YOGA VS WEIGHT TRAINING

It's the great debate among men and women alike. Is it better to strengthen and tone your muscles from head to toe hoisting dumbbells, heaving barbells, and relying on other types of weight-training machines? Or, is it wiser to build a better body trying to master a series of yoga poses? Even though both types of exercise are great for getting in shape, if you only have room for one in your life, here's a quick goal-specific way to decide which may be best for you:

Goal: Body Awareness and Coordination
Winner: Yoga
Although there are a variety of weight-training exercises you can do that are more dynamic — and specific pieces of equipment, such askettlebells and medicine balls, which offer certain exercises that can improve how well your muscles work with one another — for the most part, most weight-training moves are linear in motion. That means they only teach your body to work—or have your muscles raise or lower a weight — in one specific direction.

However, most yoga moves train your body to work through a variety of directions that relate to the movements you do in everyday life. In addition, having to hold some yoga poses for minutes at a time helps your body establish a greater mind-muscle connection to boot.

Goal: Fat loss
Winner: Weight training (if you do it right)
You may break a sweat with yoga, but it's not as effective as a fat-burning cardiovascular workout and it's not as effective when compared to circuit training with free weights. Depending on what style of yoga you use (more passive or active), the average person can expect to burn between 100 and 550 (or more) calories an hour. Circuit training, on the other hand, burns an average of 10 calories a minute, raising the bar to at least 600 calories an hour.

Goal: Convenience
Winner: Yoga
In order to weight train, you obviously need weights. But with yoga, if you already know how to perform poses (called asanas), you have 24/7 access to the most efficient piece of equipment you can own — yourself. That's because most yoga positions use nothing more than your own bodyweight as resistance, allowing you to exercise anywhere, at any time.

Goal: Save Money
Winner: Depends entirely on you
Yoga may require little equipment, but how serious you are about yoga or weight training can affect what type of a beating your wallet might take. There are a variety of accessories that can add to your yoga practice, including mats, blocks, straps, wedges, clothing — even yoga socks! And that's not including the classes, DVDs and personal instruction you may need to stay motivated. 

On the other hand, most people assume that investing in free weights is always a costly venture. However, that tab can vary, depending on whether you need to join a gym or how much equipment you need to buy for your home. To perform hundreds of exercises, the average person only needs to invest in a pair of adjustable dumbbells (which can range from thereasonable to the expensive) and a simple weight bench — so keep it simple if you want to save a buck.

Goal: Flexibility
Winner: Yoga
The problem with many weight-training exercises is that they tend to tighten muscles as they strengthen them. That's not anything that can't be rectified with a few stretches after your workout routine, but that means you'll have to spend time stretching when you're most likely ready to leave the gym. In contrast, many yoga moves strengthen and stretch muscles simultaneously, giving you a two-for-one, time-saving workout every time. These same postures can also improve your mobility by bringing fluid back into stiffening joints while helping to loosen up any taut ligaments that might be holding you back.

Goal: Staying safe (less risk of injury)
Winner: Depends
While it's true that yoga's slow, graceful movements can be less jarring on your joints than training with weights, certain intermediate or advanced yoga poses could place you at an equal risk of injury if your body isn't ready to perform them.

Yoga's tranquil demeanor can also cause some exercisers to let their guard down and assume they can't get hurt, even though it's still possible to overstretch and strain your muscles if you're not careful. The best way to lower your risk of injury in either activity is simple: Warm up your muscles first, use proper form with every exercise or pose, and above all else, don't push your body beyond what it's capable of doing in an effort to see faster results.

Goal: Muscle Strengthening
Winner: Weight training
Your muscles only become stronger when they're challenged beyond their limits to lift or handle heavier amounts of weight than they're used to. Since your bodyweight is the only resistance that's typically used in yoga, your muscles are limited to how much they can grow. What can make matters worse is that as you lose weight from performing regular exercise, your body becomes lighter, which means when doing yoga you're placing even less resistance on your muscles.

Weight training allows you to choose the right amount of weight to overload your muscles, plus, many exercises allow you to specifically target individual muscles more easily. Yoga poses tend to work several muscles together, making it much harder to isolate specific problem zones.

Goal: Stress Relief
Winner: Yoga and weight training
Although yoga is typically expected to win this category, it's really hard to say which is better generally for every type of person. Meaning, what may relax you and/or clear your mind may not necessarily relax someone else. Also, both yoga and weight training can trigger your pituitary gland to release endorphins — the hormones that cause "runner's high" produce feelings of happiness and well-being — so either activity can help strip away your worries

Article courtesy of MSN.