I absolutely love yoga. I’ve been teaching it for years, I practise it myself, and I genuinely believe it is one of the best things we can do for our bodies and minds as we get older. Yoga can help us maintain strength, flexibility, mobility, balance, coordination and body awareness. It gives us breathing, relaxation and that incredibly important opportunity to slow down and reconnect with ourselves.
But I also tell my yoga students something that might sound slightly strange coming from a yoga teacher:
Please do some cardio too.
Yoga is wonderful, but I don’t believe one form of exercise has to do everything.
Our bodies need different kinds of movement, and one of the things we need to look after throughout our lives is our cardiovascular fitness — essentially the ability of our heart, lungs, blood vessels and muscles to work together efficiently while we’re moving.
Think about what happens when you walk briskly up a steep hill. Your heart beats faster. Your breathing increases. Your muscles demand more oxygen and energy. Your cardiovascular system has to respond.
That’s something we need to train.
Some styles of yoga can certainly raise your heart rate. A strong, fast Vinyasa or dynamic Flow class can be physically demanding. But the gentle flowing Hatha yoga I teach most often isn’t intended to be a cardiovascular workout. Neither is Yin yoga. And that’s absolutely fine.
Yoga doesn’t need to be everything.
I sometimes think the wellbeing world becomes a little tribal. People find the form of movement they love and then decide it’s the only thing anybody needs. The runners say run. The weightlifters say lift. The yogis say practise yoga.
My view is much simpler.
Do a bit of everything.
For me, a beautifully balanced approach to fitness as we get older includes cardiovascular exercise, strength training, mobility and flexibility, balance and recovery.
Yoga gives us several of those things beautifully, particularly mobility, flexibility, balance, body awareness and, depending on the style, a degree of strength. But I still want my students doing something that gets them a little breathless.
And cardio doesn’t have to mean running.
That’s really important, particularly if you don’t enjoy running or your joints don’t like it.
Cardio could be a brisk walk. Cycling. Swimming. Dancing. Using a cross trainer. Rowing. An exercise bike. An aerobics class. Walking uphill. Even putting some great music on at home and dancing around the kitchen.
The important thing is that sometimes we deliberately ask the cardiovascular system to work harder.
Current UK physical-activity guidance recommends that adults aim for around 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week, or about 75 minutes of vigorous activity, alongside strengthening activities on at least two days each week. You don’t have to do all of that at once, and if you’re currently doing very little, you certainly don’t need to jump straight from nothing to five intense workouts a week.
Start where you are.
Even ten or fifteen minutes counts towards becoming more active.
One of the easiest ways to judge moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise is what I call the talk test. You’re breathing harder and your heart rate has increased, but you can still talk. You probably couldn’t comfortably sing an entire song.
And there are very good reasons for doing it.
Regular physical activity, including aerobic exercise, supports cardiovascular health and can help reduce the risk of conditions including heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. It also supports physical function and overall health as we age.
But there’s another reason I encourage cardio that has nothing to do with disease prevention.
It feels good to be fit.
There’s something wonderful about noticing that the hill that used to leave you breathless doesn’t anymore.
You climb the stairs without thinking about it.
You can walk further.
You can cycle somewhere.
You have more stamina on holiday.
You can spend the day out without feeling completely exhausted.
That’s real-world fitness.
And then I want strength alongside it.
As we get older, maintaining muscle and strength becomes increasingly important. That’s why I’m such an advocate of women doing some form of resistance training rather than relying entirely on cardio.
Then I want mobility and balance.
That’s where yoga is extraordinary.
And finally, I want recovery.
We don’t need to spend our entire lives pushing our bodies harder and harder. We also need sleep, nourishing food, rest, breathing, relaxation and periods when our nervous systems aren’t constantly being stimulated.
That’s why I don’t see yoga and cardio as competing with each other.
They complement each other.
You might strength train twice a week, practise yoga a couple of times, walk most days and go for a bike ride at the weekend.
It doesn’t have to be complicated.
In fact, I think one of the biggest mistakes we make with fitness is making it so complicated that people give up before they’ve even started.
Move your body.
Sometimes lift something.
Sometimes get a little breathless.
Sometimes stretch and mobilise.
Sometimes balance.
And sometimes stop, breathe and recover.
That’s my idea of a balanced fitness programme.
So if you come to one of my gentle yoga classes and then tell me you’re going for a brisk walk, a swim or a bike ride later, I’m going to be delighted.
I’m a yoga teacher.
But I’m also a personal trainer.
And I don’t just want you flexible enough to touch your toes.
I want your heart fit enough, your muscles strong enough and your body capable enough to carry you through the rest of your life.
Selena
Personal Trainer, Yoga Teacher & Wellbeing Coach
In Flow Wellbeing Studio, Cheltenham
