[saltbeef]

not to worry. i've got some harissa paste!

[Moo]

thats how i read it

[Jim]

not to worry. i've got some harissa paste!

no wonder your eyes are glowing red keymaster!

[Houdini]

Of mat exercises, Pilates for core.



People still do sit-ups?

http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesmat/ss/CrissCross.htm

[Nibile]

I don't think yoga is particularly good or bad for climbing. for core strength, I prefer to boulder on problems on which if I cut loose I fall, or to train front levers.
re. punters in fancy dresses doing yoga at the gym, I have witnessed many also.
it's common, and for sure it can be a sort of showing off, or, it can be perceived as showing off from climbers "yo look at me I'm super flexible and you?".
personally I think it's just their routine for warming up, but us climbers are strage.
I don't think yoga makes you climb like shit. I think that many people are very experienced in yoga and do it regularly, train physically and mentally for it, but they don't dedicate such effort to climbing, because they don't care about it so much.
so they come to the gym, they warm up as they like, and then they climb poorly.
but it's just as if I'd go to yoga classes, warm up jumping on a beam and cranking 30 pull ups (ok make it 10), then do yoga like an agonizing bull.
they would think that climbing is bad for yoga. which is probably true. so what's the point now?
when I started typing I had an idea in mind but now it seems gone.
oh well...

[account_inactive]

WOW Nible is a more eloquent version of Dense!

I'm sure a bit of yoga helps if you have Alsatian hips, but it's no substitute for pull ups 

[Dolly]

I love our forum for many reasons -  one of them is it's ability for a thread to migrate from an innocent enquiry to a hotbed of discussion.
At the risk of being accused of being a pedant, the OP was just about something to help my back. It was nothing to do with doing yoga and its influence/relationship with climbing.
That's not to say I'm not enjoying the passing of opinion at all.
Thanks to Chris and JB for your posts on the initial topic - the position you explained has definitely helped.

Back to the vitriol ... 

[Norton Sharley]

... the OP was just about something to help my back. It was nothing to do with doing yoga .....
Back to the vitriol ...

Then why didn't you call the thread something like "something to help my back" instead of referring to yoga you pedant?

Have you tried less  and more  ?  If you weren't such a tight  we could  and I'd provide you with some simple back exercises. 

[hongkongstuey]

At the risk of being accused of being a pedant, the OP was just about something to help my back. It was nothing to do with doing yoga and its influence/relationship with climbing.

it'll definitely help sort out bad backs - i started practicing about 6-7 years ago as i was suffering from sciatica. Thats long gone now and my backs so bendy and healthy i'm pretty comfortable in positions such as this:


will it help core as much as a specific work out - not unless the instructor sequences the whole class with a core theme ('Forrest' Yoga teachers are pretty good at killing students in this respect)

will it help climbing - a bit if you're weak in terms of flexibility, balance, breathing and mind control

hazards - until a few years ago i was a pretty obsessive climber who trained like buggery and did a couple of yoga classes a weak. now i'm a pretty obsessive yogi (usually about 5 to 6, 1.5 to 2 hour practices per week) who only hits the crags at weekends and hasn't visited a climbing wall in years. Having said which, I'm still not that far off the levels i was climbing before so it can't be all bad.

Summary - try it, if you like it then keep going. if you don't, look for something else to help you heal

[SA Chris]

'Forrest' Yoga teachers are pretty good at killing students in this respect

Now hold that position Jenny.

[jstrongman]

I personally think that it does not make you stronger, in fact I think in the short term it slows down strength gains, as more yoga = less time climbing specific training, and like any excersie requires recovery time. However, I do think it has led me to get stronger in the long run as (touch wood!!) since doing a 1 hour of ashtanga 3x a week (on and off for 2 years). I am getting lots less injures and think my strength is distributed over a much larger movement range.

[Jim]

I think going swimming instead of yoga would be more beneficial all round

[Stubbs]

For helping your back, making you better at climbing, or making you more flexible?!

[slackline]

For helping your back, making you better at climbing, or making you more flexible?!

For getting better at swimming obviously 

[Nemo]

Thought this video was amusing in the context of this thread...

http://www.climbing.com/photo-video/av/chris_sharma_practices_yoga_at_wanderlust/

[Moo]

  amazing i would love to see ferret and dense rock up at that event

[account_inactive]

I like the bit where Shiva is trying to bum Sharma .  Ferret and Dense would explode if they were there