When you frame it like that...
At one point I was hitting 5x a week at the gym and a brief cardio session prior to the lifts, and it was good, but that was all. If you're selling Yoga this well, I'll give it a whirl for a month (assuming benefits start to activate within that time frame).
Not trying to put unrealistic expectations on it. I figure I've got a few months before I get all the old gains back. Hopefully this time I'll have better mobility and range of motion.
Can you explain to someone ignorant about yoga (me) why do you think yoga is what really help you get a good shape? After reading this i want to give it a try along with the gym.
Just like lifting weights, running, or doing any sort of workout, there is light yoga, and heavy yoga. For example, when you lift weights, you can do a couple reps here and a there with 5 to 10 pound weights, or you can focus 2 hours just on biceps and lift insanely large dumbells.
When running, you can do a light jog for 15 minutes and get some benefit, or you can train for double marathons and strive to a cardiovascular system comparable to professional athletes.
So for yoga, there's yoga you can do casually that will simply relax you/stretch you out and get you feeling calm. And there's also yoga that will make your entire body drenched with sweat, get your muscles quivering, and increase your flexibility/strength/posture beyond anything you thought possible. It really depends on what you do.
But here's what it does for me - it serves as both a recovery for my muscles as well as a strenuous workout for them at the same time. It has increased my flexibility by incredible leaps - for example, when stretching my hamstrings in this position:
I can bend my forehead past my knee and place both hands on the sole of my foot. A year ago, I could barely even do what's depicted above.
There's an opportunity to work out nearly every single major muscle in yoga - gluts, triceps, chest, abs, shoulders, etc. And if you want a six pack, crunches alone do not get you there. You have to lose weight, but you also have to do static yoga poses that hit the abs properly. Those really shock the abs and make them much stronger than most other types of workouts.
Yoga is all about having complete and total discipline over your body. It's about having complete unwavering concentration and control and being able to hold very difficult and strenuous positions without wavering. Doing so (a) makes your muscles work hard in ways they don't with reps, (b) causes them to stretch and recover to experience maximum growth and (c) releases maximum endorphins into your nervous system.
A good yoga session almost leaves you feeling high in a way. Not only that, yoga poses actually massages the central nervous system itself - which trust me, is necessary for staying young and feeling good into middle age.
You ever wonder why people who are 50 who do tons of yoga always look 20 years younger? Well, it's because yoga actually reduces the stress in your life. When you are able to hold extremely intense poses with a clear head and ultimate discipline, it teaches your body to stay calm on a biological level even when life goes to shit and would otherwise stress you out.
I highly recommend going to a yoga studio and looking for an instructor who is willing to kick your ass a bit. It will absolutely be worth it. It completely changed my life and I'm someone who used to think it was silly alternative healing bs... trust me, it's legit and scientific. You don't have to get into all the spiritual crap that yoga instructors might try to incorporate. It's completely unnecessary to the benefits you will feel.