Trying DDPYoga - A Review

I used to do yoga years ago when I first started in fitness. They had regular classes in my gym and I tried to go as often as I could. The instructor was very hands on, and I enjoyed the class, but I started to phase out (and eventually quit) because I couldn't keep my mind focused. As a writer of stories I was always drifting off and not paying attention to the instruction. In fact, the idea for my novel Resurrected was first planted during yoga!

Years later, after countless injuries from heavy lifting and active competitions, I was ready to try yoga again. This time there would be no class except the one on my TV screen. The instructor...Diamond Dallas Page, former pro wrestler turned yoga guru. 

I'd been a wrestling fan since I was about eight years old. I knew all about Dallas Page, I'd even known he began marketing his yoga venture sever years prior after the success he'd had with it himself. Back then it was touted as "Yoga for Regular Guys." So great, DDP was venturing into a new business. But his name alone was not the draw. What inspired me to try his yoga system, now called DDP Yoga, were the multiple success stories that I'd seen across the Internet from those who had used DDP Yoga. Their lives were literally changed for the better. Pounds were dropped, injuries healed up, and one man even threw out his crutches (click here to see Arthur Boorman's story). Some of my childhood wrestling favorites Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Razor Ramon even turned their lived around after DDP got them on his yoga program. So I figured it was time for me to give it a try. 

At first, I found the program to be good but I wasn't fully invested in it yet. Then it happened, my knees started to go after years of wear and tear. I found myself icing and wearing braces on both knees like Stone Cold Steve Austin. So I decided to give my body a break from the grind of weights and lactic acid build up, and focus instead on what Dallas calls "low impact, high cardio" work. 

I've been doing DDP Yoga now for a little over a month and I feel remarkably better. My knees no longer ache, in fact I can't remember the last time I needed to ice down. And my shoulder, which had been damaged in a car accident years prior, now has better range of motion. But one of my favorite moments in the program came the other day when I was able to complete one of the more challenging moves on the advanced program!

What sets DDP Yoga apart from some of the other options out there is not only the fact that Diamond Dallas Page is your instructor, but the program itself. It is structured in a way where it feels like a challenging workout. There have been days when I've been dripping sweat trying to get through some of the longer sessions. I enjoy that aspect of it, and I think it works in a way some of the other vinyasa type programs don't focus on.

DDP Yoga gets you engaged, gets you active, gets you moving, and keeps you there with a bit of personality and fun. For all you yoga warriors out there, or those looking for a new challenge, I recommend DDP Yoga. As Dallas says "It's your workout...make it your own."

BANG!