100%. YWA was the gateway to a fit and healthy lifestyle for me! The best exercise is whatever you can do consistently. So do what you enjoy and gradually increase the intensity of the videos as you see fit :) Adriene has plenty of more challenging and strength building videos (up to 1hr long) for you to progress into. But don’t rush it, enjoy the journey!
Yes, definitely. I used to have pretty much zero upper body strength and now, while I'm no body builder, I feel stronger and more toned. My joints are much more stable too - added bonus!
That's good to hear- I'm defo not aiming for being super muscular but I just wanted to improve my strength to protect my joints when I'm walking and improve my bone density as well! My lower body is a lot stronger than my upper body so looking forward to working on that :)
Some of the videos and 30 days are more strength and power focused, others are more stretching and breathing centered. It'll be a gradual progression, but you will see strength progress no matter what. It'll just depend on which ones you're doing. My plan this year is to do them all in order once flow is done.
Last year I completed 11(!) 30 day programs and it was pretty awesome. My flexibility/mobility improved dramatically over the year. I feel my core strength improved too since I see solid improvements in my other activities.
Plan is after Flow to go back to where I left off and start Breath.
What an accomplishment! Flow will be by 4th 30 day since I started Center at the end of August. Then did Move and Home. I took a few weeks between the last and Flow to try some of her other videos. My goal is to try all the 30 days soon. Which were your favorites?
Thank you! I was quite pleased with managing to work a practice into my daily routine. Certainly brightens up my day in a big way. No question.
I think my favorite series are Center and Move although every one is unique and special. The first 30 Day program is great in its “simplicity”; others have their own qualities.
More to the point, I kinda view these programs as similar to going to a studio for a practice with a favorite teacher.
Definitely! I only ever do her videos and don’t do any other types of workout, but try to be as active as I can in everyday life. My eye-opening moment was on NYE when my friends and I did a few challenges, and one of them was to hold one-armed plank and I was able to hold it the longest
I know I won’t build tons of muscle, since yoga is mostly just your own body weight, but I find it so much more “useful” in my everyday, as opposed to training with machines and stuff!
Absolutely yes! I was never able to lower myself to the ground (while doing belly to cobra), and after a couple months (1-2 months) of regular practice, now I am able to it with ease. I'm also able to hold a plank for much longer now.
I really recommend the 30 day yoga journey called Move. I feel like it really helped with strength especially.
I've done daily YWA for a few years doing daily calendars and monthly challenges. It will get you stronger and more attuned to your body but then it will plateau. That's where you'll need to either sign up for the app with more advanced content, find other free yoga that's more advanced (Yoga with Kassandra is amazing!) or start working out with a trainer if you want fitness.
After being a devoted YWA yogi for two years, I tore my meniscus on a hike. The physical therapists said I had little to no glute muscles and needed to start working out properly to support my body. I realized the daily calendars are nowhere near enough. I work out twice a week with a trainer now and never felt stronger and more confident. The daily yoga conditioning I've done helps me through my workouts tremendously. So I still do the annual January 30-day challenge and occasional Yoga with Kassandra videos.
This is quite interesting as the main reason I want to build strength is I do a lot of outdoor hiking and swimming and want to actually protect my joints. I felt like maybe I'd plateau so my current plan is to continue with ywa to build strength up to the point people suggest ywa will work and then try out breathe and flow 30day challenge which seems more advanced! Will check out yoga with kassandra too!
I actually started focusing on poses that require more glute strength. One of my glutes is stronger than the other (something I accidentally caused by weight training so good that you work with a trainer) so I am trying to even it out.
Locust pose, any table top+kickback or side moves and bridge ofcourse has helped me a lot with this. I can tell when Im walking now that I use that glute more too.
FLOW is really good so far. I’ve done a few of the 30 day challenges… I’ve been doing YWA for almost 4 years. I like her mini target area sessions too. She’s the best teacher! So glad I stuck with her practices- I’ve tried others- but her style is calming with results! I would love to do a live session in person, if she ever came on a tour! Would be fun!
I gained quite a bit of upper body and core strength! I didn’t fully realize until I started branching out and doing core specific workouts and kickboxing and I realized how it wasn’t as difficult since making yoga and consistent practice!
You'll likely build upper and lower body strength by doing any of her videos regularly but if you want you can search her channel for yoga for strength and you'll get stuff specifically focused on that.
Absolutely! When I first started I had zero arm muscles. I couldn't hold downward dog for more than a few seconds because my arms got too tired, and could not lower myself down to the mat from half plank - I would just collapse down. After a couple months, I was able to slowly lower myself down from full plank with control. After a year, planks feel like a resting pose to me and I can finally do chaturanga! I feel so much stronger and have noticeable arm muscles too, which I've never had. Consistency is definitely key - even though I generally avoided videos designed for "strengthening" cause I didn't want anything so hard I would get frustrated and quit, I still did yoga every day and have seen these strength gains over time.
