January 27, 2018

Before you get intimidated and think this is too many moves to do at once, you’re right—there’s a lot in this sequence.

However, you begin and end on all fours. Plus, it feels great once you do it. It’s another total-body maneuver in the DDP Yoga system.

In this sequence, I’ll explain how you go from Table to Cat Lift, Cat Arch, Broken Table, and back to Table.

How To Do Table

Table is real easy. You should be on all fours. Your hands underneath your shoulders, and your hips are in line with your knees. Your back should be neutral.

That’s it!

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How To Do Cat Lift

From Table, inhale while rolling your shoulders back and pushing your belly button to the ground. Lift your head up toward the sky.

How To Do Cat Arch

Exhale into Cat Arch. Drop your head and tuck your tailbone in so that you’re looking at your hips. Your spine should be arched as if you were a puppet on a string, and someone was controlling you like a marionette.

If you’ve done other forms of yoga before, you may recognize Cat Lift and Cat Arch as Cat-Cow pose.

Combined, Cat Lift and Cat Arch look like this:

via GIPHY

How To Do Broken Table

In Table, we have all four limbs attached to the ground, much like a traditional table.

However, in Broken Table—or Balanced Table—the table only has two legs to stand on.

Take your left hand and plant it underneath your left shoulder. Take your left foot straight back so that your heel is the furthest point from your body – your foot should be flexed so that your toes are facing you instead of away from you.

Then, put your right arm out like you’re shaking someone’s hand. Keep your fingers engaged with dynamic resistance just like you do in Ignition and Diamond Cutter. Pull your hand away from your foot, and your foot away from your hand.

via GIPHY

Hold the post for a count of 3, 2, 1.

When you’re done, come back into Table. Flip your left wrist over so that you get it stretched on both sides. Additionally, “wag your tail” and rock your hips back and forth to help loosen up your hips and low back.

PRO TIP: Broken Table is also known as a Bird Dog.

What Table Into Cat Stretch Into Broken Table Works

This series of postures works a number of muscles and joints, including:

1. Core
2. Lats
3. Chest
4. Shoulders
5. Glutes
6. Spine

The Benefits Of Table, Cat Lift, Cat Arch, And Broken Table

There are several benefits to this series of postures.

1. Releasing tension in the neck, shoulders, and arms.
2. Improving balance and core strength – especially in Broken Table.
3. Tightening your glutes, shoulders, and triceps. Yep, this is a booty exercise, believe it or not.

Plus, I almost always use this when squatting or deadlifting to help prevent or relieve any soreness in my back.

Try Out Table Into Cat Into Broken Table

It’s your turn to try out this series of moves! You can do so at my group class on Thursday nights at Metamora Parks & Recreation. Or, contact me to set up 1:1, small group training, or your 60-day challenge at Titan Fitness in Washington and Peoria.

January 26, 2018

If you’re looking for a stretch that will help hold back the effects of hours of sitting with bad posture and make your back feel better, Bar Back is for you.

How To Do Bar Back

Typically, at least in my sequences, you’ll do Bar Back after reaching up in Touchdown. This continues to extend your spine.

However, you can also do it from a regular, neutral standing position.

First, for Bent-Legged Bar Back, bend over and put your hands right above your bent knees. Pull your spine long, but keep it neutral so that the bends in your back still feel natural. Keep your chin tucked so that you’re looking at the floor.

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As you do this, press your hands into your quads, pushing each quad against your hand and vice-versa to develop your dynamic resistance. Your elbows should be back. Roll back your shoulder blades back so that they’re squeezed together like you’re trying to pinch a quarter in between them.

Once you’re in that position, take a deep breath in (when you learn how to do it, you’ll inhale as you get into the position). Exhale and fold forward. You should feel this stretch from your tailbone all the way up through your neck.

I also love it because it stretches my hamstrings, hips, and the backs of my knees.

For Stiff-Legged Bar Back, keep your legs straight as you push your hands against your thighs.

When you fold forward, most of your weight will be in the balls of your feet and your toes. You should feel like you’re about to fall off the side of a cliff.

What Body Parts You Work In Bar Back

Bar Back works your:

1. Quadriceps
2. Hamstrings
3. Calves
4. Triceps
5. Shoulders
6. Spine

What Bar Back Looks Like In Traditional Yoga

Bar Back looks like two traditional yoga postures: Standing Half Forward Bend (Ardha Uttanasana) and Standing Forward Fold (Uttanasana).

The Benefits of Bar Back

1. Lengthening our spine – Bar Back helps us to lengthen our spine. Approximately 80 percent of people suffer from spinal pain at some point, according to the American Chiropractic Association, and Bar Back helps alleviate that.
2. Fixing our posture – In addition to lengthening our spine, Bar Back helps us reverse the effects of slouching and spinal compression by rolling our shoulders back and keeping a neutral spine with our chin tucked.
3. Activating our hamstrings – Chances are you spend much of your time sitting. This flattens the hamstrings over time. With Bar Back, the hamstrings activate. Our hamstrings help us walk, run, and jump. Supple hamstrings allow us to do these activities even better.

Try Bar Back

It’s your turn!

