Yoga is one of the most popular exercises of the 2020s. During the COVID-19 pandemic, yoga (along with HIIT) was all the craze as people were trying to do at-home exercises—although a good percentage probably didn’t make it past the crow pose.
If you’re not one of the estimated 300 million people who practice yoga across the globe, don’t worry. While yoga is a fantastic exercise to build flexibility, improve focus, and increase your overall feeling of being “zen,” there are also other alternatives you can do if yoga just doesn’t work out for you.
Why isn’t yoga working for me?
Despite how much you might want to like yoga, it just isn’t for everybody. Here are some of the top reasons why yoga might not be the best exercise for you.
You get bored easily
Yoga is a practice rooted in meditation. When you’re watching yoga tutorials or going to a yoga class, yogis will usually tell you to focus on your breath and core—paying attention to how your energy moves throughout your body.
And while that kind of exercise might work for some people, it just doesn’t do the trick for many of us, especially if you need a lot of movement and stimulation to feel energized.
Chances are, if you get bored easily, yoga and its intense focus on the inner self may not be the best workout for you.
You’re dealing with a chronic injury
Practicing yoga relies on your body’s full range of movement. Even basic poses like the downward dog force you to confront that you were never as flexible as you once thought you were.
Yoga is significantly more challenging if you have an injury in the following areas:
- Knees;
- Hips;
- Wrists;
- Lower back;
- Shoulders.
These areas are usually where you would place more pressure or use them often for yoga practice, so a pre-existing condition in any of those parts would make yoga a little bit more challenging.
You just don’t like it
If none of the above sounds like they apply to you, then maybe you just don’t like yoga, and that’s perfectly fine!
Exercise and taking care of your body are all about doing what works for you and doing what your body believes is the best call.
You don’t have to force yourself to do yoga or HIIT just to achieve your goals. In fact, not liking your workout of choice will most likely deter you from working out regularly.
Even if all your friends and your favorite influencers are serious yoga fanatics, there’s always going to be a chance that you just don’t like it! If that is the case, try out one of these top yoga alternatives and find yourself with improved flexibility and motion all the same.
1. Pilates
First on this list is pilates, an exercise that’s also becoming one of the more popular workouts, especially for women. Pilates made it onto this list because it is popular for being quite similar to yoga, except more athletic and perhaps a little bit more physically challenging stamina-wise.
Initially formed in the 1920s as a way to physically rehabilitate soldiers, Pilates has gained plenty of popularity in the last decade as a phenomenal full-body exercise.
In summary, Pilates is a fantastic yoga alternative if you’re looking for something that isn’t centered on spirituality or if you’re looking for a workout that’s more centered on muscular control and strength.
2. Ballet
Another potentially surprising item on our list is ballet. When you think of ballet, your first thought may be that ballet is for kids. And you’re not entirely wrong. If you want to become a professional ballerina, starting ballet at an early age is going to be a significant advantage.
But ballet is for everyone, regardless of age! The Ballet Academy even suggests that it is good for:
- Toning your muscles—even the tiniest muscles in your body;
- Improving posture;
- Enhancing body coordination;
- Stimulating your brain;
- Improving your overall health.
At any stage in your life, you will definitely benefit from the many perks of practicing ballet. Even if it’s just one class every so often, it remains an excellent alternative to yoga.
Do note that ballet is a physically demanding activity. It is something you want to ease yourself into while paying close attention to your body’s limits. Just like with progressing in yoga, it’s essential to note how your body reacts to specific movements and how much you can actually do in the present.
3. Aerial Silks
The art of aerial silks is another practice that looks beautiful and graceful on the outside but is actually a pretty challenging workout if you’re the one in the air. Fun fact: Billie Eilish has quite a popular YouTube video of her doing aerial silks when she was younger—and if young Billie could do it, so can you!
This yoga alternative requires a lot of mental energy, and if you’re easily bored with yoga, then this one is definitely worth a shot. With aerial silks, you need fantastic core strength and excellent body coordination.
But all that hard work will pay off because doing aerial silks have numerous benefits, such as:
- Improve focus;
- Reduce stress and promote stress relief;
- Improve your flexibility;
- Enhance muscle strength.
Just like with ballet, aerial silks aren’t a workout to be taken lightly. You can easily get injured when doing silks, so make sure to assess your abilities first before completely committing to this exercise.
4. Climbing
Depending on where you live, climbing may be quite a popular indoor or outdoor activity. If you live in a city where there’s not much access to outdoor rock formations, then indoor rock climbing could be your bet.
Indoor climbing does tend to be a safer alternative since you’re working out in controlled conditions.
But if you want a bigger challenge (and if the option is available to you), you can definitely go ahead and give outdoor climbing a try. It’s a steep learning curve (pun intended), but it does give you an amazing way to work out your full body with just one workout.
Climbing, like many other yoga alternatives, requires mental fortitude and is truly a challenge for your body and mind. If that sounds like something you’d love, then climbing is going to be right up your alley.
5. Cold Water Swimming
Swimming, regardless of what temperature you do it at, is a phenomenal exercise for your body. It’s great for people with varying labels of mobility, and swimming can be an assisted practice, which is a good idea if you are differently abled or have limited mobility.
But cold water swimming, in particular, is a good exercise for people who want that extra boost of clarity that you get when immersed in a cold environment. In yoga, one of the primary goals is to get you focused and become more “zen”.
And while cold water swimming isn’t necessarily focused on the breath and belief, it is a fantastic way to get your mind focused and relaxed. If you’ve plunged into a cold pool, you know how satisfying and numbing it can be. And as surprising as it sounds, those qualities do help your mind and body work better.
Here are just some of the benefits of cold water exercise:
- Increased mindfulness. Cold water swimming allows you to just focus on the now and eliminate any distractions that may come your way;
- Increased immunity. Anecdotal evidence suggests that going open water swimming (the sea) can help with coughs and colds. And whether this is simply a placebo effect or not, there’s nothing wrong with taking a day out to the beach and just enjoying the water;
- Better sleep. If you’ve ever gone swimming (which you probably have), you’ll know that swimming for a few hours will help you sleep better and more restfully. If you have trouble getting a good night’s rest, then cold water swimming is a must-try.
6. Tai Chi
Tai Chi is perhaps the most relaxed exercise on this list. Originating from China, Tai Chi is a gentle form of exercise that helps you mindfully move your body through a smooth flow of motions without stressing out your body.
Unlike many of the other yoga alternatives on our list, Tai Chi does not challenge your body or push your abilities to their limit.
Instead, it focuses on adding movement to your meditation, which is why the practice is often touted as “meditation in motion.” Tai Chi is characterized by circular movements that naturally flow into one another.
With Tai Chi, you don’t have to tense your muscles or engage your core in conventional ways. Rather, you are encouraged to move gently and focus on the motions of your body.
Despite this, Tai Chi is still able to help with balance, flexibility, and overall mobility.
If you’re looking for a yoga alternative that caters the best to individuals with limited mobility, then Tai Chi is definitely for you. It’s suitable for anyone regardless of age, and you can do it virtually anywhere!
Conclusion
Yoga is a great exercise—there’s no denying that. It has many health and mindfulness benefits that make all the effort and sweat worth it.
But for some of us, yoga just doesn’t take the cake.
Fortunately, there are many other workout alternatives with varying levels of intensity that you can try out in lieu of yoga.