a major reshape of my legs and significant decrease of saddle bags. I'm now mixing it up a little adding in some running etc but will try and go 2x a week because anything less than that is not likely to be effective.

[Anonymous]

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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.

If you're doing yoga properly you shouldn't know what other people are doing. Keep your mind on your own mat!

[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.

?? Pilates isn't flexibility-based training at all. The classes I go to involve stretching at the end, but that's it as far as stretching goes. The rest is bodyweight-based (in mat class) or spring resistance-based (in tower/reformer class) weight training.

[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.

?? Pilates isn't flexibility-based training at all. The classes I go to involve stretching at the end, but that's it as far as stretching goes. The rest is bodyweight-based (in mat class) or spring resistance-based (in tower/reformer class) weight training.

A lot of yoga isn't either. I absolutely consider much of my yoga practice to be strength-building.

[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.

?? Pilates isn't flexibility-based training at all. The classes I go to involve stretching at the end, but that's it as far as stretching goes. The rest is bodyweight-based (in mat class) or spring resistance-based (in tower/reformer class) weight training.

I feel like my mat/tower class has helped me enormously with flexibility as well as strength. I'm tall and can now bend over and lay my hands flat on the ground without bending my knees...I can roll in a ball and then jump to my feet. These are a direct result of multiple Pilates classes a week. It's one of the reasons I started Pilates in the first place.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP above and I also have to say that I totally disagree with the idea that inflammation can be temporary. I lifted heavy weights for years with a trainer and was constantly in pain and only saw minor changes in my body despite being vigilant about rest and diet. I switched over to Pilates and have seen major changes in my body and while the classes are hard and I'm sore afterward, I'm not sure for days. Different strokes for different folks

[Anonymous]

I do vinyasa yoga and it definitely makes me lean and builds my core, but I also watch what I eat and count calories when I need to lose a few pounds. At 36, after two babies, I have more definition in my abs than I did in my 20's and it's definitely down to yoga. I also run and do HIIT workouts so yoga is not all I do but when I do yoga I'm working hard, dripping sweat, etc. But I also build muscle really easily so I don't think you're ever going to see the same results between people for one particular type of exercise.

I personally don't like the super-cut and muscular look, I prefer toned and strong, with some muscle definition. I have no desire to look like a fitness model, with zero fat on my body. Just not my goal. So I think it really depends what you are looking for. Yoga did not magically make me long and lean (I'm short!) But because I build muscle so easily, it's just an effective way for me to get the type of definition I like. That's really it.