Is it better to do yoga before or after workout?

[swordsmanzenn]

I have started doing yoga, and adding my stretch routine in after that. But, is it better to do this before or after a workout? I am leaning towards before, but I feel like doing it after.

[swordsmanzenn]

anyone?

[eedre]

I may be wrong - but I remember reading somewhere on some website made by some guy that stretching before exercise has been really overemphasized in the past. The safety benefits are minimal.

Stretching after is more beneficial as your muscles and tendons are already warm. Stretching while you are warmed up will increase flexibility.

[meanmo]

I have started doing yoga, and adding my stretch routine in after that. But, is it better to do this before or after a workout? I am leaning towards before, but I feel like doing it after.

depends on the type of yoga for me..

You can do some Hatha type poses to awaken yourself like Cobra and others that extend the spine upwards, most of the Hatha, Kundalina yogas to me are better used to find union with breath and relax the mind/body. I would think a Bikra/heated yoga may be a nice way to get loose for a workout.

[swordsmanzenn]

depends on the type of yoga for me..

You can do some Hatha type poses to awaken yourself like Cobra and others that extend the spine upwards, most of the Hatha, Kundalina yogas to me are better used to find union with breath and relax the mind/body. I would think a Bikra/heated yoga may be a nice way to get loose for a workout.

thanks for the input. ill have to learn more about yoga. i am a complete noob to the form, but i do enjoy it and the benefits.

[meanmo]

thanks for the input. ill have to learn more about yoga. i am a complete noob to the form, but i do enjoy it and the benefits.

The real benefit in Yoga, which means "Union" is the conscious awareness of breath. Breath awareness really allows you to calm your mind and stay more conscious of your thoughts and how they effect every facet of your life. Take the spiritual stuff for whats it worth but the focusing and breath awareness can yield practical benefits in your life. To me the stretching is secondary to that level of awareness and internal focus. The stretching is great though, dont get me wrong..

[swordsmanzenn]

The real benefit in Yoga, which means "Union" is the conscious awareness of breath. Breath awareness really allows you to calm your mind and stay more conscious of your thoughts and how they effect every facet of your life. Take the spiritual stuff for whats it worth but the focusing and breath awareness can yield practical benefits in your life. To me the stretching is secondary to that level of awareness and internal focus. The stretching is great though, dont get me wrong..

i agree with you. I feel as though the flow of breath is a spiritual uplift. Meditation has more spiritual benefits. but you are correct my friend. ever since i have started yoga I have improved cardio and ease of breath, also i feel more at peace with the world. I stopped doing it for as few days and felt stressed.

edit: oh yeah i didn't know there was different forms of yoga. so to answer my question i guess that there could be practical use before and after a workout. one to stretch before a workout, or one to cool down and relax after.

thanks for the input

[Verdelet]

Its probably better after, stretching cools your muscles down so its not a great idea to do it right before (If you do i recommend some more warmup sets). Instead you should probably do around 10 minutes of mobility exercises before or keep the stretches really short, then focus on stretching and yoga after working out.

[crupiea]

I stretch before working out but mainly its to benifit the next days workout.

I think it is the cumulative effect where I will beinifit, not the effect I get right away.

I run one day and lift the next.

If I am lifting today then I will warm up on the treadmill first and then do some bodyweight tyoe squats or whatever depending on what I am training. Then I will stretch. Then get to work.

This helps on my runs the follwing day because i am training for a half marathon and want to avoid foolish injuries.

[Westboarder]

I may be wrong - but I remember reading somewhere on some website made by some guy that stretching before exercise has been really overemphasized in the past. The safety benefits are minimal.

Stretching after is more beneficial as your muscles and tendons are already warm. Stretching while you are warmed up will increase flexibility.

I remember reading somewhere on a website (cause anyone can have a website) that some guy (cause everyone is a fitness expert) about how it wasn't overemphasized and was helpful to prevent injury.

[pFuzzz]

Personally, I go through a yoga/qigong routine first thing in the morning, taking it easy because you don't want to do any extreme bending or twisting until you've been up and moving for an hour or so.

In the gym, some light cardio and calisthenics to warm up and get loose, and then after lifting, I go through some asanas that stretch the muscles I've just worked, and push the stretch a little. It's a good way to get out of the agressive iron-slinging mentality and takes the place of a fascial stretching/foam rolling routine.

Off days, I go through a longer routine to de-stress and stay centered. It's also good for minimizing DOMS.

[jaded_seconds]

i stretch/yoga on my off days. i work it out like this, if i'm in the gym 3 hrs a week then i'll dedicate 1/2 of that time, 1.5 hr's to yoga or stretching on my off days. can't neglect your flexibility.

[Nuakka]

Wow I've read the first few pages of this thread and people have little knowledge of stretching...

