words: liz graham

for So, you think ugby legend George Gregan does it. Surfing great Tom Carroll has been doing it for 20 yoga is just years. Dozens of Aussie sports teams now for mums Ruse it in their fitness programs, including reigning AFL champs Geelong, as well as NSW rugby fresh from union team The Waratahs and NRL team The Gold playgroup Coast Titans. Yep, that’s right, all these guys do yoga. and incense- Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Over the last decade, burning sports scientists, fitness experts and elite athletes have all started to take note of yoga’s physical (and hippie types? mental) benefits. Yoga can give you the flexibility You couldn’t of a Slinky Spring as well as all-over body strength and a calm, focused mind, which is exactly what you be more need to perform better and ward off injuries. wrong. We “If you want to have a body that can do any type of sport—running, football, weights—yet remain give you the healthy and safe, you would do yoga,” says Duncan lowdown on Peak, 34, a former officer with the Parachute Regiment of the Army and 1st grade rugby player, why elite who now runs his own yoga school and teaches yoga sportsmen to sports teams like the Waratahs. “It creates less are taking up chance of injury because it gives you more range with your body.” yoga, and the Peak’s yoga school, Power Living, teaches at difference least 2000 people a week in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra, and a hefty 40 percent of them are it can make men. His isn’t the only studio reaching out to men, to your own though. In Manly, the Lunge Yoga & Health School has been running yoga courses for surfers for the body. past six years, and 95 percent of students are men. “Men that would never have imagined doing yoga, men of all walks of life and age groups, come along to the classes,” says teacher Louisa Kolega. Chris Samuel, 28, is a Sydney-based photographer who started doing weekly yoga classes at an inner- west studio a year ago. He had previously been recommended yoga by his osteopath, who told him

Bridge Pose Upward-Facing Camel Pose Cat Pose There’s a lot more to yoga than the A beginner’s back bend Dog Pose An advanced pose that A gentle stretch for the old Downward that strengthens the legs A strong pose that will stretches the entire front back, torso and neck. Start Dog. Hundreds and hips and opens the strengthen the spine, of your body. Kneel with in a table-top position, more poses, in chest. Lie with knees bent, wrists and arms. Lie with your knees hip-width with wrists in line with fact, ranging from exhaling as you lift your your hands at your waist. apart. Place palms on the shoulders, the knees gentle stretches until thighs are Exhale, push down on your soles of your feet and push below hips and eyes gazing you can do every almost parallel with the hands and lift up torso, pelvis forward. Push down at floor. Exhale as you day to arm floor. Slowly draw your activating your core. on hands, lengthen the round your spine to the balances that shoulder blades together Difficulty Factorn n n n n chest and drop head back. ceiling, relaxing your take years to and clasp your hands. Difficulty Factorn n n n n neck muscles. achieve. Take Difficulty Factorn n n n n Difficulty Factorn n n n n a look at this Do yoga for long enough smattering of and you’ll have the poses to get an core strength to get idea of what your into balances like this body’s in for... Peacock Pose. strike a pose PHOTOLIBRARY

