I'm a cyclist, and I've recently started to appreciate the benefits of doing yoga, so it was a no-brainer to review Yoga for Cyclists, a yoga program specifically designed to meet the needs of bicyclists. As any cyclist discovers when he or she starts logging a lot of miles, whether recreationally or while training to race, cycling is very demanding on certain muscle groups. The leg muscles and hamstrings are the first that come to mind, and in fact yoga is perfect to stretch out these tight areas and allow smoother, stronger pedaling. Mountain bikers in particular will appreciate the need for strong arms and shoulders, as well. What many cyclists don't realize, though, is that while cycling doesn't do anything to build up your "core abdominal" muscles, riding puts a lot of strain on the core and lower back, so keeping those muscles fit with off-the-bike training is vitally important.

Led by yoga teacher Andria Baldovin, Yoga for Cyclists offers two short yoga workouts that are customized to fit the needs of cyclists. The two half-hour workouts can be viewed separately, or as one longer program that also includes short instructional clips on meditation and breathing (these can also be viewed separately).

Session I is intended as a pre-ride workout, and not surprisingly it focuses more on stretches rather than strength work, although there's a little bit of that too. The legs get the most attention here, especially the hamstrings, but there's also attention to the back and arms. The poses include mountain, cobra, down dog, pigeon, and triangle, along with lunges and a push-up pose.

Session II is intended for days when you're off the bike, and includes some more difficult poses that work the muscles as well as stretching them. We get some warrior poses (working the legs and side muscles), a squat, hip flexors, a revolving stretch lunge, the bridge and boat poses, down dog, and plank poses, along with others.

If you're surprised to see so many different poses mentioned in a half-hour workout, you've hit on a feature of Yoga for Cyclists that may appeal to some, but that I wasn't all that enthused about. Baldovin moves quickly through a lot of different poses, spending very little time on each one, in contrast to other yoga workouts that spend a longer time doing variations or repetitions of each pose before moving on. While the variety does make you pay attention, I felt that I wasn't getting the most out of the poses, since each one was held for a relatively short time. Once you get familiar with the program and the poses, this is probably less of an issue.

The quality of the instruction is about standard, from what I've seen of yoga programs. Baldovin does a reasonable, not exceptional, job of explaining the poses, but she relies a bit too much on yoga lingo; exactly what does it mean to "relax my femur into my hip joint," anyway? On the other hand, she does do a good job of pointing out how each position will benefit you when you're on the bike, so this workout stays cycling-specific throughout the whole thing.

The camera work and cinematography is a point against the program, though. For one thing, Baldovin is wearing black tights, and especially with this highly compressed, fairly low-quality image, it's really difficult to see how she's placing her legs in most of the seated and some of the standing poses. The camera also has the annoying tendency of moving from one angle to the next, apparently without regard for what the viewer really needs to see, so if you don't already have a decent idea of how to do the poses, you may find it difficult to see from Baldovin's example what you're supposed to do.

On the other hand, one trick that works well is that when Baldovin mentions an alternate way of doing the pose (to increase or decrease the difficulty level), a smaller image of her demonstrating the alternate way appears in the upper portion of the image, so you can easily see the difference between the two ways of doing the pose.

The style of the program is, to be perfectly honest, a bit amateurish; this isn't the polished production that we see in other yoga DVDs. It's like the style of the Spinervals workouts, in terms of atmosphere, and as with the Spinervals workouts, it's easy enough to overlook the general "rough" appearance of the program once you get into the workout.

Overall, the workout is in the easy-to-moderate range, which fits in well with a target audience of stiff cyclists who may not have done any yoga before, but who want to improve their flexibility and fitness on the bike. To her credit, Baldovin is extremely careful of physical limitations, and warns the viewer before any pose that could potentially be injurious if taken too far or done incorrectly. This will be particularly useful for very inflexible viewers, so they don't overdo it. I also liked the fact that we get two shorter workouts that can be combined if desired; it makes it easier to incorporate the yoga workout into a day's activities.

The DVD

Video

The program appears in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and looks adequate for what it is: a fairly low-budget exercise video. Colors aren't great, and the compression is very heavy, making for a rather "blah" image. It's difficult to see the details of Baldovin's legs, clad in black, with this level of image quality, which in turn makes it harder to see how to do some of the poses.

Audio

The audio track is satisfactory. It's a straightforward track that presents Baldovin's instruction as a voiceover. There's new-agey music in the background, but it's not too bad.

Extras

The only real special feature is a trailer for a Yoga for Paddlers DVD.

The menu is reasonably well done. You can make individual selections of the two sessions, the meditation clip, the breathing clip, or the overall introduction to the DVD. You can also view and select individual poses through the chapter menu.

Final thoughts

Yoga for Cyclists isn't perfect, but it does address a definite need. Cyclists will certainly benefit from incorporating yoga into their training, to improve both strength and flexibility. This DVD offers two short workouts that are specifically tailored to the physical requirements of bicycling, with poses that are in the easy-to-moderate range. Recommended.