Yoga is an important piece of the fitness puzzle

During my recovery weeks, which occur for one week after every three or four weeks of training, I don't do any heavy weight training, or anything too intense, for that matter.

I generally do a lot of yoga. Why?

Yoga builds strength. Yoga builds balance. Yoga builds self-control. And, you know what else? Yoga is hard!

A year after starting P90X, I still can't get through a full yoga workout without stopping. The moves don't seem that hard, but, wow, all those downward dogs, upward dogs, and warrior moves Tony does really present a challenge. I usually have to take a break every 15 minutes or so, more often toward the end.

But I keep doing yoga, and one of the reasons is because it is hard. I cannot wait for the day when I'm doing triangle pose and thinking, "Wow, this isn't too difficult." I think that day is years off, but I'm looking forward to it.

There is a mental side to yoga that Tony doesn't really get into too much, and I don't either. I think the physical benefits are plenty of motivation for me to keep returning to those yoga DVDs.

If you have P90X and don't like the Yoga X DVD, you are not alone. It's 90 minutes long, which is more than many of us have time for. Tony Horton has provided, as part of his One-On-One series, two other excellent substitutes for Yoga X: "Fountain of Youth" and Patience: Hummingbird". I primarily use those DVDs. There is a yoga disk in the latest volume of One-On-One -- I don't recommend it. There are not enough verbal cues, and, in yoga, I think those are very necessary, because you just cannot always see the television.

You may have not given yoga a chance, but maybe you should. I think you'll appreciate the benefits.