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The Best Advice You Can Hear About Fusion Yoga
There are many different variations of fusion yoga out there and FlowLIFT is one of the best you’ll find. There are so many benefits to strategically combining strength training with yoga style postures. FlowLIFT is vinyasa inspired and incorporates a low weight and hi rep model to create a long, lean and functional physique.
Try it and you’ll see results right away, from better sleep and higher overall energy levels to a faster metabolism and a slimmer frame. But before you start, we have a few tips that will help you succeed in integrating this fantastic new workout into your life.
How Does Fusion Yoga Work
Most fusion yoga classes use dumbbells as a way of adding strength training. FlowLIFT uses dumbbells as well as ankle weights. This adds another strength training element for the lower body, core and booty. While the ankle weights make FlowLIFT a superior version of fusion yoga, it’s also important to move with awareness to prevent injury and make the most of your workout.
When the proper techniques are used, FlowLIFT is an amazing way to build functional strength and increase cardiovascular fitness. It also strengthens another area that is not discussed as much but is so important. Like pilates, the moves in FlowLIFT engage your deeper abdominal muscles called the transverse abdominus. When these deeper core muscles are awake and strong, the health of your lower back, specifically the lumbar spine and sacral junction significantly improves.
Another important area that FlowLIFT strengthens is the pelvic floor muscles. For women especially, building and maintaining strength and movement in the pelvic floor is extremely important as we age. A weak pelvic floor can lead to incontinence, lower back pain, pain in the pelvic region, or discomfort during sexual intercourse.
The muscles of the pelvic floor are collectively referred to as the levator ani and coccygeus muscles. They form a large sheet of skeletal muscle that is thicker in some areas than in others. When flowing through a FlowLIFT class, you want to stay aware of this area and keep it gently engaged. Ideally, there is always a subtle awareness of the pelvic floor.
The Best Advice About Fusion Yoga
Move Slow At First With Fusion Yoga
When you take your first FlowLIFT class online you will notice that the teacher moves quite fast. You may or may not be comfortable with this speed. So advice tip #1, move slow! These moves are full body and call on all of your muscles to work together to properly execute.
For the first few reps, move slowly and get the move smooth and rhythmic. Once that happens, if you still have a few reps left, go ahead and speed it up. However don’t rush it, the cardio will eventually come. At first it’s important to get used to this new style of movement.
Engage From the Periphery to the Core
The full body moves will have your arms doing one thing while the legs are doing another. The added ankle weights and dumbbells make this a more efficient workout but also means you have to pay attention to every little move.
When it comes to the legs, always point or flex your foot. This starts the engagement of the muscles in the lower leg to protect the knee. Also feel the quads and glutes fire up. Everything from the foot to the hip is working when the leg is kicking, swinging, hiking, sweeping, etc. Keeping the muscles active will protect the joints as well as tone the area.
When holding the dumbbells, wrap your fingers tightly around them and give them a gentle squeeze. This creates a chain reaction of engagement all the way up into the shoulder and chest. You want to think of your arm originating at the upper back and chest rather than the shoulder so that your movement is more integrated and safe.
Pull It In and Up!
Perhaps the most important advice is to engage the deep core and pelvic floor. We don’t have much of a mental connection with our deep core. You can consciously engage your most surface level ab muscles, which are what many people refer to as the “six pack.” But the transverse abdominal muscles must be called on by whatever you’re doing with your body in order to engage.
The full body integrated motion of FlowLIFT calls on these muscles. If you follow the tips above and stay focused and aware, many of the moves will automatically trigger these deep muscles to engage. Throughout class, keep the belly gently drawing in as you execute moves. You don’t need to grip the belly muscles with all of your might, just keep them pulling in to build strength and protect the low back.
It’s also important to engage the pelvic floor muscles. We do this by squeezing in and up as though we are trying to stop the flow of urine. Try this a few times to get used to it. When doing this during a workout, you don’t need to do it as strong or hard as you might be now. When you pull the belly in, you want to add that little lift in the pelvic floor as well.
The next time you are doing a FlowLIFT class, try a consistent and subtle pulling in with the abdominal muscles along with a lift in the pelvic floor. The benefits are many and need to be felt to be believed. You can do this with any workout but it flows especially well with FlowLIFT.
FlowLIFT requires total focus and presence. This is why people often refer to it as a mind-body exercise. You can’t zone out, you must concentrate on your body, breath and the subtle movements described above. All of these things together make our fusion yoga class the best you’ll ever try.