Bill Hartman wrote an excellent article on diaphragmatic breathing last month, called
Yoga, Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercises and the Downward Dog
It's an excellent read, as it's got a good explanation of breathing from the diaphragm and how the yoga pose downward dog helps you do just that.
The downward dog variation he shows in the article is a bit different than the Iyengar Yoga downward dog. This is not to say wrong or bad, far from it. But it's different, and it's worth being aware of the differences when you approach the exercise.
No socks. The socks in Bill Hartman's video are probably a concession to the fact that few gyms will let you walk around without shoes, nevermind barefoot. But you do lose some of your ability to grip the floor when you wear socks.
Ground posture vs. Standing posture. The Iyengar posture is clearly a standing posture - you're standing up but with your hands on the ground. The posture in the Bill Hartman article is clearly a ground posture - it even starts with a pushup, and maintains a weight-on-the-hands approach instead of weight-on-the-feet.
Heels down vs. Heels Up. Again, the difference is in the legs and feet. Heels down, straight legs in the Iyengar version, up on the balls of the feet in the Bill Hartman article version.
Both have the same intent and pretty much the same effect on breathing - they line up your torso and (at least theoretically) your internal organs, and let you breathe deeply and from your diaphragm. Try both, especially if your gym will let you ditch the socks and grip the floor.
Getting stronger, fitter, and healthier by sticking to the basics. It's not rocket science, it's doing the simple stuff the right way. Strength-Basics updates every Monday, plus extra posts during the week.
Showing posts with label yoga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yoga. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Friday, December 16, 2011
Donward Dog for Health
Yoga is often the whipping boy of strength training - it won't get you maximal strength. But there is an undeniable longevity to the training amongst participants. They don't generally drop out of yoga due to to injury. So it's interesting to see yoga getting its proper place in the mobility/movement for health approach that's been becoming the norm in strength training.
This post demonstrates downward dog, and makes a short but good case for its utility to non-yogi.
Thanks to Mike Robertson for finding this and including it in his newsletter.
This post demonstrates downward dog, and makes a short but good case for its utility to non-yogi.
Thanks to Mike Robertson for finding this and including it in his newsletter.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Yoga Supersets
My sister discovered this and sent it along.
10-Minute Yoga Supersets
Essentially, instead of moving between poses and then holding them for a single long hold, you alternate between 3 poses that work opposing muscles and do that for multiple repetitions. Technically, this is a tri-set not a superset, or a circuit, but "superset" is a fairly vague term and it can be used to cover tri-sets and giant sets (4 exercises) without confusing things.
This is an interesting idea for a few reasons:
It bridges the gap between isometric holds (yoga poses) and isotonic movements (calisthenics). While yoga does involve movement, it's generally movement into a static posture that is held for anything from a short time to an extended time. Calisthenics are isotonic exercises, in which muscles and joints move through a range of motion against resistance. Some of these poses are quite strenuous to get into, so doing so repeatedly makes them more of a calisthenic exercise than a yoga pose.
It bridges the gap between yoga and gymnastics. Floor gymnastics exercises look a lot like flowing from pose to pose, and so will this. A planche pushup is really just a very difficult pose combined with motion. So is an L-pullup.
It accepts the idea that strength is built in motion against resistance, not just statically in a posture. You'll occasionally hear about yoga lengthening and toning muscles, how you don't strain joints moving weights, or other nonsense. You don't get that here. You get instead the idea that yoga poses are strength training, and it can be done statically for one long rep or repeatedly for many reps to gain strength and endurance in motion and not just endurance in position. You can even add resistance, and the article suggests how for each pose. Hmmm...resisted bodyweight exercises. So a dip with chains or a pushup against bands isn't really that far off from yoga, really. I'm not surprised but it's nice to see that.
You get better at what you practice. So yogi will get better at holding poses if that's all they do. Your body will adapt to that and then it'll stop adapting unless you make it harder. You might be great in postures but have a hard time getting into postures. This is practicing the latter. Additionally, it's forcing your body to adapt to more than one kind of stimulus. Besides static holds you are telling it you want to move with strength and do it repeatedly. It will adapt to this, too, but it's harder, and it's probably easier to load.
