[warpwoof]

Things like yoga will stimulate the body and build strength to a degree, but that is a much less efficient way to get in shape, in my opinion.

One of the reasons compound lifts moving heavy weight are so important is the effect they have on your entire body. Doing heavy squats recruits nearly every muscle in your body. But it doesn't just stimulate those muscles, it also stimulates your central nervous system.

Doing something hard enough to get the attention of the CNS is important to making progress, since, for example, the CNS will respond by releasing more hormones such as growth hormone.

Doing full squats with your bodyweight on the barbell 15 times (3 sets of 5) is like screaming at your body to get in shape and it will respond. Doing yoga might be like gently asking.

This isn't to say yoga isn't beneficial, it's just not the most efficient way to get in shape.

[rue]

Yoga is perfectly good for "getting into shape" and there are several varieties with emphasis on strength, especially static strength.

(Of course, "in shape" means different things to different people. I prefer endurance/cardio, many others think more in terms of strength/musculature.)

As a gross oversimplification of the body types attained, yoga == Bruce Lee, weights == Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[isleyaardvark]

That's an ironic comparison considering Bruce Lee was a serious weight-lifting fiend. (He just went for strength rather than bulk.) That said, I'm a big fan of yoga, more for the fitness than for appearances. It's hard to overstate the functional change yoga makes.

Edit: IIRC, Lee described running as the best exercise.

[scott_s]

And doing full squats with your bodyweight on the barbell 20 times (1 set of 20) is like hollering at your body with all of your lung capacity to get in shape.

[rue]

Dunno if this is really a useful line of thinking for a beginner. I wholeheartedly agree with the advice of not overdoing it from the article.

Particularly squats. Nothing better to wreck your knees or back than squats done with too much weight and/or poor technique.

Excercise causes muscle damage which rest heals up (and results in stronger muscles). Aside from the obvious over- or understimulation, you do have some control over the type of stimulation…the two archetypes are the high-rep/low-weight and low-rep/high-weight with slightly different results.