Fortified with Iron

Add weights for stronger muscles

Velcro, Post-It Notes, and jog strollers are just a few of the inventions that we wonder how we lived without. Add Iron Yoga to the list. The practice, which involves doing yoga poses while slowly lifting light dumbbells (2 to 5 pounds), was created by Anthony Carillo, who teaches at New York Health & Racquet Club in Manhattan. Carillo found himself trying to squeeze in yoga four to five days a week and weight training two to three days a week, which left little time for cardio. “I thought, why not put them together?” he says. “It’s more efficient. Once I picked up the dumbbells, the practice created itself.”

The result? A challenging yoga workout that yields a more toned, stronger, and flexible body. “You get the benefit of a weight routine while doing yoga, and it will make you stronger when you practice other forms of yoga,” Carillo says. To get started with Iron Yoga, try this combo move that with the addition of light weights works and strengthens major muscles, including your abs.
 

 
Eagle Pose
Works glutes, hamstrings, calf muscles, rear deltoid (shoulder), pectoral (chest), and abdominal muscles.

Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Bend your right knee and slide your left heel down the outside of your right knee, crossing your left leg over your right leg. Extend your left foot out to the right side and back. Try to hook your left foot behind your right calf and lock your left toes around your right ankle. Sit low as though sitting on a high chair to challenge your right leg. Keep your torso tall, hips square, abs tightened, and shoulders down. Press together the 3-pound dumbbell heads over your heart, knuckles pressing against each other.

Gaze at a point in front of you that is at eye level to help you balance. Lift and bend your arms so your elbows and upper arms form right angles, raising the top of the dumbbell heads until they’re in front of your forehead with your palms facing each other (as though the dumbbells were binoculars and you’re looking through them). Keeping your elbow bent, rotate your right arm out to the right side until your arm is in line with your shoulder, hold, and then back to starting position. Repeat with the left arm. Inhale and then repeat the movement with both dumbbells.