The only thing I really twitched at in the article was the end of this paragraph:
"Bodybuilders and exercise physiologists have known about the benefits of the superset technique for years, and it’s time we brought it onto the mat. Supersets are three back-to back sets of 5 to 30 repetitions, each done utilizing opposing muscle groups until you can barely finish the last few moves. This will trick your muscles into creating more muscle fibers to handle their new responsibilities, even if you’re not working out all the time."
The phrase "trick your muscles" is about as correct as "muscle confusion" is - you don't need to trick or fool your body. You aren't doing it, even if you pretend you are. What you are doing is demonstrating a need to your body and it'll respond to that need. It's not fooled . . . it would be fooling your body if you somehow found a way to get it to build muscle without challenging it by doing strength-based exercises. The phrase "creating more muscle fibers" is inaccurate. Muscles grow either by hypertrophy (increased muscle fiber size, and increased non-muscular supporting structures and fluids) or hyperplasia (splitting one fiber into multiple fibers). There is no evidence that human muscles undergo hyperplasia, so "creating more muscle fibers" is just inaccurate. A better way to explain this would be "This will force your body to compensate by increasing your muscular size and strength" rather than "Trick your body into creating more muscle fibers."
All in all, I can't see how adding this would be a bad thing for a yogi's workout. It fills a nice little gap - bodyweight movements/strength training/cardiovascular exercise - that exists in normal yoga. Which isn't to say yoga isn't hard, or won't make you strong, or improve your cardiovascular fitness. But it's not going to work exactly the same was as doing bodyweight exercises in a no-rest superset will, as the (experienced yogi) author notes in the article.
10-Minute Yoga Supersets
Essentially, instead of moving between poses and then holding them for a single long hold, you alternate between 3 poses that work opposing muscles and do that for multiple repetitions. Technically, this is a tri-set not a superset, or a circuit, but "superset" is a fairly vague term and it can be used to cover tri-sets and giant sets (4 exercises) without confusing things.
This is an interesting idea for a few reasons:
It bridges the gap between isometric holds (yoga poses) and isotonic movements (calisthenics). While yoga does involve movement, it's generally movement into a static posture that is held for anything from a short time to an extended time. Calisthenics are isotonic exercises, in which muscles and joints move through a range of motion against resistance. Some of these poses are quite strenuous to get into, so doing so repeatedly makes them more of a calisthenic exercise than a yoga pose.
It bridges the gap between yoga and gymnastics. Floor gymnastics exercises look a lot like flowing from pose to pose, and so will this. A planche pushup is really just a very difficult pose combined with motion. So is an L-pullup.
It accepts the idea that strength is built in motion against resistance, not just statically in a posture. You'll occasionally hear about yoga lengthening and toning muscles, how you don't strain joints moving weights, or other nonsense. You don't get that here. You get instead the idea that yoga poses are strength training, and it can be done statically for one long rep or repeatedly for many reps to gain strength and endurance in motion and not just endurance in position. You can even add resistance, and the article suggests how for each pose. Hmmm...resisted bodyweight exercises. So a dip with chains or a pushup against bands isn't really that far off from yoga, really. I'm not surprised but it's nice to see that.
You get better at what you practice. So yogi will get better at holding poses if that's all they do. Your body will adapt to that and then it'll stop adapting unless you make it harder. You might be great in postures but have a hard time getting into postures. This is practicing the latter. Additionally, it's forcing your body to adapt to more than one kind of stimulus. Besides static holds you are telling it you want to move with strength and do it repeatedly. It will adapt to this, too, but it's harder, and it's probably easier to load.
The only thing I really twitched at in the article was the end of this paragraph:
"Bodybuilders and exercise physiologists have known about the benefits of the superset technique for years, and it’s time we brought it onto the mat. Supersets are three back-to back sets of 5 to 30 repetitions, each done utilizing opposing muscle groups until you can barely finish the last few moves. This will trick your muscles into creating more muscle fibers to handle their new responsibilities, even if you’re not working out all the time."
