On the weekend about ten days ago I tried to reserve a spot in the public pool, but it was all booked. Wondering how else to use my day in the sweltering heat, I checked out the nearest gyms on the internet. I hesitated to sign up, the last time I did so, I went only twice in two months.
The nearest gym had a promotion of 7 euros for sign-up and the first month without a contract, so I reasoned that even if I used it as a day pass it would be worth it. My worries were unwarranted, I've been using the gym enough to justify paying the full monthly fee (a reasonable 35 euros).
After all this yoga I find myself doing exercises completely different from what I used to do before. Where before I would try to maximize the amount of weight carried, now I try to maximize the effort with the least amount of weight. So yesterday, for example, I did dumbbell pec fly's while laying horizontal on the bench, but I went into extreme ranges of motion with light weights (7.5kg db). I also do it super slow, trying to control the smoothness of the movement.
I also now squat ass to the grass instead of quads parallel to the floor with much lighter weights. I also do all sorts of shoulder movements with very light dumbbells (2.5kg) again in extreme ranges of motion. Think rotator cuff exercises in ranges you wouldn't usually see.
I don't know if this will give me any aesthetic or strength results, it's too early to tell. If my soreness is any indication then I'm on a good path. When I initially started doing yoga I was glad to bring the strength I developed at the gym (but it wasn't an easy skill transfer), this time around I feel like I'm bringing my body awareness and my flexibility to the gym.
In general, I'm no longer interested in maximizing gainz per minute spent at the gym. Most gym advice goes in this direction. But what I'm doing is difficult to explain to myself... I feel like using light weights in extreme ranges of motion is making my body more resilient and flexible, but I just started doing this and I don't want to make any claim about it (yet).