Come try Bar Back with me. I teach a group DDP Yoga class once a week in Metamora, or we can talk about 1:1 private training or small group training at Titan Fitness in Washington and Peoria.

January 25, 2018

Cobra Into Down Dog is one of the few postures/sequences in the DDP Yoga system that keeps its name from a more traditional yoga practice.

How To Do Cobra

Typically, I might do a Cobra immediately following a DDP Yoga push-up. However, this is more than viable as a standalone stretch.

Lay stomach-down on the mat.

Place your hands underneath your shoulders. Your hands and feet are flat, and your glutes are loose.

Inhale and push your upper body off the ground, straightening your arms and rolling your shoulders back. Keep your hips and pelvis in contact with the ground. Look up as you do this.

Depending on your flexibility, you may be more comfortable doing a sphinx pose.

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What Body Parts You Work In Cobra

When you’re in Cobra, you’re working your lower back muscles in addition to your triceps.

How To Do Down Dog

From Cobra, exhale back down so that you’re prone on the mat.

Curl your toes, and push yourself back into Table position so that you’re on all fours.

From Table, lift your hips up to the sky in to Down Dog.

via GIPHY

A more advanced version of this will be to go from Cobra Into Down Dog. From Cobra, you would drop your head, curls your does, and push up into Down Dog.

While in Down Dog, remember to drop your head between your shoulders. Push your chest back toward your thighs. Your heels may be on the ground, but mine typically are not so I can get a great stretch in my calves. I usually step my toes in an inch or two to make sure my calves are getting the best stretch I can give them.

What Body Parts You Work In Down Dog

Down Dog works many of the major muscle groups in the body, including:

1. Hamstrings
2. Calves
3. Quadriceps
4. Shoulders
5. Back

The Benefits Of Cobra Into Down Dog

When you’re in Cobra, you’re able to open up your chest, stretch your lower abdominal muscles, and help bolster your posture.

Down Dog, on the other hand, helps to stretch and strengthen your calves, hamstrings, glutes, shoulders, and chest. You activate your core, meanwhile, to maintain your balance.

Try Cobra Into Down Dog

If you’re ready to give Cobra Into Down Dog a shot, come to one of my classes on Thursdays at Metamora Parks and Recreation. Or, maybe you want to do a 1:1 or small group training session with me at Titan Fitness in Washington or Peoria. 

January 24, 2018

Often times, I find I need a thorough warm-up in my hips and knees, which are some of my body’s stiffest joints.

That’s why I turn to Catcher Into Thunderbolt from DDP Yoga, and why I rely on it so heavily in my classes.

Why It’s Called Catcher

One of the things I liked right away about the DDP Yoga system is that there’s no sanskrit. Every posture is put in plain English.

Catcher is a great example of that. Instead of “malasana,” or even “garland pose,” Catcher evokes the image of the person in position behind home base in baseball.

via GIPHY

Why It’s Called Thunderbolt

The origin of the name of the Thunderbolt posture in DDP Yoga is a little less obvious to me than some of the other names of the postures.

via GIPHY

I would guess that Thunderbolt gets its name from reaching to the sky while connecting to the ground, similar to that as a bolt of lightning, although maybe that’s just me being a bit of a weather nut.

In fact, DDP Yoga has a Lightning Bolt position in which your feet and knees are touching, similar to but still distinct from Thunderbolt.

How To Do Catcher Into Thunderbolt

From Touchdown, hinge at your hips and lower your butt like you’re sitting in a chair. Your arms should still be up so that your biceps are by your ears.

Turn your toes and your knees out at an angle.

Inhale and bring your thumb and your index fingers together and form your Diamond Cutter. Exhale while simultaneously pushing your Diamond Cutter out and dropping your body down into the Catcher position. Keep your feet flat! This is how deep you should go—don’t go further onto your tippy toes.

Once you get to the bottom of your Catcher position, roll your hands forward so that your hands are nearly touching the ground, opening up your lower back that last little bit.

You may notice while you’re down in Catcher that your knees extend past your toes. That is okay. In fact, if you think about it, you’re almost in a similar position as a baby picking up Cheerios off the floor:

If you are interested in observing a fundamentally sound squat, place some Cheerios on the floor in front of a two-year-old child and observe the magic. You will see a perfect squat. This doesn’t make it the only squat, but it is fundamentally sound. So what are the toddlers of the world teaching us? How to balance our movements.

Yes, it is mostly true that “you shouldn’t press your knees out over your toes” is a myth. However, each person’s mobility will be different. Listen to your body, and ask a trusted instructor if you have further questions.

That being said, now that your legs are on fire because you’ve been squatting this whole time (right?), inhale and reach up, grabbing an imaginary ball above you and keeping your biceps toward your ears. Exhale and roll your hands forward again.

When you’re ready to come out, inhale and reach up. Exhale and push up and out of that squat for a count of 3, 2, 1. Inhale and bring your right fist into your left hand. Form your Diamond Cutter, exhale back into Catcher. Inhale back up into Thunderbolt.

You can repeat this as many times as you’d like.

When you’re done, turn your knees and toes back toward the front and fold forward. Roll up one vertebrae at a time.

