Can You Do Yoga And Pilates On The Same Day
Each form of workout, be it Pilates or yoga, has die-hard fans who believe their practice is better. So, which do you choose, and can you do both? More so, can you do both on the same day? Finding that balance in our lives is a constant struggle, and planning your exercise schedule is no exception.
Yoga and Pilates have some similarities that overlap but, at the same time, have differences that make each discipline necessary with its own sets of benefits. You can combine the two forms of exercise into one workout or keep each one separate and schedule the best time to do each one.
Choosing between Pilates or yoga shouldn’t give you anxiety. After all, the whole point of both disciplines is to relieve stress. Find your balance and use both these exercises to benefit you and your well-being.
Can Yoga And Pilates Be Done On The Same Day?
There is no set rule on when you should do yoga and Pilates. Ultimately you need to listen to your mind and body. Both are focused on reducing stress, mental focus, and breathing techniques.
Yoga deeply focuses on connecting the mind, body, and spirit.
Deciding whether to do both practices on the same day depends on how you feel. For example, you could combine the two into a yogilates or a more intense PiYo workout, or keep the two separate and start your exercise with a wake-up yoga flow before heading into your Pilates class. Another combination is to end off your Pilates class with relaxing meditative yoga.
If you want to get in a morning and afternoon set of workouts, then do your Pilates in the morning as an energizing workout to get you pumped for your day, and keep the yoga for afternoons or evenings to wind down from your day and get some stretches in, while relaxing and meditating to help improve your sleep pattern.
So, in short, yes, you can do yoga and Pilates on the same day. You decide how each practice can help you and when you can benefit best from it.
Which Should You Do First, Yoga Or Pilates?
Pilates is a more energizing workout than the more mindful yoga practice. Pilates would be more beneficial as a morning workout to energize you for the day ahead. Still, it can be just as effective at night to relieve you of the day’s stresses.
As we previously mentioned, there are no rules for which of the two should be done first. Use your mood and energy levels to determine which will work best.
Yoga combines physical movements with meditation and calming breathing techniques. Whereas Pilates involves a series of repetitive motions with breathing techniques that help enhance correct movements and coordination.
Both are low-impact workouts that use body resistance. Although modern yoga has become mainly about physical movement, its traditional practice is deeply rooted in incorporating the spiritual philosophy and ethical way of living that teaches you self-discipline and unites the mind, body, and spirit.
What Are The Benefits Of Yoga And Pilates?
Yoga and Pilates are beneficial for your health in many ways. Each of these practices is interlinked, and engaging in each one provides benefits that can be carried over to the other.
- Pilates strengthens, while yoga increases flexibility.
- In Pilates, you concentrate on your physical well-being, and yoga focuses on connecting to your mental well-being.
- Both practices focus on breathing techniques that increase the motion of movement.
The combination of physical movement and meditation gives you a holistic approach to your yoga workout. The physical activity focuses on increasing your strength and flexibility. At the same time, calm breathing and meditation techniques promote a state of mindfulness and improve your well-being, producing mind and body fitness.
Benefits of Yoga
- Increase flexibility
- Increases muscle strength and tone
- Improves respiration, energy, and vitality
- Maintains a balanced metabolism
- Helps reduce weight through mindfulness
- Improves circulatory health
- Promotes better sleep
- Brightens your mood
- Manages stress and anxiety
- Reduces lower back pain
Pilates is a physical system that uses specifically targeted exercises and focuses on small movements to activate, stabilize and improve strength, flexibility, and posture with a focus on the core.
Benefits of Pilates
- Increases core strength
- Improves posture through strengthened core
- Ideal for rehabilitation after injury
- Reduces the risk of injuries
- Increases energy
- Improves cognitive functions
- Helps reduce arthritis
- Relaxes the shoulder, neck, and upper back
Can Yoga And Pilates Be Combined In One Workout?
For some, the option of doing two separate workouts is too time-consuming. With the demands of work and family life, our time has become a scarce resource that needs to be appropriately divided and planned.
That’s why more and more classes are combining the many benefits of Pilates and Yoga into one session, yogilates or piyo.
What Is Yogilates?
Yogilates combines Pilates exercises and hatha yoga poses and movements into a modern form of fitness training exercises.
The theory is that the Pilates-styled floor-based movements prepare the body to perform yoga postures safely. In addition, Pilates helps strengthen the muscles required for the yoga transition and hold poses for extended periods.
What Is PiYo
PiYo is a developed fitness plan by Beachbody. It’s a low-impact hardcore workout that combines the strengthening benefits of Pilates with the flexibility movements of yoga while sculpting your body.
How Can Pilates Help Your Yoga?
Adding Pilates to your weekly or daily workout can help your yoga or get you out of a plateau.
Breathing, unlike yogis, Pilates inhales through the nose and exhales through the mouth, engaging that section below the naval. This helps you engage your inner core and increases your ability to reach deeper and further in your movements and poses.
Pilates also helps warm up your core muscles and increase the flexion of the spine to increase flexibility in yoga poses.
Pilates focuses on building core strength, and this will provide you with the balance needed to maintain and hold the extended poses in yoga.
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Conclusion
Although yoga and Pilates are two separate schools of thought, they have some similarities that interlink the two styles. It is possible to do yoga and Pilates on the same day and even combine the two into one session. Pilates can significantly help improve yoga movements by strengthening the core, which provides the balance needed for yoga poses.
