13 Years Old Pilates and Yoga...

I was wondering what Pilates is like... Is Yoga pretty much the same thing?  What do you do in both of them?  I want to try them to improve my flexibility.  What other advantages do you get from them?  There are no Pilates/Yoga places near here, so are videos and books good?  Anyone tell me what it's like!

Pilates is... um, at its simplest it's basically yoga poses with motion.  Plain yoga is best for flexibility, Pilates builds core strength.  With both, it's very important that you're in the right pose or you can hurt yourself, so it's best to do them with an instructor the first couple of times.  If that's really not available, do the tape or book with a biddy so they can look at you and see if you're aligned like the picture/video shows.

I downloaded a great yoga video from yoga.org.nz which actually shows the guys (yes, guys, which is refreshing cause usually it's some scrawny blonde) from two different angles and really concentrates on breath.  it's a little over the top sometimes (in terms of being sort of hippie-spiritual-cleansing etc) but it's a great beginner show.  And free, which is also great.  Try it with a mirror so you can see your pose as well as possible.  If you're doing it right you'll feel balanced.  Don't do anything that hurts, just take deep breaths and kind of relax into the poses.

I'd do yoga for a little while before you start Pilates just so you get a feeling of how your body feels aligned in the poses.  Then you can add the motion in Pilates.  Make sense?

Ya thanks a lot!  How often should I do Yoga/Pilates... I play tennis too.

3x a week isn't bad, or if you have scheduled tennis days, do it on your "off days" as long as you have at least one day a week where you're not doing *anything* so your muscles can recover (fun fact: muscles build through the process of creating "microtears" which then heal - and you need to give them a chance to heal).

I run and do martial arts, and then I do about 45 minutes to an hour of yoga on my non-sports days.  I get Saturdays off!

If you download that video, pay attention to all the junk they tell you about breathing.  it will make you a little light-headed at first, but then you start learning to control your breath better.  That's helped my recovery time from workouts tremendously.

Ok, now here's another problem... My mom always bugs me about my posture because my shoulders are always hunched over.  It feels awkard to have them straight.  Any suggestions on how to improve my posture?

The yoga will probably help :)

That said, I *just* sat up really straight in my chair when I read that!

Try sitting closer to whatever you're doing, so it pushes your elbows and shoulders back.  Get your computer monitor up to a height that you have to lift your chin a little to look at it.  And... I didn't check your profile before I started typing this, but if you're already relatively slim, and I suspect you are, it may be more comfortable on your "butt-bones" to slouch a little?  Make sure your chair is padded enough.

Also, when you straighten your shoulders out, remember to drop them away from your ears, don't just pull them straight back.  There's a happy medium in there that doesn't make your shoulders and back feel funny, but doesn't make your mom unhappy.  As a special bonus, it makes your neck look longer too.

Thanks for the tips!  I'm sure it will help in the near future.  And hopefully my mom will be able to stop bugging me soon.

no problem... and good luck with your mom.  I'm pretty sure mine will never stop bugging me!

Pilates will help with your posture.  The breathing component has you concentrate on standing up straight in "neutral spine" position (basically standing with your spine naturally curved... look for guidance from a book, and a good book will spend a fair amount of time discussing it because it is very important!)  Once you start practicing your breathing this way and stabilizing your "core" you'll catch yourself throughout the day slumping and then correct your posture.    Also, you might actually add up to an inch to your height by Pilates stretching... probably less because you're young and haven't "shrunk" like some of us old folks! 

Good luck!

does anyone know which is better for building lean muscles and which is better for relieving pain?

Hi, I'm a yoga instructor so will add some more details to the above info. The thing is there are lots of different yoga styles and some are very gentle with mostly sitting postures and others are extremely dynamic with mostly standing poses, and a lot of strengthening poses as well as stretching, so it's hard to generalise. Some classes will leave you feeling like you just had a gentle stretch, others will leave you feeling like you just did a tough aerobics class, but more relaxed :-)

Both Pilates and the more dynamic yoga styles (e.g. Ashtanga or vinyasa yoga) will build lean muscle if practiced regularly- I recommend at least 3 times a week for an hour or more at a time if possible.

 As for relieving pain, what kind of pain? If you mean back pain, then both can help, but as some yoga poses can aggravate back pain if not practiced properly you need a teacher to advise you if you have this problem. 

Both my parents have ruptured discs in their spines and both get a lot of relief from back pain by keeping up with their Pilates