It Ain’t Your Mama’s Yoga

    I have written about DDP Yoga a few times and it doesn't get any harder to talk about the benefits and why it is one of the best ways to train. Almost all Yoga Programs have the same memo; build inner peace, sweat out the toxins, be at one with the universe and so on which is awesome and I'm all for building a spiritual connection but DDP Yoga is practically a whole other sport. It's nowhere near the level it should be in and it's bad-to-the-bone incredible when it comes to building strength, fat burning, isometric poses, flexibility and best of all Muscle Control. I started training it in June so for three months off and on it has been a blessing. I do all kinds of training but this has helped me lose weight that I needed and didn't change much of my eating habits. I was 261 three months ago and although still could do some crazy stuff, my flexibility was lagging and didn't want to keep doing the same type of training so I turned to DDP Yoga and now I'm down in the low 250's and edging closer to the 240's which has been over a year since I was at that weight.

 

    The thing with Diamond Dallas Page is that he's not your typical Yoga instructor that gives you spiritual guidance and how beautiful life is; he's vulgar, hardcore and straight to the point. He doesn't beat around the bush and he will get in your face if he notices something up. He doesn't push someone around but he will whip your ass into shape and he'll do it without blinking an eye. I like that in guys who want to help people, no need to sugarcoat anything just right between the eyes and being up front about it. Because of that attitude it makes him more relatable to people and some might be uncomfortable about the way he talks but he'll just move on and being who he truly is. Like a lot of wrestling fans during the Monday Night Wars I watched DDP on TV wrestling the biggest names and I enjoyed it, I even saw him live in San Francisco at WCW's SuperBrawl and that was a rough crowd especially where me and my dad sat, we stayed the entire show although we nearly left about 10 times. Anyway, it's great to find an athlete that not only saved his career and build a new one that made him even more famous but also other wrestlers that have fallen off the deep end because of living life in the fast lane and depression.

 

    Because of wrestlers like Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Chris Jericho, Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall, Goldust and other pro wrestlers, the wrestling business is shaping up to become better in terms of ring work and the agility that Jericho and a few others possess that make up an awesome match show that a wrestler doesn't have to age and be broken down. Sure guys like Hall and Roberts won't get in the ring anymore but there are guys that still have a chance to make an impact much later in their careers. When you open up the muscles and really stretch the kinks out, you'll feel like a new person and for a pro wrestler to feel that every match while on DDP Yoga it's practically a meal ticket to making a career that will shape the very foundation of their craft. I've been a wrestling fan ever since I was 11/12 years old and although I don't really care much for the storylines anymore (let's face it after the Attitude Era, stories aren't as effective anymore) but I always admired the ring work these guys put in especially the high flyers and technical wrestlers. When I see some good Chain Wrestling, Psychology being played and numerous submissions and suplexes I'm a happy guy. DDP Yoga could shape the wrestling business in a way that's never been done before and give the guys and gals another tool that can keep them doing what they do best and stay that way even past their prime. The painkillers and steroids I believe will be less and less if DDP Yoga became the workout for wrestlers and keep them strong, healthy and out of the fast lane.

 

    I've done some Yoga in the past but DDP Yoga was worth the effort because it's not just the exercises and the way DDP trains people, its how it's presented and it's relatable. No cookie cutter bullshit, no saying of doing it my way or any of that. He lets you learn what you can do and build yourself up and in some cases some of the people that are true practitioners do the exercises better than DDP and he's cool with that. It's about making it your own and sharing your journey with others in the program. I've talked to some of these men and women and they are incredible people. I've even talked to DDP a couple times even on his radio show and as nervous as I was, he was still an open guy and was being himself. That's why DDP Yoga is worth getting and it may not have the largest impact in your life but it can help you achieve a level of fitness many these days never believe to be possible. It is never too late to get into awesome shape and you don't need to look like a super model or a bodybuilder but a person that is shaping your body both inside and outside with an attitude and zest for life.

 

Have a great Thor's Day everyone and remember to look at DDP Yoga. It will change the way you look at fitness forever. It has no bullshit hype, no actors to fill the mats in the videos but real life people who have transformed themselves into the best that they can be and are still going. Get at and as DDP says at the end of a workout BANG!!!

The Adventure Of Movement

    As adults especially in today's society, we overanalyze movement and how it is supposed to suit us as oppose to just move freely and how it makes us better and fitter. As kids movement was practically mandatory for our everyday lives; running, playing tag, jumping, climbing on jungle gyms, digging in the sand, playing ball with friends on the streets or at a field and not having a care in the world. As we get older what happens to us; bad backs, eating a ton of crap, drinking a beer with our buddies and working until we can't even lift a finger cause of developed carpal tunnel or overdoing work that puts too much stress on our bodies and we "never" have time to just chill out and be free. Movement is supposed to be fun and exciting, the way we can adapt and learn our body's capabilities. Sure we have more responsibilities and making a living but that shouldn't stop you from having an awesome time and just move with glee.

 

    The key elements to moving naturally is running, jumping, climbing, swimming, lifting and moving in various practical directions, also the way we sit and crawl. Now lifting doesn't always mean moving dumbbells and barbell around but why not a rock or a keg to move onto a truck, lifting up yourself like in a pull-up or holding a handstand. We have been planted in our brains the last few decades that in order to get strong, we need to lift weights which is not entirely true because dumbbells and barbells have only been around maybe over 100 years as oppose to countless centuries of humans moving heavy boulders, Egyptians moving Pyramid stones to build monuments, loggers chopping down than moving heavy logs, pulling carriages out of the dirt and mud and what about moving a wheel barrel uphill to your cabin with firewood to keep your family warm in the winter. It's using the practicality of moving a heavy object whether just lifting or carrying it for that matter.

