Remarkable computer-generated illustrations of the muscles used during the most popular yoga poses.

Yoga teachers and students can use this book as a visual reference to the muscles that are engaged by specific yoga poses. Each pose is shown in a full-color photograph opposite a detailed and annotated anatomical drawing that identifies the active and stabilizing muscles being used. By identifying affected muscles, practitioners can maximize the benefits of each pose and even design a personalized yoga routine that focuses on their specific problem areas.

"Anatomy of Yoga" explains the basics of yoga, breathing and the spine, concentrating on the body's core musculature. It covers: Yoga warm-up Standing poses Forward bends Back bends Seated and twisted poses Poses that balance arms Inversions Restorative poses Sequences, such as sun salutation

There are numerous asides, including "best for" information boxes that describe the muscles that work the most during each pose. Tip boxes give hints on safety and form and outline the target muscles for and benefits of each pose. The author also suggests creative ways to modify the intensity of an exercise.

"Anatomy of Yoga" is an expert guide that is extremely useful for anyone interested in enhancing a personal yoga fitness routine. It will also interest yoga instructors who want a visual aid that clearly illustrates the benefits of each exercise.

Foundations of Professional Personal Training, Second Edition With Web Resource, serves as a road map toward becoming a successful certified personal trainer. Developed and written by canfitpro, Canada's foremost education and certification provider for fitness professionals, this full-color edition of Foundations of Professional Personal Training contains information for building skills, increasing confidence, and preparing for the Personal Training Specialist (PTS) certification with canfitpro. Reorganized, redesigned, and extensively updated to match the canfitpro certification standards, this second edition includes colorful new artwork and all of the information needed for preparing for the PTS certification process. The second edition includes the following elements: * A new web resource with online video to demonstrate exercise and assessment techniques * New chapters on foundational movement sequences and dynamic assessments * Color-coded "traffic light" elements that highlight key information for practical application by indicating when to exercise caution (red), think critically (yellow), or put a concept into practice (green) * Three client case studies that are developed throughout the book for practice and application of concepts * Details about canfitpro's recommendations for optimal health, which integrates physical activity, nutrition, and mental well-being * Strategies for cultivating the personal trainer-client relationship * New information regarding exercise and back pain, myofascial slings and their relationship to flexibility, functional movement patterns, and postural assessment The book is divided into four easy-to-manage parts. Part I presents an overview of the fundamentals of personal training and the personal trainer-client relationship as well as recommendations for and components of optimal health. Part II explains the essentials of the human body, including chapters on bioenergetics, the cardiorespiratory system, skeletal and muscular anatomy, flexibility and mobility, and foundational movement. Part III provides thorough guidance on both passive and dynamic assessment of clients. Part IV offers direction on program design and delivery based on client assessment as well as strategies for recognition and prevention of injury. To aid learning and prepare readers for the certification exam, each chapter includes objectives, a summary, a list of key study terms, and review questions. Readers will also benefit from a glossary, illustrated appendixes organized by muscle group and filled with information on technique for a range of resistance and flexibility exercises, and an appendix of norms for fitness assessments. Additionally, a new web resource for Foundations of Professional Personal Training, Second Edition, provides readers with further practice opportunities before the PTS exam, featuring video clips, printable forms, and other supplemental materials. Thirty-six video clips demonstrate proper technique of various exercises as well as dynamic assessment techniques for identifying improper movement patterns or imbalance. The reproducible forms can be printed and used in assessing clients and documenting training sessions. The web resource includes answers to the in-text review questions found throughout the book, which will aid in comprehension and retention. Foundations of Professional Personal Training, Second Edition, prepares new and prospective personal trainers for all aspects of their exciting profession. Providing key concepts, guidelines, and considerations, this text is an essential resource for preparation for the PTS exam and for a successful career in personal training.

Your Spine, Your Yoga is arguably the first book that looks at the spine from both the Western anatomical/biomechanical point of view and the modern yoga perspective. It is filled with detail, discussion, illustrations, and practical advice for spines of all types. This emphasis on variety is welcome and necessary: no two spines are exactly alike, and no two people have the same biology and biography. What your spine is able to do may be vastly different from what other yoga students' or teachers' spines can do. The human spine is unique in its structure and function. Primarily, it provides stability through the core of our body, allowing forces to be transmitted from the upper body (arms and shoulders) to the lower body (pelvis and legs) and vice versa. Secondarily, the spine allows tremendous range of movement. Unfortunately, in modern yoga practice we find the primacy of these two functions reversed, with flexibility prized over stability. This focus on spinal mobility comes at a grave cost to many students. Stability is lost, and when that happens, dysfunction and pain often follow. Just as all tissues and areas of the body need a healthy amount of stress to regain and maintain optimal health, so too our spine needs the appropriate levels of stress to remain functional throughout our lives. How we choose to exercise the spine makes a difference, though. Knowing the way the spine is built, specifically, how your spine is built, will allow you to tailor your exercises wisely to match your goals. Your Spine, Your Yoga is the second book in the Your Body, Your Yoga series and focuses on the axial body the core, from the sacral complex, which includes the pelvis, sacrum, and sacroiliac joint, through the lumbar and thoracic segments of the spine, to the cervical complex, which includes the neck and head. The structural components of each segment are examined: from the bones, to the joints, ligaments, fascia, tendons, muscles, and even the neurological and blood systems. The range and implications of human variations are presented, as well as the ways these variations may affect individual yoga practices. The sources of restrictions to movement are investigated through answering the question "What Stops Me?" The answers presented run through a spectrum, beginning with various types of tensile resistance to three kinds of compressive resistance. Whether the reader is a novice to yoga, anatomy, or both, or a seasoned practitioner with an in-depth knowledge in these fields, this book will be valuable. For the novice, there are easily understood illustrations and photographs, as well as sidebars highlighting the most important topics. For the anatomy geek, other sidebars focus on the complexity of the topic, with hundreds of references provided for further investigation. For the yoga teacher, sidebars suggest how to bring this knowledge into the classroom. Your Spine, Your Yoga can be used as a resource when specific questions arise, as a textbook to be studied in detail, or as a fascinating coffee-table book to be browsed at leisure for topics of current interest.

