Seeing as im now mid table of the oldies on here now the aches and strains are more common than ever
My work is physical no sitting at a desk maybe 2 hrs in the evening
I want to get more flexy and supple like my garden hose
Any sensible recommendations?

Gentle Yoga to start with. Both are far harder than they look.

I’ve done both and I prefer yoga. I think it’s better for flexibility than Pilates too.

Mix it up with a bit of both?

Yoga covers a massive range.
Are you thinking of teaching yourself or going to class?

Yoga, never got on with pilates although the wife loves it.

Yoga for me. I presume meeting lithe and flexible members of the opposite sex is the aim?

Prancersining?

[video]https://youtu.be/MoRMUzljoAA[/video]

You could try GMB, they have loads of online courses on how to move better.

I go to a pilates class once a week.
When I stop going, usually in the summer when the biking’s better, I start getting back aches and pains after a couple of months.

Yoga here but only because it actually feels like I’m doing something.

Have been to a few pilates classes I think it has a kind of image problem more than anything else but moving slowly and carefully while not overbalancing didn’t particularly appeal to me.

Can’t comment on Pilates but Yoga has been great for my flexibility and core strength. You just have to get used to being the only bloke in the room in most classes.

Same as vintagewino except we have more blokes doing regular classes.

I go to pilates classes and they’re of real benefit, I like the fact you do reps and chose the level you’re happy with.
I think yoga would be harder as the pilates teacher sometimes uses some yoga type moves in the routine and they’re hard for me. 🙄

Also what chipster said was true for me when I stopped going to my class years ago.

I think both are good. I do Pilates, partly because it has less of the ‘spiritual’ stuff and is purely about exercise. Having said that I think it is better to make sure you get a good teacher as that makes more of a difference than which activity you choose.

Another thing I found with Pilates is that the instructors seem to be constantly telling you that your position isn’t quite right, seems you have to be millimetre perfect which I’m a bit dubious about. I’ve not had that experience with yoga.

I’ve been using these for the last year:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/yogaforbikers
and after a few months started doing a weekly yoga class (which is much harder) as well. I don’t mind the spirituality side.. different to my normal approach so I just go with it.
That has worked well for me (as an absolute couldn’t-touch-my-toes beginner, with back pain)

I like the spiritual bit. I had a near-cosmic experience during savasana after one particularly hardcore vinyasa session. It felt a bit like being under the parachute at the end of the whirl-y-gig in 1993!

Pilates and Yoga are for different things. Yoga is flexibility and pilates is more core strength and mobility. I imagine pilates is far more useful than yoga for most people, unless it’s flexibility that you specifically need to work on.

As mentioned above, depends on what type of yoga – can’t comment on much else but I’ve done quite a few sessions of Iyengar in the past, which tends to hold poses/stretches and is a bit more concerned with alignment via blocks/straps. But useless (IMO) if you want to do any strength work in the gym afterwards since the stretches temporarily fry your muscles (certainly in the case of my quads). I’d guess that Vinyasa or Ashtanga might be a little more flowing.
Not sure what style of yoga a colleague used to do, but he went on to practise ‘acroyoga’ which probably requires more core strength – looked like fun anyhow.

IME I’ve never found iyengar to be much of a challenge as regards core strength, and even regards flexibility other than a few things, but then I’ve always had relatively good flexibility for a bloke (*not* dancer-flexible !). So a fun class to do, but not that bothered if I don’t, and I can happily drop into a class without knowing what’s coming up. As far as increasing flexibility – it’s all static, which isn’t necessarily so useful functionally. Again, other styles may be more useful for dynamic stretching.

Pilates – well matwork (there’s another area involved apparatus): I did a taster class of pilates, and of yoga, and stuck with the former, that was maybe 17-18 years ago. Currently enrolled on an instructor’s course (for which I need to get my finger out and do the supervised teaching bit..).
Aimed at (but not exclusively) core strength and general flexibility/mobility, and with precision and control..also involves the small stabilising muscles in the body.
That’s not to say alignent has to millimeter-perfect either – in practice different instructors are more/less fussy, and some alignments may be depends on pilates ‘school/method’. In general it’s more about moving the right thing, whilst keeping the ‘other’ thing in the right orientation (tho’ that could be moving too !).

