Manly appeal of Broga
A growing global fitness trend has men ditching dumbbells for yoga mats in so-called Broga classes, a macho twist on the thousandsyear-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.
“Yoga is more than just women contorting themselves into vegan pretzels,” says Michael DeCorte, the Toronto “man-trepreneur” 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,” DeCorte says.
“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 Sidorti.
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,” Sidorti says. “(Using) everything that would speak to the average guy out there.”
Though DeCorte isn’t a Broga teacher, he realized in 2009 there wasn’t a yoga class for men like him who can bench more than 100 kilograms yet have difficulty touching their toes.
“The point was to have a guy who understands a guy’s body and what guys need,” he says.
Jock Yoga is a fast-paced, fullbody workout that aims for tight hips and strong upper bodies.
For an hour or more, students flow through dozens of tricep pushups, complicated arm balances and inverted acrobatics, producing stronger abs and a sense of calm.
Not all yoga classes geared toward men demand Jock Yoga’s high endurance.
In Halifax, Jo-Ga at the Rock in Opposition Yoga & Pilates Studio takes a similar, no-nonsense fitness-based approach to yoga, but moves a little slower than Jock Yoga’s plank-a-second pace.
There’s one other difference — the class is overwhelmingly attended by women.
“This class does cater to male bodies ... but that can be relevant to plenty of women as well,” says teacher Nikki Martin.
“(Women are) embracing powerful and what powerful looks like. It’s keeping up with the boys or keeping up with those bad-ass women.”