Yoga Strong: Power Yoga For Weight Loss, Mobility, Lean Muscles, And Renewed Energy For Total Body Transformation. A Complete Conditioning Program With Separate Workouts For The Upper, Lower, and Total Body

Another great set of workouts from Body by Yoga & Man Flow Yoga’s Dean Pohlman! I’ve been waiting for this DVD release and bought one for me, and one for each of my college age children. I had a sneak peak at these workouts through manflowyoga.com (not just for men...focused on anyone interested in improving their fitness) and they are a great addition to my daily workout routine. Three main workouts; lower body, upper body, and total body; each at 3 levels; (1) beginner, (2) intermediate and (3) advanced. Dean’s focus is on strength, stability, flexibility and improved fitness. Each pose and movement has a specific and measurable goal to improve your overall fitness; there is no wasted effort. As a runner, Dean’s workouts improved my form, strength, and flexibility to add more joy to my runs. Yoga has been a key exercise to keep me on the running trail and important to my recovery after a challenging race or injury. I’ve experimented with many fitness video programs and Body by Yoga DVDs and Man Flow Yoga programs are the only ones I’ve used on a daily basis. Dean’s on screen persona is very personal and natural. You actually feel the instruction and encouragement is just for you. I’m regularly amazed is can demonstrate poses while calming speaking while I’m focused on a new and difficult challenge. He personal fitness and self discipline is an inspirational role model for those aspiring to improve or maintain their own fitness and improved quality of life. I hadn’t tried yoga until trying a Body by Yoga program, and now yoga is an integral part of my daily life routine. Yoga Strong is good starting point if you’ve been interested in yoga, but never found a good starting point. I strongly recommend Yoga Strong to all.

I really love Dean and how he teaches yoga. While doing each pose, he guides you along so you can tell whether you are doing it correctly or not. It is like he is sitting in your mind, understanding what you are into, and answering your questions right away as soon as they start to form in your head. He always has modifications if you feel any pain or difficulties doing some postures, even encourages you if you are shaking or lose balance. I particularly like it when I hear him breathe along as if he were really there right in front of you, and this also makes you stay more focused. His yoga is not difficult to do. I rather find it simple and very practical. Plus, it is a lot of fun and motivating. Dean made me want to do yoga everyday because his yoga makes me feel great and stronger. And because I feel so refreshed and stronger, it automatically motivates me to do more exercise at the gym. I have suffered from pain in shoulder blades, shoulders, and neck for more than a year now. Acupuncture, physical therapy, mattress change never really helped but Dean's yoga did! After my first try on Level 1, total body, I could feel that my whole body's muscles worked out. My posture improved and the upper back pain is gone more than half of what I felt in the past. Before I realized it, I don't use muscle pain cream anymore. I am grateful I found Dean's yoga and would recommend his DVDs to anyone.

The exercises themselves are good. Level two and three build on level one, basically you are getting more exercises and time per level. Not so good is the fact that you can't turn off the music. The intro tone is way too loud. Also, it promises an ab workout, which is not on the CD, despite the fact that is gets specifically mentioned in the menu. You have to go to a website for that, which is pretty annoying since I bought a CD for a reason. (so I don't have to use my computer for my workout).

I've only had this DVD set for a couple of weeks, but I had to share a review as a newcomer to this type of yoga. I've been using the Yoga Studio app for about four months, and I love it, but was looking for a different approach. I am using Level One and it is a workout! I am female so the upper body is probably the toughest for me but all the workouts are challenging. Dean is straightforward and no-frills but a fantastic instructor. He does talk a lot but it's all relevant to how each movement/pose affects your body and why it is part of the workout. The music is just enough to enhance but not distract from the practice. In spite of how tough some of the moves are (for me anyway!) Dean is not intimidating and stresses modifications if you need them. I can already feel the difference even just going for a walk or using the Yoga Studio app- I've improved on certain poses that used to be a lot harder, like Half Moon and Reverse Warrior. About me: I am in my mid-forties, used to jog and do weights all the time. Injuries and stress sidelined me from my workout routine for a good 2-3 years, but I started exercising regularly again at the beginning of the year (yoga, walking, spinning but mostly yoga). I am finally starting to feel a bit more in shape and Yoga Strong has helped in that immensely. Update 5/31: I have also tried a couple of the Level 2 workouts, which build on the same ones in Level One. They are definitely hard but doable! Last night I was actually able to hold both a revolved half moon pose and a single extended leg balance pose, neither of which I had been able to hold more than a few seconds previously. I should add that I haven't changed my diet nor have I been doing much else to exercise except yoga, either Yoga Strong or my app, so I definitely have to credit Yoga Strong for the improvements.

I absolutely love this yoga program. Very addictive and completely comfortable with it. Dean is an amazing instructor with a teaching style that is gradual and challenging. Reals down each pose and always reminds you to breathe stay grounded and reminds you that your techniques will improve with time. I feel strong , flexible and much more focused. I sleep better eat better and really sweat now that I’m on level 2 with strong balance !!!!

Poses, sequencing and instruction are ok if you come from an exercise background but have never done yoga. This would be too easy for someone who has a power vinyasa flow background.

My husband and I have purchased three of the Body by Yoga DVDs: Yoga Boost, Yoga Fix, and now, Yoga Strong. Never disappointing, this series-done at three difficulty levels: beginner, intermediate, and expert-are very challenging but extremely rewarding as Dan helps you sculpt your body to how and where YOU want it to be. He shows you alternate techniques to doing the exercises whether you're a neophyte of an expert. YOU WILL BE CHALLENGED, which is the point! My husband just started, but we see an immediate difference in our stamina, posture, and ability to sweat a lot and enjoy what we do and why we're doing it! My words mean nothing until you try it our for yourselves. I promise and guarantee you will notice the difference!

What I like so far, is that I was able to start the beginner series, total body and it was very doable for me. I am definitely out of shape and I have some chronic health issues, so I was a little daunted at getting back into yoga. I used to do pretty intense yoga (not expert) but intense, so I felt really overwhelming knowing how far from that I am. The first day, I didn’t even finish the first section. But I played it all the way to the end to see how long it was. And that made me feel super great that I could actually accomplish it as it wasn’t too long. Today I did the whole thing (with modifications) and I’m actually feeling really confident that this is going to help me out at a pace that I can handle. Now for the cons so far. My biggest complaint is that I can’t tell how long each section is without playing it in full and timing it. And the disc has no real menu with extra information. That would be nice. Or maybe an introduction. Just something extra to let you know what you’re getting. Or at least put it on the packaging. Overall though, I’m glad I bought this. I’m curious to see the other sections, but I’m gonna wait till I get good at the first one. It’ll give me something to look forward to.