I have met and worked with people just like this. Lean and muscled, svelt, no fat on them. Then I ask them to do a certain movement. Let’s say a squat or a toe touch, for example, and they seem as if they are in terrible shape. Then I tell them “Take a deep breath” and I might see a small intake of oxygen into the top of their chest. No power at all on the inside. Total inner body/outer body disconnect. No Fusion. Wink, wink.

One of the strongest guys I have ever met, Steve Cotter, (a champion martial artist, kettlebell athlete and top coach/trainer) has described this conundrum  a Cadillac body with a Volkswagen engine. (He, in fact, has said he learned the saying from a master on internal martial arts).Why is this even a problem? No inner energy. Organs weak. No power of the breath. No ability to relax the mind. 24 hour tension. You want to be fit? Tension AND relaxation have to both get equal time. In other words you can be fit, but absolutely not be healthy.

Yoga (featured on Epsiode 5 ) is one way to train these areas inside of you. Once you have done regular practices it then shows up on the outside. Full body flexibility—actually the lack of it—-is a big problem today. Let me say that “If you aren’t flexible, you ain’t fit. That doesn’t mean flexible like a noodle. It means being able to go about your day and move freely. Do you need to bend over to pick a box off the floor, catch yourself in a fall or reach up high to place something on a shelf? If you can’t or look like a 90 year old as you do it (and you happen to be 40) then you are NOT fit. Are you able to take deep, nourishing breaths all the way down into your hips? Does your breath stay in your upper chest and miss all that lies beneath? Then you ain’t fit.

Yoga is an excellent way to work on these neglected areas of your body.  When done correctly (ie—- you practice regularly, and pay attention to what you are doing when you are practicing) it brings energy to tired, weak and tight ares. Why? How? That is something that you have to find out for yourself. As the granddaddy of all Ashtanga Yoga (also called Power Yoga) Sri K. Pattabhi Jois used to often say when asked complicated questions about Yoga.

“Yoga is 1% theory and 99% practice”

It really was his way of saying “Just do it!”

Episode 5 of FFTV stars Dina Prioste sharing her teaching style in Yoga sun salutes. Sun salutes are  used as warm ups for Yoga practice, but you can work up to doing many of them as a stand alone session. OR do a few to warm up before exercise. You also, MOST DEFINITELY, should do them as a warm down. In fact most workouts should end with some kind of “Life extension” practice. Yoga, Tai chi, Qui Kong are excellent for this. Watch for a post about my old Yoga practices during my heyday. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Best,

Robert