the times Saturday November 22 2014

6 Body + Soul

the times Saturday November 22 2014

Body + Soul 7

Spirituality for blokes: are you man enough for beefcake yoga?
No namaste and no girly stuff
Barbara McMahon meets the
former pro wrestler who has
devised a yoga workout for men

ant to make
Diamond Dallas
Page mad?
Then just refer
to the former pro
wrestlers home
workout DVD as
a yoga session. Are you kidding me? he
roars, the ropes of veins in his neck
bulging. He leans down and breathes
right into my face, nostrils flaring.
Namaste? Excuse my French but

Right, Diamond Dallas

Page takes a yoga class.
Below right, in his
wrestling days

(expletive) that, he says. We dont do

any of that girly stuff around here.
Its all rather confusing because his
exercise programme is called DDP Yoga
(the initials of Pages stage name). It is
aimed mostly at men. Not the
super-fit guys who already spend hours
in the gym or who knock off a marathon
every year, but the guys who have beer
bellies or bad backs or whose knees are
shot and who scoff at the very idea of
working out. DDP Yogas popularity is
growing in America, thanks largely to a
series of shrewd online videos that show
how it has transformed the fitness levels
of injured war veterans, broken-down
wrestlers and die-hard couch potatoes.
The most-watched video is the story of
Arthur Boorman, a disabled American
Gulf War veteran who lost 140lb and
regained the ability to walk without
crutches or a back brace by practising
the workout every day. His
transformation has been viewed more
than 11.1 million times.
DDP Yoga is now gaining traction in
the UK. There are instructors in London
and Manchester, and Page hopes to tour
here shortly. So what exactly is it? Its a
mix of yoga positions, rehabilitation
techniques and old-school callisthenics,
Page says. He also calls it a kick-ass
cardio workout that strengthens your
core with minimal joint impact.
Aged 58, 6ft 4in and weighing 16st,
Page is certainly a walking
advertisement for his own yoga brand.
Hes lean, toned and enviously flexible. A
former nightclub manager, he entered
wrestling when he was 35 and in 1997 he
was named the fourth-best wrestler in
the world by Pro Wrestling Illustrated
magazine. He performed in the ring, on
average, 272 days a year, raking in
money, until the physical punishment
caught up with him. Being in a
wrestling match is like having at least
three car wrecks a day, the whiplash, the
pounding . . . Over the period he
wrestled he tore the rotator cuffs in his
shoulders, tore the meniscus in his left
knee, damaged the other knee and
ruptured the L4 and L5 discs in his back.
Doctors told Page his back injuries
were serious and his career was kaput.
They told me: Youve had a hell of a
run but youre done. Its over, he
declares with a dramatic flourish. He had
just signed, he says, a three-year
multimillion-dollar deal.
Moping around at home in Atlanta,
Georgia, he was introduced to yoga by
his then wife Kimberly, known in
wrestling circles as the Booty Babe. For
the first 42 years of my life I wouldnt
have been caught dead doing yoga
because of what our country had made
yoga look like feminine, frou frou
stuff, not a workout, he says. The first
two are sort of true but the third one
isnt true at all yoga can be the
hardest workout youve ever done in
your life.
Page began practising downwardfacing dogs and cobras in the basement
using Kimberlys yoga tapes, and says that
within three weeks he began to feel the
benefits. I wasnt really into the spiritual
stuff. I liked all the positions that opened
me up and made me more flexible, gave
me a little bit of extra strength and
helped to break up the scar tissue, but
I wanted to mix it up a little bit.
He incorporated rehab techniques,

AXEL KOESTER / NEW YORK TIMES / EYEVINE

The Cat Stretch

(strengthens your spine)

1 Start on all fours in table position. Inhale.

2 Lift head, roll shoulders back. Exhale.
3 Drop head and arch back. Return to table.
4 Stretch your left leg straight back and your
right arm out in front. Repeat on other side.

