Is Yoga Sculpt right for you?

Is a Yoga Sculpt workout right for you?

Could your gluteus maximus use a little firming? Or your obliquus internus use a little flattening? Grab a mat and find a place in the gym, it’s time for Yoga Sculpt at The Ranch with Instructor Barry Shingle. Yoga Sculpt is a 50-minute workout with the body toning benefits of a light weight workout. And you get some of the stress relief and intention setting of yoga. Adding free weights into the yoga poses helps further develop lean muscles. 

I recently talked with Barry Shingle, the Director of Guest Relations and Programming and a Ranch Fitness Instructor to ask about the Yoga Sculpt Class.

Why Yoga Sculpt? 

It’s a way to add a little more specific muscle resistance to your yoga practice. It mixes up the fitness routine and adds variety since it’s a non-traditional approach. Additionally, it’s attractive to people who like to weight train but may not be comfortable with yoga.  I think it helps gets them through the door.  The yoga portion has the benefit of having some flexibility components that traditional weight training classes don’t have.

Do you need yoga experience to keep up and get results? 

It’s better that you have some yoga experience as the class moves a little faster and if you are familiar with the poses it is easier. If you don’t have much weight training experience, a person can still get a healthy workout with light or no weights. This tends to be more of a level two type of yoga class. 

How does it fit into someone’s week at The Ranch or the flow of their day? What classes compliment it during the day or week? 

It’s a nice way to get The Ranch trifecta; strength, yoga, and a little reflection all in one class. It’s the perfect class for a day when a guest has other types of classes, lectures, and treatments and wants to get a little of several types of fitness in one class.  

How does a guest select the size of the weights? 

Since there is some flow with the weights, I encourage guests to start with something lighter than they would normally use to weight train. 

Traditional yoga has a mind-body relationship but this seems mostly body? Less dhyana and more asana? That is less meditation and more physical? Are there the same benefits as those associated with yoga; lower blood pressure, greater flexibility, calorie and weight loss, stress reduction, better body awareness?  

Traditionally, yoga focused more on meditative elements and breath.  Most of the yoga we do in the western part of the world tends to focus more on the physical or asanas.  The nice thing about including the word yoga in the title is that you can spend some time focusing on breathing and setting intentions. I believe you get many of the same benefits you would get from a yoga or exercise class. A great deal depends on where the student is physically and mentally and which approach the individual instructor takes. 

Learn about our specialty Yoga Week in July with Rachel Krentzman or The Ranch’s Yoga Program.