The phrase "trick your muscles" is about as correct as "muscle confusion" is - you don't need to trick or fool your body. You aren't doing it, even if you pretend you are. What you are doing is demonstrating a need to your body and it'll respond to that need. It's not fooled . . . it would be fooling your body if you somehow found a way to get it to build muscle without challenging it by doing strength-based exercises. The phrase "creating more muscle fibers" is inaccurate. Muscles grow either by hypertrophy (increased muscle fiber size, and increased non-muscular supporting structures and fluids) or hyperplasia (splitting one fiber into multiple fibers). There is no evidence that human muscles undergo hyperplasia, so "creating more muscle fibers" is just inaccurate. A better way to explain this would be "This will force your body to compensate by increasing your muscular size and strength" rather than "Trick your body into creating more muscle fibers."
All in all, I can't see how adding this would be a bad thing for a yogi's workout. It fills a nice little gap - bodyweight movements/strength training/cardiovascular exercise - that exists in normal yoga. Which isn't to say yoga isn't hard, or won't make you strong, or improve your cardiovascular fitness. But it's not going to work exactly the same was as doing bodyweight exercises in a no-rest superset will, as the (experienced yogi) author notes in the article.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Book Review: The Athlete's Guide to Yoga
The Athlete's Guide to Yoga is slightly misnamed. Like a lot of books, when they say "athlete" they mean runners. Well, possible swimmers or bikers, too, but mainly runners. When the book discusses using yoga, it mentions "a big race" and lactate threshold training and building a strong aerobic base. It doesn't even give lip service to non-endurance athletes. This is fine, but it would be more accurate to name the book "The Endurance Athlete's Guide to Yoga." The only non-endurance athletes who get a mention are NFL players, in the "even NFL teams do you" sense. Again, fine, but be aware that non-runners might find the advice good but lacking in specifics of their own situation. Runners will be very happy with how on-target it is.
The author also comes from an interesting background - she started in yoga, and then moved on to marathon running. So this is advice for athletes by a yogi-turned-runner, rather than a runner-turned-yogi. It makes for a subtle spin, because the basic understanding was of yoga and then it was adapted to running, rather than a runner seeking poses to deal with specific issues.
The book gets many bonus points for emphasizing hinging at the hips. Forward bending poses, bent-spine poses, and upright poses with a bend are all taught as starting at the hips. Even bent-spine poses are taught as bending at the hips and then relaxing the spine into the final position, not forcefully bending or stretching the lower back into position. This is a vital teaching point if you believe that the lower back is meant for stabilization and the hips for mobility, not the reverse as is often the case.
Most of the book is dedicated to poses - broken up by categories such as standing, sitting, etc. Poses are shown with one picture per pose or variation of the pose. The accompanying text is quite rich, but dense - it's not broken out into bullet points or short descriptions. It's a solid block of writing, generally, in normal paragraph format. This makes it a little tough to follow. You have no visual guide except how to end up in the pose, and then text describing the start and middle that gets you to the finish. This does allow for a lot of poses to be covered, but it sure doesn't help a visual learner understand them. That said the written instructions are quite clear and well-written. If you can follow written instructions for a physical task with minimal visual reinforcement, the book is fine.
The book also comes with a DVD, which is basically a teaser DVD for the full version (sold separately, not reviewed here). The DVD is clearly filmed but I found the audio a bit fuzzy with a lot of "noise" when I turned it up. The DVD covers a basic warmup and cooldown for yoga but not much else.
Probably the most interesting aspect of this book is periodization. I mean, your "training plan." This is the first yoga book I've seen that uses the words mesocycle, macrocycle, and microcycle at all. It uses them correctly - basically you break up your program into sections, aiming to peak for a specific event. You start out emphasizing one aspect of trainng (here, it's an aerobic base) and then as you close in the event you change the frequency and intensity of your training as well as the nature of it. The section is short - only 10 pages - but it's probably the most valuable section of the book. It's vanishingly rare to find yoga books (heck, exercise books) that treats their methods as something to be fitted into an overall training program on a goal-oriented basis. No surprise, though, the example is yoga for a endurance race runner's cycle. Even the next section discusses "athletes" but means "runners."
Rating:
Content: 4 out of 5. Misnamed - it should say "runners" not "athletes" - but the information is quite solid.
Presentation: 3 out of 5. Not nearly enough pictures, crippling the book for visual learners. Well laid-out, well written, and well-organized. Noise on the DVD audio was irritating, too.
Overall:
If you are a text-learning runner, read this book. If not, it's at best a useful read-through but not a great reference guide.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Book Review: Yoga - The Path to Holistic Health
My sibling is a big fan, and practitioner of, Iyengar yoga. Since it showed impressive results in a family member I decided to check out a book by the creator of this form.
