Yoga for Regular Guys: The Best Damn Workout on the Planet!

for 20 or 60 minutes while operating at your maximum aerobic heart rate or 20 to 25 bpm less, you are performing
cardiovascular exercise
. You’re utilizing your aerobic energy system, which burns fat as its fuel source.
    If you are engaging in any competitive sport that pushes your heart rate past your target maximum aerobic heart rate for prolonged periods of time, whether you’re sprinting, slam dancing, or weightlifting, you are performing
anaerobic exercise
. Anaerobic exercise is much less efficient, burns sugar as its fuel source, and utilizes the lactic acid energy pathway, requiring more recovery time.
    Let’s face it, guys, many of us have enough fat stores to keep our aerobic system going for a long time, so we better get started soon!
    Don’t Redline Your Hot Rod
    I said earlier that your body functions a lot like a car. When you are out driving, your car has a certain level of rpms and a specific range of speed where it operates with maximum fuel efficiency and minimal wear and tear on its parts.
    YOGA DOC SAYS …
    When we exercise, our aerobic system, heart, lungs, and entire circulatory system operate at the most energy-efficient level, known as the Maximum Aerobic Function. Dr. Philip Maffetone’s book,
In Fitness and in Health
, defines the Maximum Aerobic Function as the maximum level of exercise that an individual can perform while utilizing his or her aerobic, fat-burning energy system. In short, it is the most exercise your body can perform using the highly efficient, fat-burning aerobic system just before it downshifts into the less efficient, sugar-burning, anaerobic, lactic acid energy pathway. And the best tool you can use to indicate whether you are utilizing your aerobic system during exercise is the heart rate monitor.
    Using a heart rate monitor will help keep your body at the optimal fat-burning zone/target heart rate. Using the formula developed by Dr. Maffetone and six-time Ironman Champion Mark Allen, you can easily customize your target/maximum aerobic heart rate to your specific situation. Here it is again, spelled out a little differently, so you can tailor it to your own needs:
    • If you have been exercising regularly for two years or less, or if you have been exercising for a longer period but not as regularly, your target heart rate is 180 beats per minute minus your age.
    •If you are overcoming a major illness or taking regular medication, you should subtract an additional ten beats per minute from your original target heart rate.
    • If you tend to catch colds easily or if you are not currently exercising, whether by choice or due to injury, you should subtract five beats per minute from your original target heart rate.
    • If you have been exercising regularly for more than two years without injury, add five to ten beats per minute to your target heart rate.
    Now that you understand how your target heart rate works, you are ready to purchase your heart monitor and start the Yoga for Regular Guys workout.

    Strap One On
    Most heart monitors have the same working parts. Just purchase the most basic heart monitor you can find. You have a strap or receiver that wraps around your lower ribcage, just below your nipples. This part actually tracks each beat of your heart. You also have the wristwatch portion, known as the monitor, which displays how many times your heart beats per minute. To set up your heart monitor, just follow the simple instructions that come with it and you’ll be all set! It’s way easier than setting up your TiVo.
    The Yoga for Regular Guys workout is designed like all great exercise programs. It starts you out with an easy warm-up of approximately 5 to 7 minutes to get your blood flowing and your joints warm. Your heart rate will steadily rise throughout the warm-up.
    The working phase of the YRG workout is anywhere from 10 to 31 minutes in duration, depending upon which YRG workout you are doing. This is the hardest part of the workout and requires you to hold positions that engage your entire body. This is where you should be near your maximum aerobic heart rate or only as low as 25 bpms below your max. If you can sustain your heart rate within this range for the working phase of the YRG workout, you’ll be burning fat while getting fit, flexible, and focused.
    The cool-down phase takes about 5 to 7 minutes, and it is designed to stretch you out and bring your heart rate back down slowly.
    YOGA DOC SAYS …
    Remember, it’s okay to be 20 to