I’ve never done it before; I’m 49 years old. I’m looking for something that will teach me flexibility and strength.
My problem (or concern) is that I feel most yoga is geared towards women. I’m not crazy about the stereotypical yoga music and the whispering instructor. Does it have to be that way?
Anyone have any suggestions or comments to offer?
Do any of you have any DVD suggestions?
What are your opinions of Yoga DVDs? Should I look for a class instead?
Any men out there practice yoga?
Go to a class. You’ll never learn the poses right from a DVD. Don’t worry about classes for women; call the studio and just explain what you are looking for and they’ll put you in the right class. You may try a few different instructors before you find one that is right for you.
I did a few Iyengar Yoga classes when my back was really hurting and nothing else was working (I don’t think it helped, though I concede it might be that I didn’t do enough). It wasn’t so much the gender ratio, but how…well, different, than the rest of them. I’m weird around hippies; picture Hank Hill from that episode where he did yoga.
And from my experience, I have to say that a lot of the girls that do yoga, especially with the lulu lemon yoga pants, are spectacularly gorgeous. It made up for the weird chants and the whispering, lol.
Yoga is yoga. It’s not “geared toward” any gender. True, in the US most people who take/practice are women, and many instructors are women. But yoga for men is no different from yoga for women.
I second the suggestion of going to a class. Yoga is very subtle, and there are lots and lots of different flavors, and within that each instructor will have a “style.” But, call and ask for a beginner-beginner class, and start shopping around until you find the flavor right for you.
Believe me, at any decent yoga class you should feel like you’ve had a real workout at the end of it. By ‘decent’, I mean you should look at any of the reputable yoga studios in your area, preferably of the sort that do only yoga. YMMV, but once I tried a yoga class at a health club I belonged to and it was a joke.
ETA: There’ve always been a number of men in the classes I’ve attended, although not quite so many as women. But then I’m in California which probably makes a difference. About ten years ago I saw a British magazine article about the remarkable, new, “gender bending” practice of men who were now starting to take up yoga. It wasn’t as if the article had any kind of bad attitude about it, it was more a case of “how about that, men are doing yoga now!” Until I saw that article I was oblivious to any specific gender associations of yoga.
I went to a yoga class once (I mean, I went to several at a gym once but only one at a yoga studio) and holy crap yes it is a workout. It was a big class but there were two or three men there, and this is in South Carolina. I do suggest a class, as the teacher gave me TONS of adjustments (then again I really need them - I am duck footed and have terrible posture.)
As an alternative, WiiFit has yoga excercises as well. The balance board measures your weight, so you get some feedback (i.e. not centered, too much weight too far forward, etc.) but it’s certainly no substitute for a trained human being right there with you.
I would recommend bikram or some kind of hot yoga. My Bikram class is usually a third to a half of guys. We get a lot of weight trainers or martial artist who want flexibility, but not a lot of frou frou humming. It’s hard core, but not in a contort yourself crazy way hard core.
I’ve been doing it for years and love it. If you can survive a class or two you can even learn to mock the jock boyfriends of girl attendees who get dragged in, think it’s sissy, and can’t even stay in the room the whole time. But it’s not that hard, drink your water, do what your body is able to do that day and BREATHE! The only challenger is you. It’s the same postures with the same dialogue, but that helps shut everything else but the movement. I have a tad bit of ADD and it’s a great help shutting all those extraneous thoughts. And, you will sleep like a baby!
It will certainly help your flexibility, and I’m sure other yogas also build muscle, this has given me actual thigh and calve muscles as well as a girly six-pack not to mention yoga butt.
You might want to ask hajario as he does the same type and has the requiste male equipment.
48 years old, Male, Bikram regular - 3x a week for going on 5 years now. It completely kicks your ass, yet is strangely addictive. The instructors aren’t interested in tuning you into your chakras or anything - there is a clear meditative benefit (once you get past getting used to the heat) but that is yours to tap into.
You don’t want anything for little old ladies, so don’t go at a 10am on a weekday.
The first few yoga classes I did were very frou frou humming hippie feeling. I hated them. But I didn’t give up and I found a power yoga class with a male instructor who has a great body; like a swimmer and a runner but with thicker muscles. He’s hot! And he says a ten second prayer at the beginning and at the end but the whole thing is a real workout, not just “stretch here and lie like this”.
About 3 years ago I was right where you were (except I was a 22-year-old girl). I had no interest in meditating, relaxing, gentle stretching, murmuring instructors, chakras, etc.
But yoga, with the right (asskicking) instructor, is awesome! I’m now about 100x more flexible than I was, and much stronger as well. I never expected to like it at all, and here I am about to get my own certification as an instructor (graduate end of June).
FWIW it’s about half men (youngest is 16, oldest in their 60s) at my studio - it varies a lot by the place, and by the instructor. If you find classes with a more athletic focus, there will almost always be more men in the class. I much prefer taking classes at a studo to using DVDs etc, and I think it’s very important for beginner’s to have formal instruction as well, because of how important proper alignment is in avoiding injuries and gaining in flexibility. Now that I’ve been doing it for so long and am learning how to teach, it’s easy for me to practice on my own at home of course. I’ve never done Bikram or other forms of ‘hot’ yoga, but I’ve heard good things. Also look for studios (or DVDs) mentioning Power, Ashtanga, and Anusara yoga.
