Yoga
 

Do you need special equipment or weird clothes to take yoga classes? I've seen people walking around with mats but at my gym, the yoga room already has mats on the floor.

What gives?

-Rudey

I took yoga at my school for a while and we needed mats since it was just in a classroom. The only thing they told us about clothes is that we should wear something loose and breathable.

sometimes gym mats are nasty
 

Sometimes the gym mats are nasty, or aren't sticky enough, or aren't thick enough... You don't know where they've been.

You might also see yoga bricks or straps to assist with a stretch. Yoga studios also have other contraptions that can help achieve the proper pose.

A lot of people who do yoga will also wear tight clothes so that the lines of the body can be seen clearly (like dancers). This will help with alignment and posture while doing yoga poses.

You don't really need any of it, though.

I'm kinda worried about this.

I'm hoping there will be a lot of old, broken down people needing rehab or something at the intro classes. I don't want to be the only jackass that can't stretch anything.

-Rudey

Heh, get some private lessons before you take the yoga class.

Seriously though, most people who do yoga couldn't care less about the other people in the room. It's not a competition.

Everybody has strong poses and weak poses, a strong side and a weak side. For example, I totally rock out on the eagle pose, but have trouble with down dog. The opposite could be true for you.

"just got back from yoga"

At my gym, they do provide wipes for the mats.

Do wear something comfortable. It is not competitive. I am quite the competitive person- yet I have not felt threatened by people more advanced than me who are taking the class.

Rudey is only taking this yoga class so he can sleep with this one blonde haired girl he met at the Trader Joes.

Rrrrudey Rrrrudey Rrrrudey...let the rest of GC know how it goes.

Rudey, if that's true you'll want to make sure you can show her how limber you are. ;)

Seriously though no matter how little you can stretch at the beginning of the class you'll be able to stretch a lot farther by the end of the class.

that and wear spandex...lots and lots of spandex :p

She's so hot it's ridiculous.

Anyway, this thing is a competition. There were 4 other guys in the room and we'd do all the weird poses and the instructor would say things like "If you want more of a challenge, don't use the block or fully extend your leg", etc. Every time she said that, every single guy went into compete-mode and tried to outdo each other on the poses.

And I've done wall sits before and lunges but holding some of those poses for so long is ridiculous. Some douche in front of me kept screwing up so the instructor had to help him for a while and my leg started shaking, I lost balance, fell, and the hot blonde chick totally saw it.

Can't wait till next time :)

-Rudey
--And aside from the Warrior and Dog, every pose had a two word Indian name that's impossible to remember