Men add new twist to yoga
Macho twist on yoga attracts men who want more vigorous workout
A growing global fitness trend has men ditching dumbbells for yoga mats in so-called Broga classes, a macho twist on the thousands-year-old practice that promises the same punishing workout — with a little added bliss.
Until recently, some traditions of yoga were exclusively practised by men, but it has been largely shunned by male fitness buffs in the modern era. Yoga instructors are now catering to men with classes that emphasize strength over stretching and offering everything from craft beer after class to men-only retreats away from the fairer sex.
“Yoga is more than just women contorting themselves into vegan pretzels,” says Michael DeCorte, the Toronto “man-treprenuer” behind Jock Yoga, an athletic mashup that combines the mindfulness of sun salutations with the muscle burn of pumping iron.
“Originally, it was just a gimmick,” says DeCorte. “When I first saw it on a poster, it was almost like an oxymoron . ... You see yoga and think, ‘spiritual,’ and jock you think, ‘laid-back, swearing, burping.’ ”
DeCorte says men can account for anywhere between 50 to 85 per cent of his classes at the Equinox fitness club in Toronto, a striking level of testosterone in an industry whose audience is 70 per cent women, according to a 2016 Ipsos Public Affairs study.
Classes like Jock Yoga have cropped up all over the country, such as Jo- Ga in Halifax, Yoguy in Vancouver and the all-nude male Mudraforce studio in Montreal.
The Massachusetts-based Broga yoga empire, which holds a copyright on the man-tastic portmanteau, claims to have more than 12,000 students and 500 teachers, boasting classes online and all over the world. These classes are tapping into an underserved market, says Broga founder Robert Sidoti. He says many men crave the health and wellness benefits of yoga, but fear full lotus pose may make them seem “girlie.”
“The absolute main focus was to get more men practising yoga,” Sidoti says. “(Using) everything that would speak to the average guy out there, who might feel like whatever they’ve seen over the years regarding yoga just hasn’t spoken to them.”
Sidoti says most of Broga’s disciples are just regular guys — dads with back pain and office workers trying to shed their beer guts, all looking for what the Broga site calls “an accessible yoga-based fitness program taught from a man’s point of view.”
Sidoti says Broga even offers men-only retreats for guys who fear the allure of women wearing Lycra pants may distract from their yogic journey.
While the Broga movement is firmly established, absent from most of these Broga-themed classes is a certain backslapping, baseball-capped fraternity of men — actual bros. “I don’t think there’s a super strong ‘brogi’ culture, but I do think ... it’s actually growing,” says Jock Yoga’s DeCorte.