Yoga is so ubiquitous these days that most young professionals have tried it in some form. Whether you are more or less inclined to participate in yoga, its benefits for improving strength, balance, flexibility, and relaxation are undeniable. While many YPs crave the calm of a yoga class, others may be looking for a more athletic workout that, while providing the traditional benefits, delivers more intensity in the same amount of time. Enter Joga (that’s yoga for jocks), a full body workout created by skilled yoga practitioner Jana Webb.
This class was initially created for high performance athletes as an enhanced version of yoga and built around athletics and the athlete’s mind. However, Joga is an intense full body workout that will benefit all YPs since, as Jana shares, “We are all athletes in some way!”
The major difference between traditional yoga and Joga is that Joga postures involve a combination of dynamic and static stretching as opposed to traditional long holds. Joga will get your heart rate up and help you to build muscle mass, which means that your metabolic rate will be increased even when you aren’t exercising. Joga also includes breathing and relaxation techniques that decrease stress and help balance cortisol levels. In other words, your heart rate goes up during the class, you have more muscle mass to burn fat at rest, and you are balancing your stress levels to prevent the accumulation of fat around the abdominals from excess cortisol.
Joga classes run for 90 minutes and are currently offered either as a private class or in a group exercise environment. YPs in Toronto can find Joga classes at Energyxchange, Kingwest Fitness, and Mind to Muscle. Jana will be coming to Calgary May 31st through June 3rd to train Joga teachers at Yoga Passage. Classes will be offered at Yoga Passage after the training session, and as more Joga Ambassadors are trained, YPs in Calgary will be able to take Joga at fitness facilities throughout the city.
If you want to try Joga for yourself, you can download up to 5 instructional video segments on iTunes. The first four segments focus on introducing and mastering specific elements of Joga, and the fifth segment (Jogified) is the entire Joga sequence in under one hour.
To learn more about Joga and Jana Webb, check out her website and follow her on twitter.