This week’s episode is the second bringing Dina Prioste, of Get Exercised.com, AND Yoga to Fusion Fitness TV. What’s cool is I get to demo it this week!

We thought we would bring you some Yoga and also a bit of stretching, such as last week’s Hamstring Tightness workout block, so you could use it as a counter balance for upcoming episodes on pull ups, slow push ups, Kettlebells and a whole range of great stuff. Especially at the end of your day. Yoga can be very restorative and does its magic if you give it a chance and do it a few times a week for 20- 30 minutes. Unless of course you decide to only pursue Yoga as your form of exercise. Probably not the wisest choice but it certainly is much, much better than nothing.

Yoga. What is it? Why has it become so wildly popular? Will it make you slimmer? Leaner? Reduce stress? Much myth has built up around Yoga. First of all let’s remember that there are many different schools of Yoga out there. Iyengar, Bikram, Sivanada, Vinyasa, Kundalini blah blah and—of course my style,the one I was trained in…Ashtanga. All of them have good things to offer. Some are more physically demanding. Some are used as “medicine”, although ALL of them offer health benefits that’s for sure, and they all use essentially the same postures. It’s really all in the system and the mindset that is the big difference. You want to really get slimmer though…… Yoga is not the ticket, but it does have its place in my arsenal that’s for sure.

Ashtanga Yoga is what I was trained in starting in 1992. I had a running injury and and went to a class at the New York Road Runner’s Club. The class was taught by Beryl Bender and her (now late) husband Thom Birch. I was hooked from the first time because it just felt different. I remember thinking

“If I keep doing this it feels like something is finally going to happen. Something good.”

It was a different way of stretching and strengthening. The work was difficult. It made me sweat. A lot! It was a system and I love systems so  I went to it and got great results. My running injury that I had been burdened with for 1  1/2 years was under control in 2  1/2 months. Keep in mind that was back in the day when I was training (running) every day. So like most runners I was very tight, very weak and very unbalanced. I needed something like Ashtanga Yoga very badly.

Today I look at my fitness in a much different way. I don’t compete anymore so my goals have changed. My main goal is to slow down Father Time and so far? It’s working great. My energy is high, strength is hanging tough, stamina is great, flexibility and mobility better than ever. I have used and discarded many “systems” through the years (and still plan to do so) but the stuff that works I ALWAYS keep in my bag of tricks. One of those is Ashtanga Yoga. I don’t practice it as diligently, and disciplined as I used to. Nowadays it has its place. What have I found?

1- Great for recovery from the hard, short workouts that I now need at 49 years old.

2- The breathing practice is a must. Deep breathing is a very important key in everyone’s health and fitness.

3-It does “reduce stress. ” If you are “paying attention, in the moment, concentrating on your breathing there is less worry about the past and future. Each second is slowed down just a tiny, tiny bit. It can help relax my mind.

4- For my money, if it is a hard workout day, Yoga before bed works great. I usually wake up feeling looser and more relaxed. On the other days it is a good way to start off the day. Especially the day after a harder exercise session.

5- Works better for me now if the sessions are 20- 30 minutes. The “Full Monty” that I used to do took around an hour and a half. Too long for one session as far as I am concerned AND too much of one type of work/exercise.

6- When used with more “traditional stretching,” such as the hamstring stretches from Episode 6, it makes things loosen up even more! In future episodes I want to show how to get at the tight inner thighs that are a big bugaboo for many of us.

In Epsiode 5 Dina showed you sun salutes at different levels of difficulty. They are wonderful to use as a warm up for Yoga, OR as a warm up for an exercise session. In Episode 7 Dina has me demonstrate a simple standing series to do after you are warmed up. Here is a dirty little secret though. It is also OK to go straight into these standing poses at the end of your regular workout. When you are still hot. A good “warm down.”

Maybe the best results come when you have done a hard exercise session in the morning and now your day is winding down. Doing a few sun salutes from Episode 5 and the standing series from Episode 7 works wonders to get restorative blood and breath flowing. The tight muscles relax a bit and as you sleep your body uses that work to help you recover. Trust me on this one. It works wonders! Like the title of this post  says Yoga Before Bed. Try it.

Best,

Robert