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

421 Pages·2015·20.87 MB·English

by  Nicola Jane Hobbs

Contents
PART 1: THE BASICS
Introduction
Quick-start guide
Success stories
Busting the yoga myths
Yoga Gym benefits
Yoga Gym guidelines
Yoga Gym diet
Yoga Gym mind
Equipment & extras
PART 2: THE EXERCISES
Key concepts
Breathing exercises
Yang poses
Flows
Yogacises
Yin poses
Challenge poses
Yoga pose & yogacise index
PART 3: THE WORKOUTS
Using the Yoga Gym plan
Weekly session plans
APPENDIX
Glossary

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. I’ve 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 aren’t 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?
I’m not a classical yogi. I eat meat. I wear make-up. I probably don’t
meditate enough. And I definitely haven’t 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 couldn’t 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 didn’t know what to eat or how to move, or they simply didn’t
believe they were worthy of health and happiness.
So the reason for creating Yoga Gym is simple: to provide you with the
tools to understand and master your body so you can become a
stronger, healthier and more confident you.
This can be broken down into four main aims:
1 To improve the fitness and function of the body
If you walk into a standard commercial gym it is highly likely you will find
lines of men and women gliding up and down on elliptical trainers (also
known as cross-trainers). Sure, you might burn a few calories on these
stationary machines but gliding is not a natural body motion. Yoga Gym
gets you moving your body in the way it was designed to, so you
condition it to perform better at everyday activities such as standing,
bending and lifting. It builds fitness on all levels, including strength,
power, flexibility and cardiovascular endurance to give you a better-
functioning body that will last a lifetime.
2 To improve body composition
One of the main reasons we exercise is to look good. Sometimes we’re
too ashamed to admit that we would like to lose belly fat or tighten up