Rupa Mehta, called a pint-sized guru" by Vogue and the Rachael Ray of Fitness" by the New York Post , has helped thousands of people on their journey to physical and emotional wellness from her New York fitness studio. Now, with The Nalini Method , Rupa brings her revolutionary techniques for shedding emotional weight and achieving balance of body and mind to the wider world with a gorgeous and fun full-colour book. The Nalini Method is an innovative mood-based fitness plan that fuses yoga, Pilates, strengthening exercises, and barre work to help participants lose emotional weight and find emotional fitness,transforming both mind and body in the process. Rupa's dynamic techniques synthesize Western and Eastern approaches to create an accessible program that's as challenging as it is fun. The workouts of The Nalini Method help participants find balance within seven different moods: Anger Energy Stress Chill Happiness Doubt AnxietyIn addition, Rupa includes recipes for six unique and delicious mood foods" to help maintain energy and balance along the way.With tips and resources to help any woman achieve her fitness goals every day, The Nalini Method blazes a new and exciting trail to physical and emotional well-being.

If muscle growth seems nonexistent, but you don't have time to spend more hours in the gym each day, don't give up. There is a better way. Featuring a revolutionary approach to male physique transformation, Elite Physique: The New Science of Building a Better Body offers a fresh approach to body sculpting. Based on scientifically proven strategies for making workouts more effective, Elite Physique features over 100 exercises and 50 exercise videos for men seeking training programs designed to build muscle, burn fat, or target those problem areas that are slower to respond to training. Written by Dr. Chad Waterbury, a physical therapist who understands how bodies change with age, Elite Physique shows you how to make radical physical changes by manipulating sets, reps, and frequency and by deciding when and how to use advanced training methods. You'll start by performing an honest physical assessment to establish a starting point and more accurately gauge your progress. As you move into exercises for the lower body and upper body, you'll find tips on altering exercises to alleviate stress on primary joints like the shoulders, elbows, wrists, lower back, hips, and knees. Video clips offer demonstrations of many of the exercises, highlighting proper technique and common mistakes. You'll learn the finer points of sculpting the midsection and will be able to create programs to target a lagging body part, either as an add-on to full-body training or as a stand-alone high-frequency training plan. Waterbury also includes advice on how to make staple lifts such as squats, deadlifts, and presses more joint friendly for older, more physically battered lifters. He breaks down how training must change as you age-with a program for a 20-year-old looking different than one for a 50-year-old-to safely pursue your goal of a lean, muscular physique. Designed for men looking for the most effective approach to ignite their physique transformation, Elite Physique is a go-to resource. CE exam available! For certified professionals, a companion continuing education exam can be completed after reading this book. The Elite Physique Online CE Exam may be purchased separately or as part of the Elite Physique With CE Exam package that includes both the book and the exam. Note: A code for accessing the online video is included with this ebook.

The 12-movement qigong form presented is taken from over 50 forms developed by Professor Zhang Guangde, one of the world's leading qigong teachers, and can be practised in both seated and standing positions. The movements are graceful and easy to learn, and are based on the tenets of Chinese Medicine, working with the Zang Fu organs, the meridians, yin-yang, the Five Elements, and qi and blood. The book provides step-by-step, fully-illustrated instruction for both standing and seated practice, learning tips and health benefits for each movement, and also a brief account on the origins and characteristics of the exercises. An accompanying DVD features a video demonstrating the form and additional information on its history and origins, and a CD provides options for verbal instructions to lead the practitioner through the exercises, or music to accompany them. Through integrating breathing exercises into Yangsheng, the 12 steps are effective for promoting good health, preserving life and cultivating the spirit, and they are suitable for all ages. The book will be invaluable for people who wish to learn a simple yet powerful form, and for teachers looking for effective forms to teach groups, especially children, people with disabilities and older people.

"Core Awareness, Revised Edition: Enhancing Yoga, Pilates, Exercise, and Dance" offers a guide to Core Awareness, a body-oriented approach that explores the practice of bringing focus and attention to inner sensation as the means of cultivating an innate capacity for expressive movement. Developed by somatic educator and author Liz Koch, the book's Core Awareness movements, stretches, and mindfulness explorations are designed to enhance sensory development and shift readers from the standard paradigm of the body as an "isolated object" to a holistic paradigm of the human being as part of a living process of dynamic expression. This shift in perspective offers practitioners and teachers of movement, yoga, pilates, bodywork, exercise, and dance an empowering model for self-healing and the key to increasing strength, gaining flexibility, preventing injury, and improving resiliency.
Describing the practice of moving from one's core, Koch highlights the importance of engaging the psoas muscle--located on either side of the spine--to integrate the body, mind, emotion, and spirit. Koch also discusses the pelvis as the foundation of our physical core and the vital connection with our bones to gain a sense of support, nourishment, joint integrity, skeletal balance, and healthy muscle tone. Rewritten with updated information, this revised edition includes 247 new photos and 25 new Core Awareness explorations--with 64 in total. A suggested reading list at the end of the book provides resources for continuing the development of the ideas presented within the book.