CanadianBiker32

I need to find an activity that keep my joints and muscles from being tight. Hear Yoga is good?

Does anyone know of any good Yoga Videos i can find that i can follow and get the basics of yoga movements. Something that good for men.
Thanks

Machka 

Join a class.

BigAura

+1. Yoga classes are the best way to practice. It's hard to get the experience from a DVD, especially when starting.

If unable to attend a class or to get supplemental training I'd check out your local library for DVD's. You can also search youtube for lots of supplemental learning.

CbadRider

There are different kinds of yoga. Some are more of an aerobic workout and others are more stretching. If you don't have any classes near you, then as mentioned above, check out your library or even YouTube for different types of workouts. If you find an instructor you like, you can buy their DVD later.

Here's a sample from YouTube.

Heathpack 

It sounds like you are really interested in stretching and there is indeed a lot of that in yoga. But there may be more ways that yoga can improve your cycling. For me personally, here's the ways in which yoga complements cycling:
1. Core & upper body strength. Yoga is not the only way to build this, but it certainly does.
2. Flexibility. Lots of stretching in yoga for sure.
3. Breathing and calmness. I can't tell you how much yoga helps when you are working hard and needing to deliver oxygen, you learn how to breathe deeply and more effectively.
4. Leg strength. I had been avoiding this, thinking Id build enough on the bike. But everyone could use a little leg strength. I was going to talk to my yogi about adding in some leg work when on his own today he throws in one-legged chair (which is basically a one-legged squat) which brought the subject up of its own accord. Working the legs is now officially "in" for me.
5. Balance. Lots of good balance work in yoga too.

I do private yoga, which is basically a personal trainer for yoga. It is tremendously helpful and I can't imagine really getting much out of yoga without some kind of face-to-face instruction- at a minimum, group classes and if you can afford it, private. You really need that feedback as you are in poses, for example you may start out strong and in good form but as you fatigue in a pose, something starts to go. I may get 10 form corrections during a 1 minute pose even when I am strong & doing well. It is also sometimes hard to understand at first what you are supposed to be doing, and just having one or two ways it's explained on a video might not work. A good yogi will see that you don't get something and he/she will explain it to you again in a little different way.

So I'd say find a yoga studio with small classes and try out a series of group classes. Try to talk beforehand with the instructor and explain what you're trying to get out of the practice. Don't bother with the videos unless that is your only option.

H

GeorgeBMac

+1 on all of that -- just change the noun to 'Pilates'...

I learned that I can do the pose or movement -- but unless you have the form correct its not doing you much good. And, like Heathpack, I get 10 form corrections in a 10 minute pose or movement -- actually I'm trying to get it DOWN to only 10 corrections!

But, doing it right makes a BIG difference. I couldn't do that without an instructor.

Machka 

[QUOTE=GeorgeBMac;16516164But, doing it right makes a BIG difference. I couldn't do that without an instructor.[/QUOTE]

+1

I got videos and tried to follow along and sort of guessed that I might be doing it right ... and then I joined a class and discovered that I was doing most of it wrong. It is so hard to tell if your position is right when you don't have someone standing there and telling you to move your foot over there and to drop your shoulder and to raise your arm more, etc.

I had a really good instructor who not only told us exactly how to do the poses, but also why.