UKC

I'm really not flexible since I stopped martial arts and tbh I feel it could really help if I could bridge better without my hips feeling like they are going to pop out!
Both these run at my local fitness centre.
Any opinions either way?

In reply to fire_munki: It depends whether this would take up time which you could spend at the wall.

In reply to fire_munki:

Yoga has helped my flexibility but then I was fairly flexible to start with. Improved my back strength no end though.

iv been advised yoga to loosen up my back along with yoga exercises to help balance the muscles in my arm. i would say it helps with flexibility

In reply to fire_munki: I do Pilates and it works for me. I play football and run as well as climbing which is my main interest. I tend to do Pilates after all of these and do various Pilates exercises during a climbing session. I don't do yoga but people I know who do rate it highly. Quite a few exercises appear to be common to both disciplines. Climbing in itself should also help your flexibility. If you don't boulder then that should help both flexibility and technique.

In reply to fire_munki:
pilates is good for core strength, yoga is more broad-spectrum and will help with overall strength and flexibility. but that can also depend on the type of yoga that you do...i would go for anusara or vinyasa flow if you want to get strong. Astanga i would not advise unless you are already pretty flexible...can be a bit unforgiving imo. (i am a yoga teacher)

In reply to Kieran: I would choose yoga over Pilates any time. Pilates consists of only a fixed number of moves and Pilates teaches the student a neutral back position. All good for strengthening the core but quite dull to commit to and the neutral back position I mentioned doesnt improve the flexibility of the vertebrae like yoga does. A good yoga teacher will include a variety of poses throughout their classes to strengthen core, upper middle and lower back and shoulders. I've found that a Pilates class came be very tame incomparison to a yoga class. But then I guess, like with everything, you get out of it what you put in. But I'd still pick a yoga class

In reply to fire_munki:
Mike: I'm already clibing 3 or 4 times a week a mix of bouldering and "real" climbing.
It wouldn't really reduce the clibming as my wall is in the same place so I'd merely pop out for an hour or so.
I think it will be yoga then.

In reply to fire_munki: Thought it would be worth mentioning that anyone can teach Pilates, so you will find a lot of variation from different trainers.

It hasn't improved my flexibility at all, but has helped my breathing under stress.

As a thought, why not take the elements of martial arts you know to improve flexibility ?

In reply to fire_munki:

The only caution re. yoga is to find a good teacher. I've not yet found a leisure centre class that's any good. I no longer go to classes but know enough to work from books at home.

I still do all the streches I used to, but the actual movements/balance from it I think also helped, and that isn't something I can replicate without spend the time kicking pads or rolling about with others and that really would eat into climbing time.

In reply to fire_munki: Should also say, I've got more "back, down" flexibility and balance than 90% of the class I go to for Pilates FWIW. It may be a case of bouldering working lower flexibility and balance better than Pilates - however my upper body flexibility is shockingly bad because of bouldering.

If I had the mojo to climb - I wouldn't choose Pilates over climbing and expect improvement.

In reply to Ava Adore:

So how do you know if the teacher's a good one? I too have a martial arts background but would be interested trying yoga - is 45 too old to start if I want to do one of the more 'physical' varieties?

In reply to stone donkey: you're certainly not too old to start a more physically challenging form of yoga. Your martial arts background and the fact that you are a climber suggests that you are already quite fit and could handle a flow yoga (vinyasa) class. But it would always be worth attending a few hatha classes to get to grips with the basics and learn something called a sun salutation. Its the basis for many of the vinyasa sequences. If you're lucky enough to live closer to some good crags then chances are you're less likely to come across a local vinyasa teacher. I've noticed that vinyasa teachers tend to teach in the cities and hatha classes are the ones available almost everywhere. I live very close to a dedicated yoga and Pilates centre that can put on classes for over 8 styles of yoga. But the trade off is that its about an hour and a half drive to the closest crag so all of my (limited) climbing experience has been on a climbing wall. I'd finding a vinyasa teacher proves difficult, you could always try a DVD or two. Shiva rea is a big name and she has a DVD called daily flow which allows you to make a practise suitable for the time you have available anything from 20 minutes to a couple of hours. Something like this could better suit your lifestyle or the time you have available. Just an idea

In reply to Stone_donkey:

Yeah, fair point. My very first class was taught by an awesome teacher (although I didn't know it at the time). It was a hatha yoga class which included a relaxation session at the end. From other classes that I've tried, if the relaxation session is included it's generally "proper" yoga rather than "exercise yoga" they seem to teach at leisure centres. In "exercise yoga", the two classes I sampled tried to make you push further and further into a pose whereas a good teacher will let you make your own progress.

I didn't start yoga until I was 47, so no!

In reply to fire_munki: I teach a yoga for climbers course, based in Iyengar and Vinyasa disciplines. From my personal experience of yoga as a climber, it has improved my core strength, focus, ability to relax and breath, momentum, control, and body awareness/proprioception - all rather sneakily without me even realising! Once you have the basics, you can throw a few yoga shapes for a warmup, cool down stretch, or when you first wake up in the morning. It doesn't need to cut into your climbing time, but will certainly improve it from my experience. I have tried pilates with good results for core strength and overall body tension, but I find the exercises tedious and do not help me explore isolating muscles and improving balance the same way as yoga. Good luck!