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.

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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.

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.

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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

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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. 

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.

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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.

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:

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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:

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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.

One of the first DDP Yoga positions you’re likely to encounter is Ignition Into Touchdown.

As foundational as all of the movements in the Diamond Dozen are, this one is perhaps the easiest way to start feeling dynamic resistance, which is what sets DDP Yoga apart from other yoga programs.

To understand why this move works (and every move in the Diamond Dozen, really), we need to first understand what DDP Yoga means by dynamic resistance. And to do that, we have to look at the different types of muscle contractions.

Three Types of Muscle Contractions

Muscles contract in basically three ways.

First, concentric contractions shorten the active muscle. Think of lifting a dumbbell for a bicep curl. Your bicep is shortening while under load.

The second type of muscle contraction is an eccentric contraction. This involves lengthening a muscle. To stick with the previous example, an eccentric contraction would be lowering that bicep curl as your bicep lengthens.

The third type of muscle contraction – the one we’re mostly concerned with – is an isometric contraction.

“Isometric exercises are contractions of a particular muscle or group of muscles. During isometric exercises, the muscle doesn’t noticeably change length and the affected joint doesn’t move. Isometric exercises don’t effectively build strength but can help maintain muscle strength — often in a rehabilitative setting.”

In other words, the muscles are activated in a static position. It’s like that point during a bicep curl at which you’ve stopped lifting the dumbbell, but you haven’t lowered it just yet. You are flexing without moving.

Imagine this person holding this V-sit with the ball and not moving. This is an isometric contraction.
(Air Force / Whitney Lambert)

Dr. Edward Laskowski of the Mayo Clinic goes on to say that isometric exercises can enhance stabilization or help someone who recovering from an injury or has arthritis. He also says that isometric exercises may help lower blood pressure, but to check with your doctor first.

How DDP Yoga Incorporates Dynamic Resistance

If you’ve watched the DDP Yoga DVDs, or you’ve taken a class with a certified DDP Yoga instructor, chances are you’ve heard the line, “DDP Yoga helps you burn fat standing still.”

That’s because DDP Yoga incorporates dynamic resistance, which is a more palatable way to say “isometric muscle contractions.”

In one word, it’s tension.

How To Perform Ignition

First, position your feet hip-distance apart. Slightly bend your knees. This engages your quadriceps muscles.

Next, pick your toes up, and grip them into your yoga mat (Get new Yoga Mats & Props from my affiliate link). You should feel your calves and your feet start to work.

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Then, straighten your legs. Keep a slight bend in the knees. Imagine your feet are on ice and you’re pulling them together, but keep them apart. You should feel this inside your legs in your adductors.

The last part of engaging the lower body is to squeeze your glutes and tuck your tailbone.

Now, the whole lower half of your body is engaged, from your feet up to your butt. This is how you start to burn fat standing still. By holding these isometric contractions, your muscles have to have more blood pumped to them. And to pump more blood, your heart has to work harder. And when your heart works harder, your heart rate starts to jump, and you start to burn more calories.

Time for the upper half.

Extend your arms out in front of you with your fingers spread apart, like you’re holding a beach ball right in front of your chest. Here’s the cue: “Imagine your body is like a fire hydrant. And when the fire hydrant comes on – BOOM! Feel the water and the energy shooting out in front of you.”

At this point, your fingers should be so tense that the instructor shouldn’t be able to make any one finger touch another.

This is Ignition.

Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth while you’re here.

(Read more about how to breathe during DDP Yoga here)

As you get more familiar with doing this move, you may hear the instructor abbreviate it to, “Flex your quads. Flex your glutes. Grab the ball.”

How To Perform Ignition Into Touchdown

From Ignition, inhale and lift your hands up toward the sky. Your fingers should be the tallest point of your body. Lengthen your back and lift as high as you can.

Then, exhale and bring your arms out to your sides. Once your hands reach shoulder level, turn your palms over and bring them down to your sides. Inhale back up into Touchdown, and exhale every time they come down.

Traditional yogis may be familiar with this pose a variation on Upward Salute.

What Body Parts You Work In Ignition Into Touchdown

You’re working quite a bit of body parts in this tremendous DDP Yoga posture:

1. Toes
2. Feet
3. Calves
4. Quads
5. Glutes
6. Adductors
7. Shoulders
8. Biceps
9. Triceps
10. Forearms
11. Hands

As you move from Ignition, keep the dynamic resistance as you raise up into Touchdown. When your hands come down, keep the dynamic resistance. Your legs should be engaged the whole time your upper body moves. It’s as if you’re moving through clay or water or quicksand.

Try Out Ignition Into Touchdown

That’s how it’s done. Come try it at one of my DDP Yoga classes. I teach Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. at Titan Fitness in Washington, and on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. at the Metamora Park District office.