Alrighty fellas, so again, I find myself trying to reconcile some seemingly opposing thoughts in my head, so as to try to determine what my actions should be moving forward. I don’t want to flip-flop - I want to make a decision, and not waste energy wondering if that was the correct decision on not.

I am a devoted practitioner of Ashtanga yoga, taught by one of the very best teachers in the world, in the traditional Mysore method. I’m sure for those who don’t know this is, they can easily look it up. What this essentially means, is each morning, 6 days a week (non-negotiable), I am up at 5AM, to practice what is considered the most physically intense yoga “styles”. This is more than something physical for me - it is my spiritual path. It is me taking care of mind, body, and soul, in a way nothing else has up until this point in my life.

This brings me to lifting (as so many things do)… It goes without saying that my yoga practice will never get me huge. I’m extremely fit, and I’d consider myself strong in bodyweight terms, but due to the conditioning of the practice, my muscles are long and slender, though I know how to use/engage them better than most. I am not big at all. 5’6” (168cm), ~130lbs (60kg), 12% BF (trying to get to 10%, and succeeding).

I understand the aesthetic limitations of this practice, but it is my discipline of choice, and has been for many years… So my question is this:

Would removing days from my yoga practice, stepping away from the 6 days p/w tradition in order to facilitate lifting, be a worthy endeavour, or am I simply moving further away from something I cherish, in order to fit in one of the most key pieces of advice in the TRP community: lifting?

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I realise its simply a cost/benefit analysis, but I very much look forward to hearing some unfiltered truths.