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

just modified it to make YRG more guy-friendly. This workout is the Bomb!
    You see, yoga exercise works a lot like chiropractic and massage therapy. They all increase blood flow
and
nerve flow to every part of your body. So all of those locked-up and closed-off areas will be receiving more oxygen and healing life force than they probably had since you were a kid! And yoga releases enough tension in your body that it can make almost any therapeutic treatment, such as chiropractic care or massage, much more effective.
    I still find myself amazed at what my body is capable of doing now after all I’ve put it through. For instance, you may not believe this, but I’ve written this entire introduction while standing on my head. Well, that may be stretching it, but believe me when I say that yoga not only allowed me to recover quickly, it has been proven helpful in preventing injuries as well.

MEET THE YOGA-DOC

    Shortly after being introduced to yoga through the Brian Kest videos, I met Dr. Craig Aaron, a sports chiropractor, trainer, and certified yoga instructor who has trained, among others, Georgia Tech’s basketball and tennis teams, members of the Senior PGA tour, as well as many superstars of the NFL, MLB, and major college football teams. The “Yoga-Doc” (at left in this picture), as he is now known, not only taught me more about the day-to-day benefits of practicing yoga (after he signed that confidentiality agreement), but also became my tag-team partner in the writing and development of this entire YRG program. You’ll see his pointers throughout the book.

THE BENEFITS OF YOGA; A.K.A. WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

    Look, I know most Regular Guys are not professional wrestlers. Most Regular Guys don’t get beaten up for a living. (That is, unless you’re the sort of Regular Guy who thinks he’s getting away with reading the introduction to this book and putting it back on the shelf.) But we all have things in common. As time passes, our bodies all become stiffer, regardless of our line of work. We lose flexibility and we lose strength. A lot of guys go to the gym to stay bulked up, but they do nothing about their flexibility. It’s a rut that the Regular Guy doesn’t have to be in. I am a walking, living example of someone who has beaten the hell out his body for years and still feels great after achieving flexibility through yoga. Flexibility, my friends, is youth.
    Another benefit is time. I meet so many people who say, “I’m too busy to work out. I just don’t have the time.” My question to them is always, “Do you have twenty minutes?” Everyone can spare twenty minutes, and that’s all you’ll need to do the workouts in this book. There’s a reason yoga has been around for five thousand years. It’s the best use of your time, and it works. Most Regular Guys don’t have time to lift weights three or four days a week, work on cardiovascular, and also manage to fit some flexibility/stretching into their routine. And for those guys who are asking themselves, “What about all that jumping up and down I do watching the football game?,” get real. This isn’t a “get rich quick scheme” or a guarantee that you’ll go from looking like George of the Jungle to George Clooney, but the fact is, yoga is the most efficient five-thousand-year-old exercise system on the planet.
    Many people do yoga just for its ability to reduce stress without beating the crap out of their knees and backs the way that hiking, jogging, or running does. But wait, there’s more! Yoga does a lot more than just relax your mind for a little while. There has been an incredible amount of new research that points to yoga as a major player in normali-zing blood pressure and improving sleep patterns, and it can also help people be less dependent on medication.
    Today, I practice yoga because it’s the best damn workout you can do for your body and your mind. It really helps you focus in every aspect of your life, and you can do it at your own pace. When I first started doing yoga, most of the guys in the locker room or in the gym wondered what the hell I was doing. As time went by, the same guys would watch my flexibility and strength increase, and one by one they would all start asking questions.
    I told them the same thing I plan on teaching you in this book. In short, if you commit twenty minutes three or four days a week to your practice, you can receive the benefits of increased strength, flexibility, cardiovascular