Nicola Jane Hobbs - Yoga Gym: The Revolutionary 28 Day Bodyweight Plan - for Strength, Flexibility and Fat Loss

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If you are in need of a little motivation or want some tips and advice then go to www.YogaGymRevolution.com to see videos, articles and recipes and check out any upcoming Yoga Gym workshops, retreats and teacher trainings. You can also download your 28-day Yoga Gym calendar from www.bloomsbury.com/9781472912886.

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First published 2016

Nicola Jane Hobbs, 2016

This electronic edition published 2016

Nicola Jane Hobbs has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

ISBN: Print: 978-1-4729-1288-6

ePDF: 978-1-4729-1290-9

ePub: 978-1-4729-1289-3

To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com. Here you will find extracts, author interviews, details of forthcoming events and the option to sign up for our newsletters.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Cover photograph Geoff Whitaker

Inside photographs Eddie Macdonald

Hair and make-up artist: Alice Hollinghum

Models: Nicola Jane Hobbs and Edd Lawrence

Design: Nicola Liddiard, Nimbus Design

To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com. Here you will find extracts, author interviews, details of forthcoming events and the option to sign up for our newsletters.

Contents

Introduction

I want you to understand that you are the expert of your own body.

Intuitively, you know how to move it, train it and nourish it. The health and fitness world has become so cluttered with overcomplicated workout machines, the latest gadgets and gizmos and miracle potions in a bottle that you have forgotten the innate power of your body. Nutrition companies battle it out over the best diet. Coaches argue over the optimal amount of weight to lift or distance to run. Yogis deliberate over the finest and truest form of yoga. All this confusion paralyses us in a state of inaction.

I have created Yoga Gym so you can get healthier, stronger and leaner with peace of mind. No more complicated equipment. No more crowded gyms. No more confusion. We have become so advanced in fitness that we have forgotten the basics how to breathe, stand, move, and how to build our body using our body.

This book offers a simplicity that the health and fitness world desperately needs. This simplicity means that people of all ages, genders, occupations and athletic ability can follow the Yoga Gym plan. Each pose and exercise in this book has been refined through my work with professional athletes, by teaching corporate office workers and full-time parents, and by coaching children of all ages. Ive developed the plan using yoga in weight-loss groups, helping individuals through eating disorders and depression and supporting war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, and have used the power of yoga to inspire individuals, families and communities to thrive.

What is Yoga Gym?

Yoga Gym is a revolutionary approach to fitness that unites the ancient science of yoga with modern strength and conditioning principles. It provides you with over 150 equipment-free, do-anywhere poses and exercises as well as a 28-day life-enhancing plan to get you strong and flexible from head to toe.

The poses and exercises in this book are all based around traditional yoga poses known as asanas. These come from various systems of yoga including:

ASHTANGA PHYSICALLY DEMANDING POSES PERFORMED IN A SET SEQUENCE

IYENGAR CHALLENGING POSES WITH A FOCUS ON CORRECT ALIGNMENT

VINYASA FLOW LIVELY AND FAST-PACED BREATH-SYNCHRONISED MOVEMENT

YIN PASSIVE POSES HELD FOR LONGER PERIODS TO TARGET THE CONNECTIVE TISSUES AND ENCOURAGE RELAXATION

In Sanskrit, the traditional Indo-Aryan language of yoga, these asanas have names such as Adho Mukha Svanasa and Salamba Sarvangasana. Although these terms are beautiful, they can be intimidating and alienating if you have never done yoga before or arent interested in its history. For this reason, I have used modern, easy-to-understand pose names and movement cues in this book to authentically evolve yoga and make it more accessible to 21st-century living.

As yoga means to yolk or unite in Sanskrit, I have united traditional poses with bodyweight training exercises known as calisthenics. Calisthenics has a long history dating back to the ancient Greeks (the word calisthenics comes from the Greek kalli meaning beautiful and sthenos meaning strength). It includes exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups and squats, which I have drawn upon to create yogacises yoga-based bodyweight exercises used to achieve bodily fitness and grace of movement.

Why did I create it?

Im not a classical yogi. I eat meat. I wear make-up. I probably dont meditate enough. And I definitely havent reached spiritual enlightenment. I am just a girl journeying through life trying to share the joys of health, strength and freedom.

As a yoga teacher, I was tired of seeing men avoiding yoga classes in case they were the only ones who couldnt touch their toes. As a champion weightlifter, I was fed up with seeing women afraid to train for strength for fear of becoming bulky. And as a performance and lifestyle coach, I was frustrated by seeing people shy away from leading a healthy life because they were too ashamed of their body to exercise in public, they didnt know what to eat or how to move, or they simply didnt believe they were worthy of health and happiness.