Yoga for Runners and Yoga for Strength: DVD Reviews From Two Fit Bottomed Dudes

We recently got the opportunity to review a couple of yoga DVDs that feature guys. Seeing that most of the workout DVDs on the market are super-geared toward the ladies, we thought we’d let two of our resident Fit Bottomed Dudes — Jared and Ryan — put these to the test. (Plus, with the start of football season and all, the timing just seemed right!) Read on for their reviews of two titles from the Gaiam Athletic Yoga line: Matt Giordano’s Yoga for Runners and Yoga for Strength with Eddie George.

Yoga for Runners Review

I never expected to become a yoga guy, but I don’t think I can deny it any longer. I’ve relied on it to ease my back pain and I join FBG Kristen pretty regularly for some sun salutations in our living room (or, if we’re up early enough, at the beach). I also run a fair amount (gotta keep up with my wife, you know!) so when she asked if I’d like to review Matt Giordano’s Yoga for Runners DVD, it seemed like the perfect fit.

The DVD has three 20-minute sections: Pre-Run Practice to help prepare your joints and muscles for your run; Yoga for Conditioning, which is designed to be an off-day workout with a series of poses to help realign the bones, ease muscle tension and build overall strength; and a Post-Run Practice with a focus on working the major muscle groups, releasing tension, speeding recovery and connecting to the joy of the run.

There are some 1- to 2-minute bonus segments, too, which are focused on relaxing tight muscles in order to help avoid common running injuries: Healthy Shins (for, well, your shins), Lizard Pose (for groin and thighs), Hamstring Secrets (you can guess what this stretches), and Soleful Stretch (strengthens the muscles of the foot to help prevent plantar fasciitis).

While many of the yoga poses are things I’ve seen and done before, it also offered a few new-to-me positions to stretch the hips and groin. And man, did they stretch — I had done my first-ever 10K (with trails in the middle! Why did nobody tell me how tough those trails were going to be?) the previous day so these positions felt especially fantastic.

There’s definitely a big focus on flexibility (which is something most runners I know struggle with), and it’s worth noting that I needed to use a yoga block and a yoga band, which I don’t generally need. Some of the stretches went deeper than I’ve ever experienced in other videos, and there were plenty that I would not have been able to do without the band or block. It’s always good to be pushed a little further in your practice, right?

There were, however, a couple of downsides. First of all, you could not play the routines individually, meaning you would have to break practice to skip certain routines. Additionally, some of the poses were difficult to follow just by listening to the directions — the cuing wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t always as informative as I needed it to be to follow without watching. And in our house, that’s tough because the TV is mounted fairly high on the wall, so it’s really not possible to watch at all times without coming out of the pose.

Overall I enjoyed the video and loved some of the new hip and groin stretches that were introduced. For this first time 10K-er, they were very welcome indeed. —Jared

Yoga for Strength With Eddie George Review

They say it’s a man’s world. And, for better and worse, and despite the fact that this is the year 2015, that statement is relatively true. However, this is not an absolute truth. It is possible for men to feel out of place in some parts of our culture.

Over the past 20 or so years, our collective understanding of fitness has grown exponentially. High interval training gets all the buzz, but secretly there has been another fitness shift. We have started to understand flexibility matters — big time. Better flexibility means a better range of motion. A better range of motion means a greater ability to train more of the muscle. More complete training means stronger and less injury-prone athletes. Stronger and less injury-prone? Yes, please.

Along with that greater understanding of fitness has come a smarter Fit Bottomed Dude. Men have been actively searching for tools that can help them stay flexible. Unfortunately for them, the demand has outpaced the market. Over these same past 20 years, the only seemingly viable option not explicitly targeted to women’s health was Rodney Yee.

Finally, it appears things are changing. Flexibility work and yoga in particular is being regularly included in platform type workout systems targeted to men. And, even more promising for Fit Bottomed Dudes everywhere, the quality of yoga-specific workouts targeted to men is on the rise. And Gaiam remained the leader.

Eddie George’s Yoga for Strength is pragmatic and insightful. Kent Katich is Eddie’s yoga instructor and, between the two of them, good instruction, conversation and manliness ensue in the DVD. Eddie is a former NFL running back/Hall of Famer, and Kent appears to be a cowboy turned yoga instructor. The combination of the perfect running back (physical specimen and desire to grow through the instruction of his coaches) with the sage, rough-around-the-collar Kent makes for a unique combination of inspiration, calm and genuine connection that is rarely seen in any yoga DVD.

If you are looking to improve your fitness through flexibility, but aren’t interested in examining your spirituality or chi, this is the yoga DVD for you. Eddie and Kent take you through a number of “just the facts” style of workouts that will improve your flexibility, balance and strength.

Also, Eddie looks like he could still play. If you want to be a Fit Bottomed Dude — do what Eddie does. Do yoga. —Ryan