your body your health

[lionlimb]

I followed y'all's advice and started doing an hour or so of yoga every day and it has made a HUGE difference. So thanks.

I checked in with my doc recently and found out that my weight has dropped to 115 and my body fat percentage is below 20. I'm 5'10", for the record.

I'd like to get my weight up, not only for strength but for stability. Whenever I get sick or run down I drop an additional 5lbs or so and I think that adds an extra week onto my recovery time.

So I have a few questions to raise:

I'd like to get back into lifting weights, and picked up a pair of basic 15lb. free weights. Anyone have anything to recommend besides the basic alternating routine of curls and weighted squats / lunges?

Any thoughts of protein supplementing? I've been starting the day with a good cross-filtered whey protein and I'm planning to introduce a vegetable alternate to avoid the risk of dairy sensitivity.

As someone who eats a significant amount of grass-fed butter, fatty raw-milk cheeses, eggs, meat, and carbs (rice, yams, potatoes, whole-grain gluten free bread, and some sugar), how can I get my body fat percentage up? I'm a little nervous that if I start lifting regularly it'll drop even lower.

Any other general advice?

[t-bone]

Coconut milk (full fat), coconut oil, almond butter. A good high calorie snack I make a lot is to stir a scoop of vanilla or chocolate whey protein isolate into a cup of plain Greek yogurt. Add fruit, almond butter, chopped almonds, coconut milk, or whipped heavy cream. Endless possibilities.

[cowsareforeating]

^t-bone is on the dot with nut fats especially.

[eat me]

lionlimb, I'm sorry I forgot, you're a girl or a guy?

[interest1]

lionlimb, I'm sorry I forgot, you're a girl or a guy?

Lion is a lady.

[eat me]

^ I thought so, thank you.

lionlimb, why would you want your body fat up? I mean, a specific purpose/look you're going for? Below 20 is quite fit for a woman, why would you want to cover up that stomach with flab?

Fat won't help you with stability and strength, muscle mass will. Are you afraid to become masculine-looking with low body fat and muscles on show?

It's hard to recommend anything without the details of how you look, how you want to look, what you want to achieve, what you don't want to happen.

If you share a bit I can perhaps recommend you some supplements and stuff, I am by no means an expert, just from personal experience of first working hard to drop some fat, and then struggling with gaining the right weight.

[theetruscan]

eat me, below 20%, for a woman, is very lean.

Pushing into low 20s is hardly going to "cover up that stomach with flab."

[Faust]

Kind of related to lionlimbs questions above:

So, I've been doing yoga regularly (Ashtanga) for the past 3 years now. I am considering adding weight lifting (low weight/high reps), but I am concerned that it will be counterproductive to yoga, since from what I understand yoga makes your muscles longer and leaner and therefore stretchier, and weight lifting does the reverse (shorter, bulkier, less stretchy). Thoughts?

[ienjoybiscuits]

I don't think it would be counterproductive at all. I've done resistance work consistently for a few years and have only noticed an increase in flexibility. From what I understand, using low weight and high reps works the long head of the muscle while the inverse works the short head (although I think this is more relevant for explosive power/endurance).

Short of actual muscle mass restricting your movement, I doubt your flexibility would be affected.

[lowrey]

I agree. imo you'd have to lift pretty heavy to get those downsides to begin with, and especially when doing yoga on the side.

[gawkrodger]

echoing what everyone says, weights will not countereffect the yoga, if anything sill actively benefit.

I train and fight, for lack of better description, semi-pro and am surrounded by professional athletes who pretty much all to a man do hot yoga and very heavy weight training as part of conditioning programmes and all are flexible. Squats have definitely improved my flexibility in some areas.

I'd caution against low weight/high reps. Waste of time.

Look into using bodyweight exercises (pull ups etc) and I'm a big advocate of kettlebells.

I'd highly recommend you, at the very least to start off with, discuss your aims and come up with a workout plan with a personal trainer. I'd always recommend using a trainer who trains sports players as you'll get a lot more functional and practical advice than beach body bicep curl rubbish

[VonStraap]

I've also been doing Ashtanga regularly now for around two years. On the average I do the practise - depending on work situation - approx. 4-5 times a week. For me that is more than enough for the muscles, and don't have the need to get anything extra (or even have the energy to pursue for anything more ).

I do now the primary series until Navasana and the (physical) results appear mostly on the upper part of body. Different Ashtanga series kind of focus in different areas (primary series being actually more like a restorative serie in the whole) and thus the lesser development in certain places in the beginning of the practise.

Anyway from purely practise point of view I'd say you don't need anything more, just do the practise. From personal perspective - if you want to - I don't see that it would somehow countereffect or give negative effects to the practise. The kettlebell (or girya) mentioned above is really something to try out. And actually quite many yoga shalas give led classes with those (at least around here).

I discussed with my teacher about this subject some time ago and his two cents were that when you cross a certain stage in yoga (continue to second series, third series..) you should consider giving up those kinds of sports that stiffen you (e.g. running, cycling..) as these will impact your asana practise.

[Faust]

You might be right - maybe I should simply start doing yoga 5 times a week.

[VonStraap]

Definitely! Give it a go for a couple of weeks and see what happens

[gawkrodger]

yeh, really comes down to what you want to do. You want to become better at yoga? Do more yoga! Are there fitness goals? aesthetic goals? performance/athletic goals? What do you want to get out of any other conditioning?

If you want any kettlebell or bodyweight pointers/suggestions don't hesitate to ask