Dean Pohlman - Yoga Basics for Men: An Intro to Man Flow Yoga: All of the physical benefits, and none of the frills. Improve your physical fitness, reduce your risk of injury, and feel better overall.

Yoga Basics for Men

An Into to Man Flow Yoga

By Dean Pohlman

Copyright 2014 by Dean Pohlman

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States via Kindle Direct Publishing.

Table of Contents

Intro to Man Flow Yoga

Man Flow Yoga focuses on the physical benefits of yoga as they relate to physical fitness. Emphasis is placed on building endurance, body control, balance, core strength, and flexibility through the exercises found in yoga, while ignoring the more esoteric spiritual and meditative aspects that are commonly found in traditional yoga. All of the physical benefits, and none of the frills. Man Flow Yoga is internationally recognized as one of the leading experts on yoga for men.

Man Flow Yoga was founded by the current CEO and Yoga Beast of Man Flow Yoga, Dean Pohlman. Man Flow Yoga is based in Austin, Texas.

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Message from the Author

Welcome to Man Flow Yoga Basics. I am writing this to help bring you the physical benefits of yoga from the perspective of an athlete who has used yoga to improve his physical fitness. The Man Flow Yoga Basics eBook will teach you how to properly execute yoga exercises (poses) in an easy-to follow fashion. It will also explain which muscles are being targeted, list practical benefits, and give concrete examples of how each exercise will help improve your physical performance. This eBook will also cover the benefits of consistent yoga in a physical fitness regimen, explain key concepts to help you safely progress, explain and give examples of proper sequencing (the order in which the poses or exercises are performed), and explain the services and additional content that Man Flow Yoga provides.

My Personal Story:

My first yoga class was entirely on accident. I was looking for the tailor and stumbled into a Bikram Yoga studio. I had always been interested in yoga but had never taken a yoga class before that day. I asked the yoga instructor if this class would help my athletic performance. (At the time I was a lacrosse player for the University of Wisconsin.) She told me that it would help me tone my muscles and make me much more flexible. That was exactly what I was looking for. Then she said that I didnt even have to wear my shirt for the workout. Two hours later, drenched in sweat from head to toe, feeling like I had just exited the pool, and utterly exhausted, I had just completed my first yoga class. It was, and probably will remain, the hardest workout that I have ever done. From that point on, I was sold.

After two months of doing yoga consistently, I realized that the benefits of yoga extended far beyond flexibility. My level of limberness skyrocketed, and so did my endurance, body control, core strength, and balance, just to name a few of the benefits I was experiencing. More than that, it made me even stronger in the weight room. I first began instructing yoga as the conditioning coach of my lacrosse team in 2011. That success encouraged me to take my knowledge and passion to a larger audience.

I started Man Flow Yoga in January of 2013 to bring the physical benefits of yoga to as many people as possible. Since then, I have been teaching at gyms, parks, workshops, international retreats, and online. I am a certified 200HR Registered Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance.

I should also mention that the physique I now have is maintained ENTIRELY through yoga and pull-ups. I do not lift weights, do cardio, spinning, or any other form of fitness. You can get the body that you want just by doing yoga effectively, and I have created that with Man Flow Yoga

Physical Benefits

Making Man Flow Yoga a consistent part of your fitness routine will improve every aspect of your physical fitness. Although the word flexibility is the one word that most often comes to mind when you think of yoga, a yoga workout (and a Man Flow Yoga workout in particular) actually focuses on much more than this. Here are the main physical benefits that you will experience:

Endurance - make it through your whole workout with fewer breaks, play harder in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter, and have more overall energy.

Body control - become aware of every muscle in your body, facilitate a better connection between the muscular and skeletal systems and the brain that controls them, and make your body as efficient as possible.

Balance - develop balance by learning to actively engage your muscles and improve your ability to respond to perturbations or unbalanced situations.

Core strength - learn to properly engage your core and strengthen the main source of power and stability in your body, while improving your posture and taking pressure off of your lower back to improve spinal health.

Flexibility - reduced risk of injury, reduced recovery time, and more range of motion to increase your overall strength and power.

Some other benefits:

Many people are also turning to yoga as a form of physical therapy or physical fitness to prevent or reduce injuries.. Here is a list of common physical ailments whose side effects can be reduced or altogether eliminated by Man Flow Yoga:

Key Concepts

Here are the key concepts that you should keep in mind while performing the exercises in this eBook to help protect yourself from injury. This includes physical concepts such as keeping a slight bend to your knee, but also mental concepts like listening to your body, knowing when to continue, when to stop, when to push, when to pull back, and, more importantly, when NOT to push.

1. The most important thing that you can do while doing the exercises involved in yoga is to listen to your body. Listen to what feels good, what feels slightly uncomfortable, and what feels very uncomfortable. Sharp pain or pinching should be avoided, while moderate discomfort is usually your body becoming accustomed to deeper range of motion or stretching.
2. Man Flow Yoga workouts almost always start with full-body exercises to warm up the muscles and properly prepare the body before moving into static poses that push flexibility boundaries. The only exception is if the muscles are already warm (Ex: If the Man Flow Yoga session is done immediately post-workout).
3. For exercises focusing on the hip flexors, this means shortening the distance between your feet.