 

    Making movement an adventure would really begin with the imagination. You imagine being in a certain situation that has you moving in a specific and real life manner; say you're a under a house and need to crawl out, you can either go on all fours with the knees off the ground, your feet and hands are on the ground but your hips are off the ground like a crab walk, on your stomach and have to stay low or being on your back and using your shoulders/hips/feet to move out. There are all sorts of ways to make movement interesting. I like to imagine myself as Indiana Jones going into the catacombs of the temple of the Holy Grail and if I don't want my head or my body to be chopped up I need to kneel (or squat down) and roll, balance on the letters of Jehovah, walk across the path of god leaping from the lion's head (the bridge to the knight). Move with intent and creativity that is useful to help you stay healthy and strong, not just looking fit but being fit. I'm not a religious person and I normally don't associate myself with any organized religion but when you have a bad ass like Indy needing to move in serious ways in order to get to these religious artifacts and/or supply yourself with internal life from one of the last three Arthurian knights, you need to have an imagination to have that much fun. Your imagination enhances the adventure as you move even if you're in your house and can't go outside for some particular reason.

 

    Bring out that inner kid in you that wants to be free and move around; crawl, jump, run on the beach, go swimming, climb a tree (or do pull-ups), pick up a heavy rock and walk 10ft just to drop it, sprint down the dock and dive into the lake (just be careful). It's living to be happy and using practical and exciting meaning to move and love being able to just play. Money cannot buy happiness, useless materials can't bring a smile of joy and adventure has no boundaries. Yes making a living is important but never believe just because you make a few bucks here and there think it's going to solve all your problems. Want to be fit, move but move with joy, learn what works for you, get out for a few minutes and just be free and be yourself. Being cooped up can be a bitch and it's not always healthy (trust me I've been there) and make it wonderful. Be happy on your own terms, don't let some bullshit force come in and kick you to the ground, you have the power to fight back because your happiness starts within you not on the outside.

Smallest Fraction Factor

    When you see a fitness program you're really interested in or want to see what it's like, you jump in right away and just think you're so advanced and it's going to turn you into some kind of superman/woman. What happens when you do this; a lot of things, injuries can occur, you burn out too quickly and quit plus after doing it for like a week you think it's like every other program and it won't work. This is what the majority of people do when they join a gym, buy certain equipment or have some trainer down their throat pushing them when they can't possibly be ready. A lot of people feel that they need results within the first day and because their possibly far overweight it's not going to work for them and they discouraged. You want to talk about tough, take it from me, after my accident and learned to take my first steps again I dove into a fitness program that consisted of not 10-20 exercises but 3; squats, push-ups and bridging and I couldn't at first do 25 squats, 10 push-ups and a 30 sec. bridge felt like an eternity. It's about doing what you're interested and progress by even the smallest fraction.

 

    I call this the Smallest Fraction Factor because when you start out with something it doesn't matter if you're into Powerlifting, Hand Balancing, Pull-ups, Steel Bending hell even Crossfit; you learn the techniques, build yourself a foundation and start with little increments. Say you want to be a Powerlifter which consist of the Bench Press, Deadlift & Squat so you build up to a heavy weight that you can handle but that doesn't mean you go for a world record every workout. You progress the weight little by little because after a certain period of time and being smart about things you're making progress to lifting heavier and heavier weight over time. Sometimes you don't always do the full range of motion in a workout, sometimes you do partials to get strong in certain positions that will help you along the way in the full range of motion. Pull-ups are the same way, you may not be able to do a full pull-up at first so you start to just hang to build the grip strength and do so in different places of gripping the bar, as you get stronger you begin to pull yourself up but again don't be discouraged keep at it and as you pull-up hold the position you're stuck in and isometrically flex the muscles hard in that position, as you get better go up a little higher and same thing, flex the muscles in that position. You see little bits and pieces create a bigger entity. It's like putting together a puzzle with very small pieces, it takes patience and it takes thinking so when you do get all the pieces together what does it create? A big picture right?

 

    Like pieces to a puzzle, you're creating a small increase that makes the biggest impact later on. Think of a really incredible painter, he/she just doesn't slab on a few coats of paint and oil to create a picture they see it in their mind, the shapes, the abstracts, the colors and bit by bit they begin to see a beautiful piece of artwork. The smallest goals in your training can become your greatest ally because you're working towards something big right, so like the puzzle use the pieces that you have and even the smallest piece can fit into the big picture that you're creating. Create the picture you desire with the pieces you have in front of you.

 

    Why is Progression the key to all training? It's because when you start out, you just aren't strong and fit enough yet but you do little things here and there, increase weight by a mere couple pounds, hell some increase only a quarter of a pound and yet later on become extremely strong. In the pull-up, go up in mere inches and before you know it you're getting your head over the bar. In Hand Balancing, you start with a wall and as you get stronger, you move out to just using the ground and hold yourself up freely. Progress with great intention and be intelligent about it, use what's useful to get you to the next level even if it takes you a long time. Work into your goals that are reasonable for you and be adventurous with it. Too many people take things way too seriously and never make it fun enough to progress even quicker. Sometimes your goals don't always hit when you want them to and that happens but remember, you're doing something not many others will shoot for and that is what makes you unique.

 

Do the best you can and build yourself up with great emotion and fire burning within you. You want to be greatly fit and don't want to put in a whole mess of time, get yourself a copy of DDP Yoga and even if you can't hold yourself up at first or can't do a push-up, don't worry it will come and even by the smallest fraction of a movement you can make it happen. Be awesome and have a blast.