How to Get a Workout Doing Yoga (Seriously)!

I’m sure you remember when Madonna was asked how she got her killer arms. People were shocked and skeptical that she could have possibly sculpted those guns doing yoga...and only yoga. I, too, was among the naysayers. These celebrities and their “it’s so easy to look this tiny and perfect and muscular and never be hungry” claims! I had tried yoga. In fact I even tried a complete yoga retreat WEEKEND with my mom in the beautiful mountains above Boulder, Colorado where we did nothing but yoga and attempted to sit cross-legged at temple (have you ever tried to sit cross-legged for an hour without reflecting pain on your face?) and ate vegan food and drank our illegal bottles of wine in our cabin (sometimes my fingers won’t stop typing when they should), and while it was indeed good for my mentality and stress factor and it fed my soul to a large degree, I don’t remember leaving those yoga sessions thinking “My arms are gonna be ripped!”

Now fast-forward to present-day, where we now have this new concept of blending yoga with cardio and total-body strength training. You can now complete a “yoga” workout and feel like you got your butt (and arms) whooped. This is one thing I adore about the fitness industry – it’s constantly evolving. Was this what Madonna was keeping from us? After investing in some yoga teacher training to pass this fusion workout onto my clients, and purchasing some cardio yoga DVDs to use at home for myself, I can now appreciate Madonna’s claims. If you’re like me and tried yoga and just felt like it wasn’t the workout you were hoping for, I’m challenging you this month to try it again. Here are a few things you’ll find out, and also a few DVDs to try.

What’s with all this sun salutation stuff, anyway?

I’m not going to tell you how yoga was originally intended for the mind, body, and soul. You can read up on all that in Yoga Journal or online. I will tell you the first thing I was taught in my training was that yoga poses are meant to be done in sequences, each one warming up the body for what’s coming next. What the heck does that mean? It means that in these fusion workouts, you’ll be doing a whole lotta sun salutations, which stretch out the hamstrings and are used to lengthen and strengthen the main muscles in the body (your legs, back, and core). You’ll do some planking and lunging and then you’ll keep returning to another sun salutation and you’ll wonder why you have to keep repeating the same @#!$ pose. I’m telling you now that it’s part of the flow and it helps to transition your body for the next part of the workout. Without sun salutations, the workout would lose that whole yoga-ness factor and just be a planking and lunging DVD. Bor-ing!

Those yoga freaks are strong!

The kind of yoga we’re talking about here isn’t your lay-down-and-stretch-for-20-minutes variety. This stuff is quick, as it’s meant to get your heart rate up so you burn calories and build muscle at the same time. So you’ll spend a lot of time working your shoulders. There are a bazillion different ways to do plank and the instructors on the DVDs below like to show you this. You’ll also go from flowing between poses to suddenly holding one in place, which requires some muscle stamina. If you can’t get it at first, trust me you will. But it’ll give you respect for that woman telling you to “breathe through it,” because you’ll realize that woman is significantly stronger than you and could probably kick your butt in a yoga battle...

It’s not just a “light” workout anymore.

See above two paragraphs. Don’t aim to do these workouts on days you deem light workout days. Save walking for those days. And if the workout does become easy for you, you need to graduate to a different class or DVD. I like Jillian Michaels and Shiva Rea’s DVDs for this reason – because you can progress as you get stronger and more familiar with the poses. As for flexibility, you may develop that too, although I’m here to tell you after all this I’m still laughably inflexible. But don’t get frustrated if you can’t get your leg to do that thing the freakishly strong yoga lady is doing. We were not all blessed with Gumby limbs, and I assure you the workout will still be a good one.

Trainer Girl-Approved Yoga-Fusion DVDs

• Shiva Rae: Power Flow Yoga (Amazon.com). Also check out her other yoga DVDs, she is pretty much a goddess when it comes to this stuff.

• Jillian Michaels: Yoga Meltdown (Amazon.com). I’ll always have a special spot in my heart for Jillian. Now she just found another way to kick people’s butts in 35 minutes or less.

• Gaiam Cardio Burn Yoga starring Patricia Moreno (Amazon.com or Gaiam.com). Try the longer version for a bit slower pace and to get the moves down. Then advance to the shorter workout for a faster flow and more heart beat elevation.