By B.K.S. Iyengar
Published in 2001
416 pages
Yoga is a mammoth book aimed at explaining, demonstrating, and cataloging Iyengar yoga. It's written by the creator of this form of yoga so you're not getting a diluted version of anything here, just the form as intended. The audience seems to be beginners unfamiliar with yoga at all, but it's complete enough to serve as a desk reference for advanced yogis.
The book opens with an introduction to yoga, and branches from there into the spiritual and diet aspects. The diet section is very light - just pictures and discussions of the three groupings of food. If you eat vegetarian/vegan Indian food, you'll love this section; if you pack down eggs and meat, well, don't look for a lot of support here. The book spends 38 ages on these topics.
The book's main core are the postures. Practically all of the remaining pages are dedicated to the various asanas. Each one is lavishly illustrated with a circle of pictures from start to finish. Each picture is from a different angle that best shows where you want to be and has bullet-point technique cues embedded into it. A small box of text identifies the key benefits ascribed to the posture, which range from muscular benefits to health benefits.
Iyengar yoga can be described in an elevator pitch as "yoga that uses props." Basically the idea is that yoga postures have value, physically and otherwise (remember, in the West yoga is exercise; originally it was spiritual and physical). Not everyone can get into the postures. So, you use props to allow you to achieve the posture from day one and slowly work into doing the postures without them. Anyone who thinks this is cheating should be reminded about barbell pushups, band-assisted pullups, and that dumbbells come in different weights.
Therefore the book dedicates a small chapter to the various props - mats, blocks, ropes, and so on, as well as substitutions (chairs, etc.) you can use instead of custom designed materials. The props are also given in sufficient detail, such as measurements and thicknesses, so you can easily identify what will function effectively as a substitute.
Instead of just showing the postures and then boxing-out some text and a picture of a prop-aided exercise, the book arranges prop-based postures into their own chapter! This makes it very, very easy to break out the "beginner" and "advanced" versions of a posture without any overlap. It's costly in page count but it pays off in clarity.
I have to admit to a few minor disappointments. One is that the notes on the exercises occasionally repeat two big myths. One is "toning" muscles, which is usually code for "not getting bulky." Yeah, yoga isn't going to give you a lot of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy but then again neither will low-rep high-weight lifts, either. Since tone is just how much tension the muscles hold at rest, it's something that isn't developed more or less by using external resistance or your own body's weight and/or posture. The other is spot reduction. Spot reduction is the idea that specific areas can be targeted for fat loss. Sadly it doesn't work that way, or at least not to any significant degree, so poses that claim to clear up fat in certain areas just won't do that. That B.K.S. Iyengar has a round belly isn't very inspiring, either, and makes me want to immediately ignore the section on food. Abdominal fat is basically lethal in the long run, so it's disappointing to see that yoga and yogic eating isn't going to prevent that.
Unlike most fitness books, I don't think this book is terribly useful stand-alone. Think of this book more like a martial arts book than an exercise book. You could learn this form of yoga from this book, but it'll be extremely hard to do the postures and check your form. More so than doing any form of weight training. This book would make a great companio to a class, so you can get a deeper understanding of what you are doing and reinforce your lessons with reading and/or self practice.
Rating:
Contents: 4 out of 5. Comprehensive and detailed on yoga. Loses a point for propagating the spot reduction and toning myths.
Presentation: 5 out of 5. This is how you should show exercises - step by step with pictures, from all angles, with notes on form embedded into the pictures to ensure clarity. Also well written.
Overall: A very comprehensive book on yoga, but not even remotely cheap. Worth reading (support your local library) if you have any interest at all in Iyengar yoga in specific or yoga in general. It covers Iyengar very well, however, and it's worth the price if you're a practitioner who wants a complete text on the subject.
By B.K.S. Iyengar
Published in 2001
416 pages
Yoga is a mammoth book aimed at explaining, demonstrating, and cataloging Iyengar yoga. It's written by the creator of this form of yoga so you're not getting a diluted version of anything here, just the form as intended. The audience seems to be beginners unfamiliar with yoga at all, but it's complete enough to serve as a desk reference for advanced yogis.
