[.ca] Conditioning for Athletes - Vh

From Amazon.com:
The fact that basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a serious yogi, played professionally for two decades without once suffering the kind of shoulder, knee, hamstring, or other injuries that hamper so many other athletes' careers is no coincidence. Instructor Rodney Yee is therefore clearly on to something with Yoga Conditioning for Athletes, a yoga practice designed to promote overall balance, diminish the likelihood of injury, and enhance athletes' physical conditioning and "focused concentration." With two assistants demonstrating modifications for the various poses, Yee leads the user through a three-part, hour-long program. The first section, "Opening," requires the use of a folding chair and includes several bends and twists for the spine, hips, and hamstrings. "Conditioning," the second and most vigorous section, alternates basic standing asanas (triangle, warrior I and II, extended right angle) with balancing poses (tree, eagle) and several sustained forward bends; "Integration," the third section, combines seated and reclining backbends, lunges, twists, and hip work. All in all, this is a solid, reasonably complete (but not overly taxing) program that should deliver what it promises. That said, it's also true that almost any yoga workout is a good thing for an athlete. --Kelly Welldon

Great yoga/stretching for EVERYONE, not just athletes!:
Let me begin by saying that I am definitely NOT an athlete; I do work out regularly at home (with a recumbent bike and strength/yoga videos), but I've never participated in any kind of sports activity. However, I borrowed this video from the library after someone recommended to me as a good overall yoga tape, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn't need to be an athlete to complete the workout. Instructor Rodney Yee begins the workout with a 10-minute stretching segment using a chair. These are more traditional moves rather than yoga type moves, and they focus particularly on opening up the hips and hamstrings. Although I'm not at all flexible, I was able to do all of the stretches without modifications, but Rodney works out with a woman and another man, both of whom offer modifications if necessary. After the stretching segment, Rodney moves on to approximately 20 minutes of standing yoga poses. I particularly enjoyed this section and found it to be better than other yoga tapes I've tried, mainly because Rodney holds each pose longer, explaining how to increase your flexibility and move further into the pose over time. The standing toning is followed by 10-15 minutes of yoga moves on the floor consisting mainly of forward bends and twists. Finally, there is a 5-minute relaxation segment at the end. This tape certainly IS appropriate for athletes, especially since throughout the workout, Rodney talkes about how the exercises will benefit your athletic performance. However, for those us who aren't athletes, this is an excellent, easy-to-follow yoga/stretching tape with an emphasis on flexibility and balance. I would say that virtually all of the moves are appropriate for beginners; however, because Rodney does not explain how to do the yoga poses--he simply gives the name of each pose--some prior familiarly with basic yoga would be helpful, but watching the entire tape before performing it should also be adequate. Rodney is an excellent instructor, and I found him to be pleasantly slower-paced and less new-agey on this video versus the others in the Living Arts series. For beginners, I would definitely recommend this tape over Living Arts' "Yoga Practice for Flexibility"--although that is touted as a beginner's tape, I found about half the workout to be undoable for someone at my level. I highly recommend "Yoga Conditioning for Athletes" for anyone looking to increase their flexibility and balance, athletes or otherwise.

Won't condition a serious athlete:
I have a number of other yoga tapes that I use and thought that this would be a good one since I am a runner and triathlete. I am not even a very competitive athlete, and I still found this tape to be not very challenging. I was expecting a tape geared at athletes to be more challenging than standard yoga tapes, and it was not. It is far easier than the other tapes I have. If you are a beginner, this would be a good tape because it does not use more advanced poses, however there are times that it seems Rodney Yee assumes you should know the position names already, so be alert for that.

Nice stretching.:
I like this tape for opening up hips and stretching. You can feel the pain in days after of good run. I only gave the tape 4 stars because it's not really satisfying enough for a complete hour yoga workout. While for daily 20-min stretching, I find that the third tape in Rodney Yee's Power Yoga for Beginners: Flexibility has much of the same stretching goodness in a smaller package, so I can also have time for other workouts.

Just excellent:
I have a lot of back problems, but I love jogging, cycling and swimming. I have found out that doing yoga 3 times a week allows me to do all these sports that I love so much. I took part in a 5k race about 2 years ago, and I hurt my back really bad. I got this DVD about 3 months ago, started using it (about 3 times per week), and started training at the same time for another 5k race. I did the 5k race, and the difference was incredible. I was perfect the next day. Yoga has made a huge difference for my back. Also, I would like to add, this DVD has several "mini-routines" targeted to specific sports (jogging, tennis, swimming, cycling, golf, others), every time I go jogging around my house, my back is always hurting a little bit, as soon as I do the "jogging mini-routing", the pain is gone. Something very good about this dvd too,is the fact that is divided in several parts, so it's like having several dvd's. I really recommend it. I wouldn't say that it's for beginners, you must have some practice. Another plus... his voice, it is sooo relaxing.

This practice has helped me progress in Yoga:
I began a yoga practice with other Living Arts tapes 21 months ago, and started attending a weekly practice session a year ago. Bought Yoga Conditioning for Athletes about four months ago. Occasionally I go back and do the Introduction and Beginners tapes. I believe that this Rodney Yee tape has helped me progress noticably, particularly in hip opening and those most difficult standing and seated forward bends. This practice is not too easy, not too long, but seems to me just right.