596. Wednesday Q&A: weight training, pain in yin yoga poses, & the importance of controlling your pelvis

Welcome to Wednesday Q&A, where you ask questions and we answer them!

 

In this Wednesday Q&A, we answer your questions about weight training, pain in back bending, yin yoga poses, and the importance of controlling your pelvis.

Your questions:

• You talked about weight training a couple of weeks ago on the podcast. You mentioned it was beneficial to incorporate it, especially as we age. Could you define a little bit more about what you mean when you talk about weight training? I don’t like lifting heavier traditional weights in general. It just feels off in my body most of the time. And I prefer resistance bands, wrist and ankle weights, sandbags, and an exercise ball. Would you classify those kinds of props as weight training? Is there a certain weight range that’s recommended to build up? And secondly, you mentioned that it was particularly necessary for women, for our bone health as we go through menopause. Does this mean it’s less essential for men?
• When I practice yin yoga there are two poses that irritate me: Sphinx and Bridge with the block underneath my coccyx with the legs out straight, extended. I have no problem doing bridge pose, wheel pose, and upward-facing dogs in yang styles, which would be vinyasa styles. But these two static poses caused me problems in my lower back on the right side at the SI joint. I assume it comes from the compression of tissue, but I’m surprised I feel absolutely nothing in yang styles or when doing long-distance runs, cross-country skiing, or salsa dancing. I’m a great forward binder. I like arm balances. My right hand is the strong hand and I have rather loose ligaments. I try to focus on strength. My weaknesses are hip flexion despite the loose ligaments, maybe because I am a long-distance runner and backbends. I call it weakness, not because it bothers me, but just compared to what it looks like on average. Now and then I try these poses again and see whether something changed. The problem has persisted for around two years now. What would you recommend? Massages? Working on strengthening my glutes? Hip flexion and back bends did not really improve the situation or only very slightly.
• I love LYT so much and it has helped me counteract years of dance. I still practice ballet and wonder how I better educate people who want to just bend their spines and lock out their knees. In other words, why is it so important to control the pelvis?

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: lytyoga.com/blog/category/podcasts/

Do you have a question?

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• Email us at [email protected]

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