Yoga seen as "Un-Manly"

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  • moya_rargh
    moya_rargh Posts: 1,473 Member
    I just tore my calf muscle last month, as soon as I am able I will be doing yoga 1-2 times per week. If anyone doesn't like it they can kiss my @ss, I should have been doing it years ago to avoid crap like torn muscles.

    This. Yoga and pilates are now my exercise regime for the foreseeable while I repair a herniated lumbar disc.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    . As for manly or not, who the hell cares?
    The OP, it seems ;).

    I wonder if he tells the women in his classes he considers it 'manly'?
  • angiez93
    angiez93 Posts: 63
    Living in the bay area, yoga is completely gender neutral. I had never even thought about it being particularly feminine, as all the yoga classes I've ever attended are about equally male and female. Some interesting perspective.
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    Okay, I just gotta say, even though it is perhaps somewhat irrelevant, that, 'yes, guys don't like yoga much [generally] and people tend to attack what they don't like and/or those things that threaten them. E.g., people who lift bash running, or Crossfit, because they don't do it and it seems threatening to them -- or something.
    It doesn't mean they are right in their criticisms.
    But, and here is my point, yoga is harder for men than for women. We're heavier and so, even with bigger muscles, body weight exercises are more strenuous and take more effort. We are not naturally flexible, so even simple poses often are a little bit painful for us, in a way that they are not for women.
    Men are built to be strong, not limber and lithe. If it is hard to stretch and touch your toes, and it makes the back of your legs hurt, and that discomfort makes it hard to breathe, it is going to take a lot of motivation to get you out there, on a mat, bent over with your buns in the air. That is what many [most?] men experience when they do yoga. So they don't want to do it again. And then -- sour grapes -- they have to say "yoga is stupid" rather than just admitting it is something too hard for them.
    Certainly, there are many fewer men in yoga classes, even in the Bay Area.
    (I said, at the top, that my comments are perhaps irrelevant because i understand, of course, that the purpose of this thread is to prompt people to say: No! No! Yoga is not unmanly at all. Guys who are secure in their masculinity do yoga, and all men should do yoga!)
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    While often you find more flexible women, as far as body weight exercises, I'd say men generally have it better, despite also being heavier on average - it's much rarer to find women that can do pull ups compared to men, for instance. Plenty of organisations that have fitness requirements have relaxed requirements for women even in the body weight exercises.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    I initially went to yoga so I could be in the back and check out all those *kitten*.

    I stayed cause it's fackin' hard.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    I just tore my calf muscle last month, as soon as I am able I will be doing yoga 1-2 times per week. If anyone doesn't like it they can kiss my @ss, I should have been doing it years ago to avoid crap like torn muscles.

    This. Yoga and pilates are now my exercise regime for the foreseeable while I repair a herniated lumbar disc.

    S#it, that sounds painful, man (both posters actually)

    Good luck getting back up to speed again! (To you both...)
  • dinkolukin
    dinkolukin Posts: 1 Member
    this is one of favourite yoga vids

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448

    this 'aint ya mamas yoga'...
  • ilfaith
    ilfaith Posts: 16,769 Member
    For those who expressed an interest in naked yoga...

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2586270/Naked-yoga-studio-offering-CO-ED-classes-focus-feeling-comfortable-skin.html
  • blackcloud13
    blackcloud13 Posts: 654 Member
    I've never done yoga before - but I do now go to Pilates classes (which I think have lots of similarities in terms of core, breathing etc)

    It's an 80% female class, and we guys are generally the least flexible and worst in the class! As much as it is a struggle for me, it's definitely helping my overall creakiness. Also, most top footballers and tennis players include it their workouts these days, so can't be all bad.

    I guess the unmanly rap comes from the fact it doesn't involve the visible exertion of energy or use of power - therefore it must be easy!

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