(By comparison, in other gym-going I see some bloody awful attempts at what look like pilates or what a gym instructor’s dished out, and lack of control/use of momentum are achieving nothing other than moving some limbs in vaguely the right direction, possibly with injury if they carry on like that…)

Pilates class sizes tend to be limited to about 12, so the instructor’s got more opportunity to spot incorrect practise – yoga classes I’ve been to tend to be somewhat more, which may be why they’re less picky, but YMMV. And in some come cases a small aligment difference can be quite critical to the exercise – eg turning off hip flexors when trying to work adductors.

Pilates (nowadays at least) is based on biomechanics, and some things have changed over the years – and much is used in some form by gym instructors and physios..one organisation/school is APPI (australian physiotherapy and pilates institute. Also used by a fair few dancers to control their tendency towards hypermobilty, which can mess up joints in the long term.

In practice many pilates instructors incorporate bits of yoga/physio exercises into their classes..not sure the converse would be true, but then Pilates borrows a lot from other areas anyway. And there’s lots of ways (inc using small equipment) to make exercises easier/harder according to the ability/flexibility/injury of the individual concerned.

Personally, I’d go with pilates on the strength/flexibility aspect – quite a good complement to cycling – but it depends on what you want out of a class, and moreover, what’s available near you and what the instructors are like. It’ll probably take about 10 sessions to work out what you’re doing with either, so stick with it 🙂

Kind pretty much nailed it, but I would add that you need to be able to get on with the teacher. I find that some teachers give you the excercise and you get on with, not realising that you are recruiting h wrong muscle groups, or the alignment means that you are not getting the intended benefit. I would not trust any class where the teacher is not correcting, or assisting by moving people around a bit. I know if I have tight hip flexors, or have a niggle, it will be spotted, even though Io think I may be doing fine.

I would try and get some recommendations for classes that fit you and try them out. Personally, from what you describe, I would try some classical mat Pilates with a small class and take it from there.

Didn’t want to get too specific, but yeah, instructor is the main thing, in ability, style, and attention to detail. Not a uniform truth, but instructors that treat it as their *own* workout really should be avoided – they’re not watching what the class is doing. TBH one instructor I’ve been to – whilst good otherwise – can be a bit of an offender sometimes..not to say that she doesn’t correct people, but there’s been odd occasions where the eye is somewhere else but on the ball. Demonstrating as the class goes through the exercise too is fine depending on what it is, but after that they should be paying attention.

The problem with a lot of the fitness industry is that in theory there are various qualifications, but how it’s administered is something else, with rather variable result. Eg – one bunch of trainers gave the instructors at our gym a weekend ‘fitness pilates’ teach-in as a cheap way of running some ‘pilates’ classes (and most don’t know the difference). Fair enough I guess..but when I looked further, they also teach a Level3 Pilates qualification, for which the sign-off is sending them a video of a class the applicant’s taught. Not exactly a rigorous procedure IMO :/

Curiously, some teaching has gone away from cueing specific muscles/sensations – I suspect because this can cause over emphasis of one thing rather than concentrating on the movement.

Another thing I found with Pilates is that the instructors seem to be constantly telling you that your position isn’t quite right, seems you have to be millimetre perfect which I’m a bit dubious about. I’ve not had that experience with yoga.

I questioned my pilates instructor about this the other week. I mentioned that she often picks people up for doing it wrong but doesn’t tell us when we do things well. Apparently its what they taught to do.

Anyway, pilates really helps me with my dodgy back and core strength. Again I notice it if I miss it for a couple of weeks.

Try a few in your area and see which instructor you Luke. I personally prefer Pilates, but would rather see a good yoga teacher than a bad Pilates teacher.

>Apparently its what they taught to do.

Not convinced about that – my local instructors are quite encouraging as well as correcting when necessary, it’s been a while since I’ve been though that bit of my course notes but ISTR feedback and encouragement figures..ought to, at any rate. In any case, there’s several different ‘schools’ wrt Pilates – and instructors often don’t advertise which (probably ‘cos for most people it’s not that relevant), so ‘they’ might be a specific bunch…

Didn’t want to get too specific, but yeah, instructor is the main thing, in ability, style, and attention to detail.

Yoga teaching styles vary so much a lot is about finding a class/teacher you get on with. There’s a continuum with chanting and meditation at one end and a tutored physio/workout at the other.

footflaps – Member
You could try GMB, they have loads of online courses on how to move better.

Have you tried this?

looks interesting but there little info other than on the website, i would be interested in reading reviews…

How much does it cost?