Laymens terms: yoga before strength training/weight training will make you stronger as strength comes from flexibility.. (from what ive learnt, you should stretch the antagonist muscles to what your just about to workout, not 100% on that tho) and it can give you muscles more room to grow. Do not static stretch as all you are getting is the pain from the stretch, it makes your muscle think it may overstretch and actually tightens, making you prone to injury! Static stretch after a workout or on the night when your not about to hit the gym or do any sort of exersize

[batman37]

Stretch or do Yoga: Post workout and off days, as well as in morning and night.

Preworkout stretching is not really important, but a quick light stretch of antagonists will help.

Always warm up before lifting, as well as stretching. Don't stretch cold muscles.

[medjen]

Wow I've read the first few pages of this thread and people have little knowledge of stretching...

Laymens terms: yoga before strength training/weight training will make you stronger as strength comes from flexibility.. (from what ive learnt, you should stretch the antagonist muscles to what your just about to workout, not 100% on that tho) and it can give you muscles more room to grow. Do not static stretch as all you are getting is the pain from the stretch, it makes your muscle think it may overstretch and actually tightens, making you prone to injury! Static stretch after a workout or on the night when your not about to hit the gym or do any sort of exersize

This thread was started three years ago.

[Tyciol]

yoga before strength training/weight training will make you stronger as strength comes from flexibility..

No it doesn't. The most flexible people are actually people who lack muscles. Skeletons can move in pretty much any direction. Strength comes from the ability of muscles to contract. Flexibility can help with health and RoM but it doesn't cause strength.

from what ive learnt, you should stretch the antagonist muscles to what your just about to workout, not 100% on that

That's debatable. As long as antagonists aren't chronically tight or something, they shouldn't impede the agonists of a movement. The antagonist muscles should be "flexible", but that doesn't mean you need to train for said flexibility immediately before working out. Stretching aggressively might actually make them tighten up before-hand, and people are probably going to be prone to being aggressive while stretching since they're getting psyched up for a lift.

and it can give you muscles more room to grow.

This probably refers to stretching fascial sheaths. While true, that's more an argument for stretching in general, not stretching immediately before training. Actually: if you are stretching AFTER training, when muscles are pumped up, that's probably going to stretch fascia more. Muscles don't start to grow until they recover anyway.

Do not static stretch as all you are getting is the pain from the stretch, it makes your muscle think it may overstretch and actually tightens, making you prone to injury!

This is bull. "Pain" is not all people get from static stretching (if it's painful it's probably being done too hard), and the muscle only "thinks" it may overstretch during rapid stretching. Aka ballistic stretching. When you begin to move into an extreme RoM, the body DOES tense up, and that's why you stop at that point. When you hold a position and are able to stabilize in it and prevent moving further, the body will eventually relax a bit.

The only exception I can think of is when muscles are required to tense to hold a position, like during side splits. Stuff like that is sorta tricky. Trying to get my adductors to relax on side splits is ridiculous.

[Anthony21]

I do my yoga on my off days 1-2 times a week.

[IDrinkBloodLOL]

I'd do it afterwards personally. I'd rather set my PRs and then go relax after. In a perfect world I'd do exactly that, but I have no access to yoga classes.

[halehealth]

Wonderful thread. There are a lot of good ideas here but some of the power of the recommendations are lost in the use of general language. To offer another perspective and perhaps some clarity, I'll add my 2 cents.

1. Warm-up --- Don't static stretch and don't waste your energy or time. Do warm up!
2. Lift-specific warm-up --- If you're a series lifter, anyone interested in PRs, etc: you should develop an understanding of your body and what it needs to be able to exert itself maximally, safely. This will likely include warm ups specific to every major lift you are going to perform. If you watch an old pro in the gym under a rack, he's not fidgeting, he's warming up for a new exercise or set or massaging an old injury or new knot, etc.
3. Lift! --- Lift before you waste energy on cardio, Yoga, stretching, etc.
4. Cool-down --- Consider Yoga however you like (I count it as my entire workout more often than not), but if you want to get stronger and/or bigger by lifting weights in addition, lift weights first and reap the cool-down benefits of Yoga after. If you need additional stretching after Yoga, you're either a competitive Yoga hardcore trying to get better (and safer) and deeper into a pose, or your Yoga teacher isn't doing their job. Yoga should be all you need for cool-down, physically and mentally, after your strength and/or hypertrophy workout. If you've obliterated some subsection of your body, you'd be wise to warm-up, stretch and cool-down multiple times throughout your recovery (over the course of days). Ice and iBuprofen if you've done damage or are prone to inflammation. But I digress.
5. Cardio --- If anyone is curious about cardio, do it at the end end end. Yes, stretch case-specifically after, but my point is don't waste energy doing cardio first if you're interested in strength (!), hypertrophy (!!), or Yoga; in these cases, your cardio is just for endurance (balance) / cardiovascular health or weight maintenance. Endurance training suffers not from pre-exhaustion, nor does cv health or weight maintenance.

Feel free to ask me anything about anything.

Regards,
Geoff