Yoga - absolutely right for men!

Despite the ongoing success of my Zoom live classes, there still is a low turnout from the chaps. This is a shame as I know how good yoga is for men in particular through my own experience.

Ironically yoga was originally practiced almost solely by boys before it was exported from India for its glossy makeover in the West. In fact many of the yoga postures we see in current yoga classes can trace their origin back to the British Army and Scandinavian gymnastics, but that’s another article.

The good news is that it is now starting to catch on with men, especially with professional athletes and sportsmen. I trained with the yoga teacher that enabled Ryan Giggs to extend his football career through the adoption of yoga into his training and yoga is becoming integral to the strength and conditioning programmes in rugby and other team sports.

The modern setting of most yoga studios is quite intimidating to most men, too. Men will struggle to leave the ego outside and engage with the purity of the practice and being surrounded by relatively flexible women may further compound the problem

This self-consciousness, though an essential first step in the process of evolution, is sometimes too much of a burden without the right guidance from a good teacher. In addition, the outward flexibility in the appearance of a pose is something that looks rather feminine though the eyes of most western men, who generally are exposed to the big-muscle, sword-wielding warrior role model from an early age. Ours is an age where aggression is associated with ambition; stillness is viewed as weak. It is a wonder why most men try yoga at all.

And this is why my online Zoom classes are great. You are in your own space, so no comparisons, no need to feel self-conscious, no need for ego. My articulation and instructions will enable you to get the best out of your body and really engage in the movement and breath.

Some of the postures and movement will be hard, very hard and you will come to realise the effect this is having, the tightness in your body and the challenge of simply breathing and pulling it all together. But it’s not all physical, the best of yoga is what goes on in your mind, or doesn’t so to speak. This is the essence of why we get onto our mat.

So if you have any interest and have perhaps thought about trying yoga, then please join in with us and give it a go, you will be very welcome!

Feel it in your bones....

Messing about in the studio over the weekend and I thought I would see if my assistant 'Kev' could get into some of the more common asanas I teach in class. Here we see seated forward bend, Paschimottanasana.

It then struck me how useful this is in terms of understanding what is going on with the body.

This asana is one that some people will struggle with due to the tightness in the calves, hamstrings, weak core strength and stiff hips particularly.

Kev's hips are quite loose, he doesn't have the connective tissue, muscle,fascia holding him back so we can see really nice pelvic rotation over the femurs, one of the cues I use when I am teaching this posture.

Keeping the lower back straight and long is going to avoid injury so we want to avoid flexion in the spine, rounding, when we deepen the asana and finally gazing (drishta) on the lower legs to avoid straining the neck.

It is important for yoga teachers to know what is going on anatomically. Progression in, through and out of the asanas needs to be stable and safe. I will be asking Kev to try some other postures out in the coming weeks to help demonstrate good form for my classes.

Bikers - all the gear? here's an idea....

Most cyclists I know, are serious about the bike they invest in. They also ensure correct fitting, even if that is merely knowing the right size frame. They invest in good gear to make the activity both comfortable and efficient. Absolutely right, particularly if you are intending to spend hours in the saddle.

It is then about getting the miles in and building strength and developing cardiovascular endurance, but most of all enjoying this great sport\activity.

When I started racking up the miles I felt that this was good enough, it would make me fitter, stronger but only when I started yoga did I realise the physical constraints all those hours in the saddle had inadvertently developed. There were early signs through the biking as well. Lower back pain after long rides, neck ache, numbness in the fingers on the bike and the occasional pain in the hip.

With cycling, the body is supported by the bike and working in the sagittal plane. Cyclists may have marked restriction in the hips, knees, and ankles, whilst this shouldn’t affect pedal stroke it may aggravate lower back. If there is asymmetry in the leg strength, this will reflect in the smoothness and efficiency of the pedal stroke. Really tight abductors or imbalanced vasti muscle, (quads), may distort the leg motion through the stroke making the knee vulnerable to injury. All too often abdominals are not recruited, and core stabilisers become weak.

Having incorporated yoga into my training plan, I could alleviate the constraints, I developed a 10 minute post ride routine that really felt good and was really effective in loosening and encouraging repair and regeneration in the tissues. I used this to great effect when covering 100+ miles each day on my coast to coast rides.

The most significant discovery for me however was pelvic rotations, releasing tightness in the legs hips and developing core strength to allow the flexibility needed to get low down on the ‘drops"' in a really comfortable aero tuck. Before yoga I rode mainly with hands on the hoods, like most people, not aerodynamically efficient, especially in a headwind. Getting low down was, at the time quite uncomfortable. I am now mostly down low, riding more efficiently and actually comfortable, aware of the position of my pelvis and able to maintain the power delivery.

This is one of the reasons I teach pelvic rotations in all my yoga classes as I have seen first-hand the improvements gained.

This is an image I found while researching, courtesy of Allan Reeves. Cyclists could be able to achieve same power output and improved aerodynamics with this posture, proving considerable benefits to body longevity. Clearly if the rider in the second image was on the drops his back would be flat which is at it should be. It does however Illustrate the position of the pelvis.

Join one of my free Zoom classes to learn more about yoga and your body.