The book opens with an introduction to yoga, and branches from there into the spiritual and diet aspects. The diet section is very light - just pictures and discussions of the three groupings of food. If you eat vegetarian/vegan Indian food, you'll love this section; if you pack down eggs and meat, well, don't look for a lot of support here. The book spends 38 ages on these topics.
The book's main core are the postures. Practically all of the remaining pages are dedicated to the various asanas. Each one is lavishly illustrated with a circle of pictures from start to finish. Each picture is from a different angle that best shows where you want to be and has bullet-point technique cues embedded into it. A small box of text identifies the key benefits ascribed to the posture, which range from muscular benefits to health benefits.
Iyengar yoga can be described in an elevator pitch as "yoga that uses props." Basically the idea is that yoga postures have value, physically and otherwise (remember, in the West yoga is exercise; originally it was spiritual and physical). Not everyone can get into the postures. So, you use props to allow you to achieve the posture from day one and slowly work into doing the postures without them. Anyone who thinks this is cheating should be reminded about barbell pushups, band-assisted pullups, and that dumbbells come in different weights.
Therefore the book dedicates a small chapter to the various props - mats, blocks, ropes, and so on, as well as substitutions (chairs, etc.) you can use instead of custom designed materials. The props are also given in sufficient detail, such as measurements and thicknesses, so you can easily identify what will function effectively as a substitute.
Instead of just showing the postures and then boxing-out some text and a picture of a prop-aided exercise, the book arranges prop-based postures into their own chapter! This makes it very, very easy to break out the "beginner" and "advanced" versions of a posture without any overlap. It's costly in page count but it pays off in clarity.
I have to admit to a few minor disappointments. One is that the notes on the exercises occasionally repeat two big myths. One is "toning" muscles, which is usually code for "not getting bulky." Yeah, yoga isn't going to give you a lot of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy but then again neither will low-rep high-weight lifts, either. Since tone is just how much tension the muscles hold at rest, it's something that isn't developed more or less by using external resistance or your own body's weight and/or posture. The other is spot reduction. Spot reduction is the idea that specific areas can be targeted for fat loss. Sadly it doesn't work that way, or at least not to any significant degree, so poses that claim to clear up fat in certain areas just won't do that. That B.K.S. Iyengar has a round belly isn't very inspiring, either, and makes me want to immediately ignore the section on food. Abdominal fat is basically lethal in the long run, so it's disappointing to see that yoga and yogic eating isn't going to prevent that.
Unlike most fitness books, I don't think this book is terribly useful stand-alone. Think of this book more like a martial arts book than an exercise book. You could learn this form of yoga from this book, but it'll be extremely hard to do the postures and check your form. More so than doing any form of weight training. This book would make a great companio to a class, so you can get a deeper understanding of what you are doing and reinforce your lessons with reading and/or self practice.
Rating:
Contents: 4 out of 5. Comprehensive and detailed on yoga. Loses a point for propagating the spot reduction and toning myths.
Presentation: 5 out of 5. This is how you should show exercises - step by step with pictures, from all angles, with notes on form embedded into the pictures to ensure clarity. Also well written.
Overall: A very comprehensive book on yoga, but not even remotely cheap. Worth reading (support your local library) if you have any interest at all in Iyengar yoga in specific or yoga in general. It covers Iyengar very well, however, and it's worth the price if you're a practitioner who wants a complete text on the subject.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Book Review: Real Men Do Yoga
I first heard about this book over on this blog thanks to Mike Robertson's link to the post. So I decided to check it out from the library, and then check it out. Ironically, Mike Robertson had just posted a blog post saying yoga was overrated (while outlining both the good and bad of it), so make of this what you will. Perhaps I'm just being contrarian by reviewing this.
Real Men Do Yoga
by John Capouya
Published 2003
195 pages
This book is predicated on two ifs - if you are a man (preferably, a guy - think T-Nation here) and if you are intrigued by yoga but are concerned it's for "girls." If those two things are true, this book might just be for you. You are certainly in the target demographic.