52 MEN’S FITNESS MEN’S FITNESS 53 MF you’ll be comforted to know that there are plenty GETTING STARTED yoga tip of poses with completely straightforward names The first step is to find the right style and — Breathe, man! It’s common like , Low Lunge and Plank that’s environment for you, so try out a few different for people starting yoga to hold right, the plank that you’ve been doing in toning places, including your . Many yoga schools their breath because they’re sessions for the past five years is actually yoga. concentrating so much. causing will allow you to sit in on a class, or they’ll have their muscles to tire quickly. As You’ll find that the poses that feel the most a special offer for first-timers, where you get a a general rule, inhale through challenging are usually the ones most useful for free first lesson or pay a flat rate for unlimited your nose and let your your body. Forward-bending poses are great for diaphragm and belly classes in a time period. A good criteria for expand. runners, because they open up your hips as well choosing a class is asking yourself: do I feel as lengthening , calves and glutes, comfortable here? Is my teacher properly while standing poses and lunges are brilliant qualified? Will I get one-on-one attention? for improving a new surfer’s balance. Arm Samuel found that going to a smaller yoga balances and are excellent for class, of between six and 15 people, helped strengthening the upper body. him as a beginner. “There’s greater attention A yoga class goes for 60 to 90 minutes. It will to detail,” he says. “I’d have found it hard to usually begin with some breathing , concentrate in a big class.” and then your teacher will lead you through a A good yoga teacher will have gone through variety of poses, depending on the skill level of a teacher-training course that requires several the class. Yoga is done barefoot and on mats that years of study, and will practise yoga themselves give cushioning and grip. Teachers will perform every day. They should be able to clearly explain “adjustments” on you while in a pose, helping what’s going on in your body with each pose, and you to be properly aligned. Classes will often give easier and harder alternatives. finish in a relaxation pose where you lie down That being said, there are several things that on your back with your palms facing up, allowing you need to do as a student to get the most out your muscles to relax and focusing on your of yoga. Most importantly, don’t be cocky—start breath. This is called “”, or Corpse with the beginner class. Also, speak up—tell Pose, and you will often stay in it for 10 to15 your teacher about any injuries or stiffness minutes. If you enjoy Shavasana, you’d probably you have before you begin and let them know get a lot out of meditation. if a pose is causing you trouble. Finally, don’t It’s important to note that within compare yourself to anyone in the class, just there are dozens of sub-styles, all with their own concentrate on your own body. name. Each one is based on the same system Like any form of , the more yoga of poses, they just implement them in different you do, the greater effect it’s going to have. So ways. Iyengar yoga, for instance, holds a single Poses like the Crane while going to one class a week will adequately strengthen all major yoga pose for up to a minute, and uses cushions, complement other sporting activities you do, muscle groups at once. straps, chairs and wooden blocks to keep the Duncan Peak recommends going at least twice body aligned. Ashtanga yoga and Power yoga, a week to see some tangible benefits quickly. he had the “hips of a 40-year-old”, thanks to a work, and they really admire it in other men. on the other hand, are more dynamic styles, “I say to a lot of clients that yoga is like doing a stint as a semi-professional BMX rider. “After For instance, if you see a bloke bench pressing flowing quickly from one pose to another (this degree in your body—it takes about three years I started yoga, I felt that my body was becoming you might thing he’s strong, but see him do a flow is called “vinyasa”) and synchronising the to completely understand it,” Peak laughs, “but aligned,” Samuel says. “My back was straighter handstand with perfect form and you know he’s breath with movement. These styles give you a within two to three months you can see when I sat, I could feel all my core starting to got a rare kind of strength.” cardiovascular workout as well. For the ultimate massive changes.” tone, as well as muscles where I didn’t think in sweat-inducing yoga, though, there’s Bikram Liz Graham is the editor of Australian I had any.” Samuel says that yoga also gave him YOGA 101 yoga, which is done in 40-degree studios. . the flexibility to touch his toes for the first time So, what is yoga? Because yoga has existed for in his life, which has helped him with the karate thousands of years, lots of different types have training that he’s recently started doing. Shoulder Stand Side-Plank Pose Lotus Pose Warrior II Pose Triangle Pose evolved, so it’s hard to answer that question The beauty of yoga is that it strengthens your This pose strengthens Strengthens the arms This looks simple but Strengthens and stretches Stretches the chest, hips, definitively. But the yoga that is mainly taught in requires a lot of flexibility legs and ankles. Start in groin and hamstrings. body at the same time it conditions and aligns the back and stimulates and core and legs while Western countries is called Hatha yoga, and it’s the thyroid and pituitary improving balance. Start in hips, knees and ankles. standing position with feet Step right leg out 1.5m it. “Yoga is all power-to-weight ratio training, it’s parallel. Step left leg out based on a system of physical poses (or “”) glands. Lie with palms face in a plank, with wrists Sit with legs straight out. with foot pointing out 90 all your own body strength,” Peak says. “Men are underneath shoulders. Bend one knee, grasp the 1.5m in a lunge with knee degrees. Turn left thigh so that aim to purify your body—in other words, down and knees bent. Curl realising that yoga requires so much strength knees towards face, lifting Shift weight to left arm and foot with both hands and above heel, foot pointing that kneecap is in line with poses that make your body strong, aligned, supple your torso, walking your roll onto left foot, stacking place on top of opposite out 90 degrees and aligned ankle, exhale and place and energised, and that make you more aware and hands up till they support right on top. Activate core thigh. Repeat on other leg. with right heel. Raise arm right hand on lower relaxed in your own skin. the mid back. Straighten and lift right arm and gaze Keep knees on ground and parallel with floor. leg, raising left soles of feet facing up. Difficulty Factorn n n n n hand to ceiling. There are hundreds of poses in yoga, and they legs up to ceiling. to the ceiling. “If you see a bloke bench pressing you Difficulty Factorn n n n n Difficulty Factorn n n n n Difficulty Factorn n n n n can be divided into these categories: twisting Difficulty Factor might think he’s strong, but see him do n n n n n poses, standing poses, arm balancing poses, core- a handstand with perfect form and you strengthening poses, backbends, forward bends know he’s got a rare kind of strength.” and inversions. They’re often named after animals or things they resemble: Downward Dog, Cobra,

Warrior. If that’s all sounding a bit weird, then PHOTOLIBRARY

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