I usually like to add the Diamond Cutter on to this so I can get a reverse stretch of my spine.

What Body Parts Are Worked By Catcher Into Thunderbolt

Like many of the DDP Yoga postures, many body parts are worked simultaneously.

Catcher primarily works:

1. Quadriceps
2. Hips
3. Knees
4. Low back

Thunderbolt primarily works:

1. Quadriceps
2. Hips
3. Knees
4. Low back
5. Shoulders

The Benefits of Catcher Into Thunderbolt

1. It helps with your squat – If you’re a weightlifter like I am, this is a great exercise to stretch out your quads and glutes before leg day. If your muscles are stiff, this is a go-to for me to help get rid of some of that stiffness.
2. It opens up your hips – Sometimes, I like to focus on my hips during this stretch, so I’ll take my elbows or my triceps and press them against the insides of my knees. This may not seem like a lot, but it does wonders for my tight hips.
3. It helps you bend and lift – Most importantly, bending and lifting is one of the five primary types of movements. This motion can help improve mobility in your feet, ankles, knees, back, and your shoulders. Benefits of improving your bend and lift range anywhere from picking up groceries to playing with your kids.

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Try Catcher Into Thunderbolt With Me

I teach DDP Yoga once a week in a group fitness setting on Thursdays at Metamora Parks and Recreation on the square. Additionally, we can work together in private 1:1 coaching or small group training at Titan Fitness in Washington and Peoria.

October 28, 2017

Make no mistake: the Diamond Cutter is the signature move of the DDP Yoga program. If you’ve followed along with the DDP Yoga DVDs, the app, or you’ve attended an in-person workshop or class, you’ve “felt the bang,” so to speak.

Why It’s Called The Diamond Cutter

The Diamond Cutter is the first of several movements in the Diamond Dozen whose names have roots in Dallas’ past.

Diamond Dallas Page’s finishing move during his professional wrestling career was the Diamond Cutter. In fact, there’s a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to various cutters. The move essentially involves grabbing your opponent’s head in a facelock and then dropping them to the ground. It’s a relatively recent invention, so fans of wrestling prior to the 1990s may not have seen it. 

The Diamond Cutter has been adapted in different forms by many wrestlers today, including Randy Orton and his RKO.

How To Do The Diamond Cutter

Fortunately, you don’t need to fall to the ground in order to do the DDP Yoga Diamond Cutter.

Instead, first root yourself like you did in Ignition Into Touchdown. Like all of the DDP Yoga movements, you can incorporate dynamic resistance (isometric muscle contractions) to get the most out of it.

With your entire lower body engaged from Ignition, push your thumb and index fingers together while pulling your pinkies away. This works your hands, forearms, biceps, triceps, shoulders, and your chest.

Inhale while raising your hands up over your head (here’s a refresher on how to breathe in DDP Yoga). Extend backwards, tucking your tailbone to protect your back. Here, you’ll look like Dallas used to when he made his ring entrance:

via GIPHY

Next, extend your arms to make your body into a T shape. Clench your fists, and as you exhale, “Hulk it up!” This means you’re bringing your arms in front of your chest while flexing with everything you’ve got. Just like Hulk Hogan:

via GIPHY

The dynamic resistance you’re using here means that your muscles are flexed. When they’re flexed, they need more oxygenated blood. That means your heart has to work faster, which is why your heart rate goes up standing still.

Then, you’ll roll your shoulders back, with your hands extended and arms out. Finally, you’ll relax and be at ease.

What Body Parts The Diamond Cutter Works

The Diamond Cutter is a whole-body posture, which can be said for just about all of the Diamond Dozen positions.

You already know what you’re working in Ignition.

The Diamond Cutter also specifically works:

1. Hands
2. Forearms
3. Biceps
4. Triceps
5. Shoulders
6. Trapezius
7. Pectorals (chest)
8. Trapezius (neck/shoulders)

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The Benefits of the Diamond Cutter

The Diamond Cutter has many benefits, including:

• Reversing a stretch. Say you’ve spent several minutes in a lunge, crunching up your hip flexors. The Diamond Cutter takes you in the opposite direction, helping to massage and lengthen them after you’ve compressed them.

• Mobilizing your shoulders, chest, and back. If you’ve had a day focusing on any of those body parts at the gym, the Diamond Cutter helps you loosen up those stiff muscles.

• Knowing you’re at the end of a sequence. Typically, Diamond Cutters are performed when you’ve reached the end of a sequence or flow. Some are occasionally thrown in the middle. In my class, however, I typically do them right before a break. That means, in your head, you can usually take a second to shake it out and get a few seconds of rest. It’s more of a mental breather.  

What The Diamond Cutter Looks Like In Traditional Yoga

The Diamond Cutter seems to be a unique move of the DDP Yoga system. The closest combination of moves I can find that look like the Diamond Cutter are Mountain pose (tadasana) and Half Wheel pose (ardha chakrasana).

Try The Diamond Cutter

You have two opportunities each week to try the Diamond Cutter with me. I teach DDP Yoga twice a week in central Illinois – Tuesdays at Titan Fitness in Washington, and Thursdays at Metamora Parks and Recreation on the square.