Consider DDP Yoga for Weight Loss Transformations

DDP Yoga came to popular attention when former paratrooper Arthur Boorman posted an inspirational yoga transformation video. It went viral in 2012 and resurfaces for another round of internet fame every few years. The five-minute clip is available on YouTube and the DDP Yoga site. Boorman was severely overweight and unable to walk without assistance. He turned his health around using only the DDP Yoga system.

Wait, haven't you been told that yoga alone isn't enough exercise to significantly affect weight loss? Learn about the yoga program that helped Boorman recover his life and health.

Diamond Dallas Page and DDP Yoga

DDP stands for Diamond Dallas Page, a former pro-wrestler turned fitness guru. Page's interest in yoga began when he injured his back in the ring and went looking for ways to rehabilitate himself. He tried yoga at his wife' suggestion and was amazed at how quickly he began to see improved flexibility and strength. He began to combine the yoga he was learning with therapeutic exercises for his back and, as his condition improved, added in slow-motion workout moves like crunches and push-ups.

Page says that he used to wear a heart-rate monitor while doing his cardio on the Stairmaster before moving to the mat for yoga. When he kept the monitor on during yoga, he noticed that when he strongly engaged his muscles he could make his heart rate go up significantly. This was the origin of the technique that really sets DDP Yoga apart.

In 2014, Page had another pop culture moment when he appeared on the fifth season of ABC Television's "Shark Tank" looking for support for DDP Yoga, but no one on the panel of investors bit.

Non-Traditional Yoga

The thing that makes DDP Yoga different from traditional yoga is the use of a technique Page calls dynamic resistance. Resistance training refers to exercise, such as weight-lifting, where you use a heavy object, like a barbell, to create resistance for your body to work against.

DDP Yoga uses dynamic resistance where you perform the same actions you would when lifting weights, but without the barbells. Instead, you use your own body and muscle tension to add resistance.

A simple pose like the mountain pose can be transformed into a workout by engaging and using your muscles so much that you can break a sweat just standing there. Adding dynamic resistance allows your heart rate to climb higher than it would normally when doing yoga. DDP Yoga requires that you use a heart-rate monitor to track your own heart rate and keep it in the fat-burning zone for optimum results.

Despite the obvious differences, there are some important aspects of your mama's yoga that do make it into the DDP system, including a focus on deep breathing and the encouragement to modify poses whenever necessary. In his videos, Page repeatedly exhorts students to customize and "make it your own," a sentiment that could only make your mama proud.

Changing Your Diet

Another key factor of the DDP Yoga program, which undoubtedly played a large role in Arthur Boorman's weight-loss, is the nutrition guide. Page prescribes a three-step healthy eating plan based on whole foods and reasonable portions. Those with more weight to shed are encouraged to go dairy-free and gluten-free and eat organic foods as much as possible. Recipes, sample meal plans, and a food journal provide support in changing your diet. The DDP program guide also provides a workout plan and plenty of online support via a very active web community which offers advice and encouragement.

Yoga for Regular Guys

Page's program was originally called Yoga for Regular Guys (YRG), which is a pretty apt description of his target audience, so it comes as no surprise that this program is not really designed with yogis in mind. It's for men who, like Page, thought that they would never try yoga since it is perceived as lacking a certain macho mystique.

Page, who is the first to say that this is not "traditional yoga," goes out of his way to insert man-cred. He renames poses (warrior I becomes road warrior, urdhva hastasana becomes touchdown, child's pose becomes safety zone, etc.) and often inserts his dynamic resistance curls and punches, plus moves like the "hulk it out." Page doesn't concern himself with being politically correct but does hope that his injection of humor and overt masculinity will help get "regular guys" to seek out yoga's benefits and maybe even make their way into a more traditional class.

DDP Yoga's creator is not the first to teach yoga as a purely physical pursuit, but his approach and technique appeal to many men who may feel out of place in a traditional yoga class.

But Is It Yoga?

The question arises, as with other yoga hybrids, at what point does this become so separate from yoga that it's pointless to call it that. You may try not to get too caught up in what is or isn't yoga. The more you learn about the history of modern asana practice, the sillier it seems for any particular method to claim authenticity over another. It's clear that DDP's addition to the yoga continuum is helping a lot of real people.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher.

Was this page helpful?