Yoga or pilates? Youtube recommendations for beginners!

[Explodingatomickittens]

Which would be more beneficial for toning & strengthening? And which would show quickest results?

Never done pilates but Yoga with Adriene is the most popular yoga videos on youtube with good reason.

I'm going to try yoga with Adrienne right now!

I have started Pilates classes once a week and surprisingly I am enjoying it. I did have good intentions over Christmas to do some online classes and subscribed to Lottie Murphy on YouTube. The videos look good from the comfort of the sofa 🤣

I found pilates more of a workout, whereas yoga is more about stretching and breathing - very relaxing but not very intense.
Blogilates is a really popular youtuber for Pilates. She has a mixture of short and longer videos - although I find her older videos better.

If you're looking to tone and strengthen have you thought about using some hand weights? I know it seems like they will bulk you up, but they really don't.

There are some great beginner videos for women online - fitness blender has some basics, Johanna Soh is great for 20 - 25 minute workouts, and NourishMoveLove is brilliant too. It can seem intimidating at first but if you start with the basics and get your posture and movements right, you can build on that.

Pilates is good. I've not used any YouTubes, I've got a good instructor who started doing zoom during lockdown, I'm still doing that not back in the studio yet. I'm not sure how good it would be from a video tbh - a good instructor picks up small things that make a heck of a difference.

I love the Down Dog app. Got it free during lockdown, and it really helped me develop a yoga habit.

Downside- it has a lot of options, so it can take a while to find your level of ability and preferred pace - but it's great. Never the same routine.

(Also its cheaper to buy the subscription direct from them)

Have you checked the threads on the Yoga board? Lots of Adrienne fans.

Let me know how you get on with Adrienne. I found her quite hard to follow, but then I'm hearing impaired.

@RaininginDarling so far so good... I'm finding it hard on the arms & wrists though!

I find Adrienne great for relaxing, stretchy yoga. But not particularly hard. But you should see an improvement in a few weeks with daily practice.

I also second down dog. You can do so many different yoga types to suit your mood, ashtanga, hatha, yin, nidra (with a description to help choose). I do their cardio flow yoga most often, but the speed means you need to have a good understanding of the basic poses first. I'd start with hatha probably, and reduce the speed to slow.

And if you subscribe to down dog, you also get access to the apps for barre, hiit and running workouts. It's great.

Pilates gives you a strong core. I find it slightly boring, but it gives results. I subscribe to Alo Yoga which has excellent teachers.

I love Pilates and find Lottie Murphy's very good, though I prefer to attend a "real" class if I can.

Pilates is great for strengthening and toning.

Both are good (although I'm lucky to have cheap local classes).

Years of yoga haven't changed my body really. But half a year, so far, of twice weekly pilates is starting to really do something. I walk taller and can feel a strong core building under the squidge. I also find it gives instant endorphins during/ after the class which keeps me motivated to return.