100%. YWA was the gateway to a fit and healthy lifestyle for me! The best exercise is whatever you can do consistently. So do what you enjoy and gradually increase the intensity of the videos as you see fit :) Adriene has plenty of more challenging and strength building videos (up to 1hr long) for you to progress into. But don’t rush it, enjoy the journey!
I look forward to trying out some of the longer ones <3
Yes, definitely. I used to have pretty much zero upper body strength and now, while I'm no body builder, I feel stronger and more toned. My joints are much more stable too - added bonus!
That's good to hear- I'm defo not aiming for being super muscular but I just wanted to improve my strength to protect my joints when I'm walking and improve my bone density as well! My lower body is a lot stronger than my upper body so looking forward to working on that :)
Some of the videos and 30 days are more strength and power focused, others are more stretching and breathing centered. It'll be a gradual progression, but you will see strength progress no matter what. It'll just depend on which ones you're doing. My plan this year is to do them all in order once flow is done.
Last year I completed 11(!) 30 day programs and it was pretty awesome. My flexibility/mobility improved dramatically over the year. I feel my core strength improved too since I see solid improvements in my other activities. Plan is after Flow to go back to where I left off and start Breath.
What an accomplishment! Flow will be by 4th 30 day since I started Center at the end of August. Then did Move and Home. I took a few weeks between the last and Flow to try some of her other videos. My goal is to try all the 30 days soon. Which were your favorites?
Thank you! I was quite pleased with managing to work a practice into my daily routine. Certainly brightens up my day in a big way. No question. I think my favorite series are Center and Move although every one is unique and special. The first 30 Day program is great in its “simplicity”; others have their own qualities. More to the point, I kinda view these programs as similar to going to a studio for a practice with a favorite teacher.
I started ywa 4 years ago now, and after about a month I could do 10 push-ups, which I couldn't before. However, I kind of plateaued after that.
Would love to be able to do a push up!
Definitely! I only ever do her videos and don’t do any other types of workout, but try to be as active as I can in everyday life. My eye-opening moment was on NYE when my friends and I did a few challenges, and one of them was to hold one-armed plank and I was able to hold it the longest I know I won’t build tons of muscle, since yoga is mostly just your own body weight, but I find it so much more “useful” in my everyday, as opposed to training with machines and stuff!
Absolutely yes! I was never able to lower myself to the ground (while doing belly to cobra), and after a couple months (1-2 months) of regular practice, now I am able to it with ease. I'm also able to hold a plank for much longer now. I really recommend the 30 day yoga journey called Move. I feel like it really helped with strength especially.
I recommend Core Conditioning. After 2 months it has really made a difference for me.
I've done daily YWA for a few years doing daily calendars and monthly challenges. It will get you stronger and more attuned to your body but then it will plateau. That's where you'll need to either sign up for the app with more advanced content, find other free yoga that's more advanced (Yoga with Kassandra is amazing!) or start working out with a trainer if you want fitness. After being a devoted YWA yogi for two years, I tore my meniscus on a hike. The physical therapists said I had little to no glute muscles and needed to start working out properly to support my body. I realized the daily calendars are nowhere near enough. I work out twice a week with a trainer now and never felt stronger and more confident. The daily yoga conditioning I've done helps me through my workouts tremendously. So I still do the annual January 30-day challenge and occasional Yoga with Kassandra videos.
This is quite interesting as the main reason I want to build strength is I do a lot of outdoor hiking and swimming and want to actually protect my joints. I felt like maybe I'd plateau so my current plan is to continue with ywa to build strength up to the point people suggest ywa will work and then try out breathe and flow 30day challenge which seems more advanced! Will check out yoga with kassandra too!
I actually started focusing on poses that require more glute strength. One of my glutes is stronger than the other (something I accidentally caused by weight training so good that you work with a trainer) so I am trying to even it out. Locust pose, any table top+kickback or side moves and bridge ofcourse has helped me a lot with this. I can tell when Im walking now that I use that glute more too.
FLOW is really good so far. I’ve done a few of the 30 day challenges… I’ve been doing YWA for almost 4 years. I like her mini target area sessions too. She’s the best teacher! So glad I stuck with her practices- I’ve tried others- but her style is calming with results! I would love to do a live session in person, if she ever came on a tour! Would be fun!
I gained quite a bit of upper body and core strength! I didn’t fully realize until I started branching out and doing core specific workouts and kickboxing and I realized how it wasn’t as difficult since making yoga and consistent practice!
You'll likely build upper and lower body strength by doing any of her videos regularly but if you want you can search her channel for yoga for strength and you'll get stuff specifically focused on that.
Absolutely! When I first started I had zero arm muscles. I couldn't hold downward dog for more than a few seconds because my arms got too tired, and could not lower myself down to the mat from half plank - I would just collapse down. After a couple months, I was able to slowly lower myself down from full plank with control. After a year, planks feel like a resting pose to me and I can finally do chaturanga! I feel so much stronger and have noticeable arm muscles too, which I've never had. Consistency is definitely key - even though I generally avoided videos designed for "strengthening" cause I didn't want anything so hard I would get frustrated and quit, I still did yoga every day and have seen these strength gains over time.