The tone of the book fits this exactly - mentions of hot yoga girls, being humbled by the poses, knowing asides about getting your cardio from sex and sports instead of faster yoga styles, etc. But there is probably a reason for this. Yoga gets slammed for, well, not being weight training - and slammed hard - in most articles that deign to mention it at all on weight training sites. Gymnastics doesn't get so much hate, despite being quite similar (yoga handstand vs. handstand?), mobility drills are lauded as a great warmup (but yoga is bad), etc. There are exceptions, but they aren't that common and keep the "yoga is sometimes good despite sucking" theme up. So that explains the style of writing. It's not badly done here, though, and it makes a good case for why yoga is for you, even if - especially if - you also weight train and want to continue with both. It wholly avoids the typical "this is better than that" false dichotomy you'll find books espousing alternate training techniques.
Tone and audience aside, what's in the book?
The book takes a piece-by-piece approach to the body and to yoga. First it outlines basic moves to flex the upper body and spine (that's thoracic spine, aka t-spine or upper back, and lumber spine, aka l-spine and lower back). Next, it takes you through a series of poses to do the same to your hips and legs - especially the former. Then it's time for balance.
The poses are a mix of the pretty basic (cobra, downward dog) to the more advanced (crow, pigeon, eagle). They are presented in a seemingly logical order, though - each pose is certainly harder than the previous one, and the later chapters assemble them in a more difficult fashion than the earlier chapters.
The book gets bonus points for emphasizing functional abs over visible six-pack abs, although it does somewhat falsely put out the idea that not everyone could get them. Everyone probably could, if they really wanted to exercise and diet hard to get them. But the discussion is purely centered on the value of a midsection strong in all directions, both at generating and resisting movement.
Further chapters in the book go into suggested sport-by-sport workouts, longer yoga routines, and how to avoid (and deal with!) injuries when doing yoga. That's right, injuries - something you don't find in a lot of yoga book discussions. The book frankly admits you can get hurt, how to avoid getting pushed too far by overzealous instructors or your own ego, and how to cope if you do.
There are also chapters on meditation and, this book being aimed squarely at guys, sex. It's only a few pages but it's a guide to using yoga to improve your sex life. It reminds me a bit of Built For Show in that it frankly admits you want to get in shape to meet women and impress them once you do.
The athletes who do yoga are interesting, but because of the date, mostly retired. It's nice that Sean Burke did yoga, but he's retired from the NHL now. Only a few athletes are still playing, so it's getting more and more dated as the days go by.
Some of the information on weight training is inaccurate, or at least misleading. For example, the book says "Weight-training actually tears muscles, creating scar tissue (that's what forms the visible bulk)." That's not true. "Tears muscles" may be accurate - microscopic muscle tears in the muscles, which then heal stronger, is one way muscles may get stronger (there are multiple theories on this). But the "visible bulk" of muscles is hypertrophy - muscle fibers increasing in size, and/or being surrounded by increased supporting materials. It's not scarring; scar tissue is weak and inflexible, muscles may not be ideally flexible but they aren't weak, and can in indeed move. Further information on the role of lactic acid is outdated - it's increasingly being viewed as a fuel, not a downside of training, for example. Yoga is also presented as integrative, which is true - it's always some form of compound exercise (in other words, it involves multiple joints). But the contrast is with machine exercises, which are designed to be isolative. Little mention is made of free weights or bodyweight exercises, except to contrast them to yoga moves in a way that makes them seem inferior (even when nearly identical, such as pushups with yoga-style pushups).
Rating
Content: 4 out of 5. The yoga information is excellent, but it could have used the original names for the poses more clearly (so you could use other references), and it really would benefit from more pictures, not just a final post picture. The non-yoga information is sometimes wrong, or at least misleading, and that costs a lot of points.
Presentation: 4 out of 5. Very easy to read, and while it lacks a bit in attractiveness of the typeface, it's not hard on the eyes. The pictures are clear and the content is well-organized.
Overall: If you are a guy, and have never done yoga, or if you haven't in a long time, this book might be for you. It's got a good starting set of poses and routines, makes a good case for trying them out, and doesn't dumb it down excessively even as it makes it easier. Recommended for guys who meet the ifs, otherwise another yoga book might be for you.
Real Men Do Yoga
by John Capouya
Published 2003
195 pages
This book is predicated on two ifs - if you are a man (preferably, a guy - think T-Nation here) and if you are intrigued by yoga but are concerned it's for "girls." If those two things are true, this book might just be for you. You are certainly in the target demographic.