2
4

push-ups, squats and crunches, and was

back in the ring within months. At 42
they said I was done and at 43 I was a
world champ, he says proudly. He
retired in 2009.
Together with a chiropractor,
Craig Aaron, he refined the movements
and came up with his hybrid yoga
programme that is directly marketed to
men. Initially called Yoga For Regular
Guys, it morphed into DDP Yoga. It is
nicknamed beefcake yoga.
Page has acted as a mentor to many
retired fighters and some who say the
exercise programme has helped to
cure their back problems. He says he
rescued his old pal, Jake (the Snake)
Roberts with DDP Yoga. Page, who had
heard that his old friend was on the
ropes, moved Roberts into his home,
helped to get him clean and sober and
taught him the exercise programme. He
also filmed Robertss recovery, and his
setbacks, and put highlights on YouTube
as a marketing ploy.
The people I reach out to are beat-up
athletes, cops, firemen, military, former
wrestlers, plumbers, friggin tile-layers,
Page says. Their backs are blown and
they want to feel alive again. Who gives
a s*** if you can live to 70 or 80 years
of age if youre miserable the last 30
years? I didnt develop this for yogis.
I developed it for the guy who wouldnt
be caught dead doing it and who doesnt
know hes going to love it.
Were meeting on Pages whistlestop
tour of Manhattan and have a mini DDP
Yoga session. Barb, prepare yourself, he
warns. Heres where inspiration meets

perspiration! The next few minutes are

a blur as he takes me through lunges,
twists and stretches. I already practise
yoga and find the exercises familiar but
different. He shows me his signature
sign, the Diamond Cutter. In just a few
minutes Im breathing hard and
perspiring. We end the mini session with
a take-off of the Incredible Hulks
clenched fist pose. Huuuulk it up, Barb!
Atten-shun! he instructs. DDP Yoga is
tough to do but also great fun.
He has macho names for the poses,
such as Ignition into Touchdown, Safety
Zone and Road Warrior. I mention that
many of the poses are familiar and Im in
trouble again. Youre asking me why
guys love my s***, he thunders. We
dont say pose. We dont say posture.
Were athletes. We play a position. And
dont ever call it yoga because it aint
your mamas yoga. Im wondering if
hes going to put me in a headlock or
throw me to the floor but, thankfully,
he just jabs my arm with the force of a
baby elephant.
According to Page, anyone can do
DDP Yoga, and its popular with women
too: I have six-year-olds who are doing
it. I have an 89-year-old guy whos great
at it. If you want to get a little more
flexible, a little more active, then I
guarantee you that 20 minutes a day,
three days a week will change the way
you feel. Four days a week, 40 minutes a
day, will change your life. If you can give
yourself five hours a day, five days a
week, you will own your life and youll
be able to do crazy s*** like me.
Sessions can be done at home, in
private, and theres no need to buy fancy
sportswear. Page did our session in
stretchy jeans. Crucially, anyone who
buys DDP Yoga DVDs (an app is also
coming soon) becomes part of Pages
community he often cold-calls
customers who buy his products and
while users may work out alone, they
feel part of a larger network. That
obviously hits a nerve with many men.
Page acknowledges that DDP Yoga
has given him a second act. Hes rich,
famous and has a brand new girlfriend.
Ive worked my ass off. But that is not
his motivation, he says. My goal is that
you feel like you can run through a
brick wall by the time youve finished
one of my sessions.
diamonddallaspage.com

Punches
(for core and balance)

The Diamond Cutter

(strengthens upper body)

1 Press thumb
and index
fingers together,
with fingers
stretched.
2 Raise arms
and lean back.
3 Arms out to
a T-shape.
4 Clench fists in
Hulk position.
5 Repeat three
times.

1 Pull back left

fist. Right fist
punch with
dynamic
resistance for
a count of
three.
2 Bring fists
back to centre.
3 Repeat three
times on each
side.