Both are valuable! And here’s why they make a great pair.
I’ve always been a little stubborn about and wary of trends, especially when they go hyper-viral. Either that, or I adopt something before it ends up becoming trendy, so my choices are often questioned. Classic Aquarian behavior, maybe?
When strength training started trending, I found myself intrigued—but not convinced enough to do anything about it. Even though I had learned and practiced weight circuits at the gym in my teens and early 20s to complement dance and stay generally healthy, yoga and dance thoroughly fulfilled me from my late 20s until now.
I did plug in interval cardio based on research from Dr. John Douillard before the topic blew up in recent years, and I found it physically and mentally fruitful. But for some reason I still hesitated to jump on the weights wagon—even when yoga friends I admired and trusted started drinking the strength training Kool-Aid.
It’s hard to say whether it was lack of motivation, knowledge, a gym membership, or my own personal equipment that held me back. Maybe it was just a sense of steadiness around the positive results I was experiencing from yoga. And I guess it just takes me some time to warm up to and trust trends, too. Fair enough.
But as I pass the halfway point en route to age 42 and continually investigate why my joints and muscles have been so sensitive since my mid-20s (side effects from years of birth control and Prilosec aside), I find myself wondering if and how it might impact me to give in to the weight lifting trend and give it a go.
So last month, I made a commitment to learn more and take action—which, to my understanding, science shows is a bonus at any age. Better late than never.
(Here’s the podcast episode that was my personal tipping point in convincing me to pump iron.)
That said, I’m also making a case for why yoga and mobility work are equally important. Because even if the science around strength training and interval cardio is robust—especially for women, finally!—I’m still convinced that mobility practices like yoga, which simultaneously strengthen and mobilize, are also essential.
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What do physical, mental, and emotional strength and mobility mean to you?
What do strength and mobility feel like in your body, and how do both benefit you?
Take good care,
S
Photo by Grant Henry, NYC 2018.
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