The tone of the book fits this exactly - mentions of hot yoga girls, being humbled by the poses, knowing asides about getting your cardio from sex and sports instead of faster yoga styles, etc. But there is probably a reason for this. Yoga gets slammed for, well, not being weight training - and slammed hard - in most articles that deign to mention it at all on weight training sites. Gymnastics doesn't get so much hate, despite being quite similar (yoga handstand vs. handstand?), mobility drills are lauded as a great warmup (but yoga is bad), etc. There are exceptions, but they aren't that common and keep the "yoga is sometimes good despite sucking" theme up. So that explains the style of writing. It's not badly done here, though, and it makes a good case for why yoga is for you, even if - especially if - you also weight train and want to continue with both. It wholly avoids the typical "this is better than that" false dichotomy you'll find books espousing alternate training techniques.
Tone and audience aside, what's in the book?
The book takes a piece-by-piece approach to the body and to yoga. First it outlines basic moves to flex the upper body and spine (that's thoracic spine, aka t-spine or upper back, and lumber spine, aka l-spine and lower back). Next, it takes you through a series of poses to do the same to your hips and legs - especially the former. Then it's time for balance.
The poses are a mix of the pretty basic (cobra, downward dog) to the more advanced (crow, pigeon, eagle). They are presented in a seemingly logical order, though - each pose is certainly harder than the previous one, and the later chapters assemble them in a more difficult fashion than the earlier chapters.
The book gets bonus points for emphasizing functional abs over visible six-pack abs, although it does somewhat falsely put out the idea that not everyone could get them. Everyone probably could, if they really wanted to exercise and diet hard to get them. But the discussion is purely centered on the value of a midsection strong in all directions, both at generating and resisting movement.
Further chapters in the book go into suggested sport-by-sport workouts, longer yoga routines, and how to avoid (and deal with!) injuries when doing yoga. That's right, injuries - something you don't find in a lot of yoga book discussions. The book frankly admits you can get hurt, how to avoid getting pushed too far by overzealous instructors or your own ego, and how to cope if you do.
There are also chapters on meditation and, this book being aimed squarely at guys, sex. It's only a few pages but it's a guide to using yoga to improve your sex life. It reminds me a bit of Built For Show in that it frankly admits you want to get in shape to meet women and impress them once you do.
The athletes who do yoga are interesting, but because of the date, mostly retired. It's nice that Sean Burke did yoga, but he's retired from the NHL now. Only a few athletes are still playing, so it's getting more and more dated as the days go by.
Some of the information on weight training is inaccurate, or at least misleading. For example, the book says "Weight-training actually tears muscles, creating scar tissue (that's what forms the visible bulk)." That's not true. "Tears muscles" may be accurate - microscopic muscle tears in the muscles, which then heal stronger, is one way muscles may get stronger (there are multiple theories on this). But the "visible bulk" of muscles is hypertrophy - muscle fibers increasing in size, and/or being surrounded by increased supporting materials. It's not scarring; scar tissue is weak and inflexible, muscles may not be ideally flexible but they aren't weak, and can in indeed move. Further information on the role of lactic acid is outdated - it's increasingly being viewed as a fuel, not a downside of training, for example. Yoga is also presented as integrative, which is true - it's always some form of compound exercise (in other words, it involves multiple joints). But the contrast is with machine exercises, which are designed to be isolative. Little mention is made of free weights or bodyweight exercises, except to contrast them to yoga moves in a way that makes them seem inferior (even when nearly identical, such as pushups with yoga-style pushups).
Rating
Content: 4 out of 5. The yoga information is excellent, but it could have used the original names for the poses more clearly (so you could use other references), and it really would benefit from more pictures, not just a final post picture. The non-yoga information is sometimes wrong, or at least misleading, and that costs a lot of points.
Presentation: 4 out of 5. Very easy to read, and while it lacks a bit in attractiveness of the typeface, it's not hard on the eyes. The pictures are clear and the content is well-organized.
Overall: If you are a guy, and have never done yoga, or if you haven't in a long time, this book might be for you. It's got a good starting set of poses and routines, makes a good case for trying them out, and doesn't dumb it down excessively even as it makes it easier. Recommended for guys who meet the ifs, otherwise another yoga book might be for you.
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