Yoga seen as "Un-Manly"

Yeah, I did Yoga a couple times; it was mostly to get me to relax after the long day I had during my stint as a student teacher. Well, it wasn't relaxing during; during beat me the hell up. Afterwards though- that was heaven. Anyway, I decided to post it on Facebook because I wanted to honor the person who was teaching it to me (and the other student teachers at the school). She did it pro bono and I wanted to thank her for her time and work.

Well, that **** backfired. I should have known better than to put anything on Facebook. Next thing I know, my friends and my brother started harping on my *kitten* about how much of a girl I was becoming and how it's just a bunch of "liberal bull****". They basically emasculated me and chastised her online. I chewed them out and apologized profusely to the instructor, but I was just so pissed off. I enjoyed Yoga and no one has the right to degrade me for doing it.

Wow, that's awful.

Wow, that's awful.

Yea, pretty insulting to both girls and liberals that he took it negatively when he was told he was being like them .

I get it every time. When I tell people I practice (and teach) Yoga, I get some kind of comment about my masculinity or a raised eyebrow from a lot of guys- followed by a crack about how I would look in Yoga pants...

I'll admit, I don't look like a "typical" Yoga practitioner and I have never worn Yoga pants. But if you think Yoga is not a manly exercise, you would be mistaken. Until it hit the West, most disciplines of Yoga were exclusively practiced by men. The exercises and breathing techniques are useful in nearly every other type of excercise as well.

What a lot of people don't know is that Yoga was actually the predecessor of Martial Arts. And a great deal of Martial Art exercises were developed from Yoga techniques. Yoga helps develop balance, muscle control, flexibility, stamina, breathing techniques and a myriad of other benefits. The animal styles of Kung Fu were direct descendants of Yoga techniques and are still practiced today.

Granted, the Western version of Yoga has been stygmatized as a predominantly female discipline. But if you stop there, you are doing yourself a disservice. The benefits of Yoga are immense, whether you are male or female. Excercise doesn't have a "sex" and you'd be amazed at the results you get after only a few days of practice.

And you don't HAVE to wear Yoga pants if you don't want to...

You know what's Manly? Not giving a damn what others think of your choice of exercise.

Before I take any fitness advice from you of any kind...

...I need to know if you're in better shape than I am.


What's your best 5k time?
What's your deadlift 1RM?
Total cholesterol?
Average blood pressure?
Any relevant fitness-related medical problems I should know about?

I can run a 5k- i had back surgery and can't run without severe pain
Dead lifts are out for the same reason
My total cholesterol is around 240
My BP is 120/70 on the average
I have chronic back pain 24/7- how's that for a medial problem?

Now, if you read MY ENTIRE post, instead of just the first sentence you would be able to correctly interpret that I was referring to people that spew unpracticed fitness advice that are out of shape . I've explained this later in that same post but I get sick of repeating myself.

That's a cute little example of revisionist history there. How long did was one expected to follow that thread to get to the back pedaling?

So what you're saying is that if a person is in great shape you WILL follow whatever unpracticed, misinformed, broscience type advice that they spew?

Careful...he has over 18k posts. Obviously at this point he has memorized every line ever written by anyone on MFP, so knows what is best for you

Nah, its not memorization at all, it's merely that the really stupid and laughable stuff sticks out enough to be recalled when certain posters are encountered.

For example, you'll now stick out in my mind.