Rating: 
Summary: Sexist, silly, and poorly laid out, but...
Review: a useful contribution to those learning about Yoga. As the Amazon.com in-house reviewer notes, the author seems obsessed with pointing out that men do Yoga, hence the title. Unfortunately, this is based on the ridiculous assumption that men never did Yoga. Can we say Iyenger? Or Baptiste, Yee, and many others. Silly, stupid, and insulting!
Having said that, the author seeks to "mainstream" Yoga (similar to the great Beth Shaw), by using non-Sanskrit names for the asanas. I sincerely feel that this helps someone new to Yoga. Mr. Capouya also spares the reader the preaching about the eight "limbs" of Yoga (non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing...) and the horrors of eating meat.
The book is poorly laid out. It bounces around from pose to pose interspersed with quotes from professional athletes and alleged Yoga practioners. Sadly, they mostly aren't true Yoga practioners because they only do Yoga 2-3 times a week (often in a class). Yoga is not weightlifting: it is not mean to done every other day, but rather daily (talk to a Yogi about how terrible they feel if they are unable to do at least a 30 minute session). Moreover, most Yoga books (Baptiste for example), advocate a 90 minute daily practice. This book seems to feel that 60 minutes is adequate. I disagree. Anything less than 90 for me is inadequate. But the use of the athletes quotes serves to perpetuate the notion that "real men" do Yoga, so I guess that don't need to do it that long.
Unfortunately, the book leaves out the variations inherent in all Yoga poses for beginners. This is a grave disservice to Yoga. Yoga is perfect for ANY-BODY. Fat, thin, weak, non-flexible etc. By using professional athletes as examples, Mr. Capouya may unwittingly intimidate someone less physically gifted.
It's worth a look, but I prefer Hatha Yoga Illustrated, Journey into Power (Baron Baptiste), and Liz Lark's (egad, a woman!)Power Yoga and Yoga for beginners.
Rating: 
Summary: Real Men Do Yoga
Review: Great book! I currently weight-train and study martial arts. After reading "Real Men Do Yoga" I now understand how yoga will serve as the perfect bridge that will allow me to take the next step by getting more out of my workouts."Real Men Do Yoga" is a wonderful book since it gets straight to the point, de-mystifies the misperceptions surounding yoga, provides easy to follow instructions with supporting illustrations, and has great testimonials from some of today's great athletes. If you're concered about your physical well-being, get this book. You'd be foolish not to.
Rating:
Summary: Real Men Do Yoga
Review: Great book! I currently weight-train and study martial arts. After reading "Real Men Do Yoga" I now understand how yoga will serve as the perfect bridge that will allow me to take the next step by getting more out of my workouts. "Real Men Do Yoga" is a wonderful book since it gets straight to the point, de-mystifies the misperceptions surounding yoga, provides easy to follow instructions with supporting illustrations, and has great testimonials from some of today's great athletes. If you're concered about your physical well-being, get this book. You'd be foolish not to.
Rating:
Summary: A sure winner for Valentine's day
Review: I have been practicing yoga since I was twelve,and bought this book for my fiancee last year. He is a golfer trying to make the PGA tour, and ever since he started doing yoga, his concentration and short game has improved. I like the fact that this book is does not contain a lot the "new age" language, and gets straight to the point with regards to the physical and psychological benefits of yoga. I definitely recommend his as V-Day gift, as the practice of yoga has many benifits hat expend beyond the realm of sports, as I can well attest.
Rating:
Summary: A sure winner for Valentine's day
Review: I have been practicing yoga since I was twelve,and bought this book for my fiancee last year. He is a golfer trying to make the PGA tour, and ever since he started doing yoga, his concentration and short game has improved. I like the fact that this book is does not contain a lot the "new age" language, and gets straight to the point with regards to the physical and psychological benefits of yoga. I definitely recommend his as V-Day gift, as the practice of yoga has many benifits hat expend beyond the realm of sports, as I can well attest.
Rating:
Summary: Rael Men do Yoga works for Women Too
Review: I never thought this would be a book that would appeal to me and yet I ended up being completely captivated by it. I'm not a man, nor am I a yoga practitioner. In fact, I'm not particularly involved in any kind of physical activity. While visiting with a (male) friend, I was introduced to Real Men Do Yoga and took the book home with me to read more. At first, I enjoyed reading it simply because it's a good read - well put together, written in a friendly style, interesting first-person stories. But as I kept reading the book and looking at the illustrations I began to think "wow, I could do that'.
And now I am!
So yes, I would definately recommend this book to men and women alike. It's great for people already involved in some kind of sports, but is also a great way to motivate those who aren't. Nice job.
Rating:
Summary: Help your guy get into Yoga
Review: Real Men Do Yoga, by John Capouya, was just what I needed to get my guy to try yoga. This is a smart, engaging book which highlights why men might want to follow the lead of some very successful athletes and regular guys--yoga can help you become stronger and more flexible, AND help you feel good. The book has great instruction and is easy to use. Women should do their guy a favor and buy it for him! I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Real Men DO in fact do Yoga!
Review: This is a highly practical and entertaining book that approaches yoga from a different perspective. I've been practicing Yoga for about 7 years now daily. I used to be intensely involved in weight training and I'm in much better shape and feel a hundred times better doing Yoga than I did before. There are several reasons for this. First of all, you can do Yoga every day which means you can feel great every day. In my case I vary the intensity of my practice, some days more of a power routine and other days more of a gentle approach to stay physically "open". You are truly as young as your spine is (and your joints, muscles, ligaments (etc.) as well Second, it involves whole body movements so you are not overtraining any one area. While you certainly aren't going to get the size that you will from weight training, you will get incredibly muscular everywhere. My torso has more subtle definition from daily yoga than my former weight training regimen. You also get whole body, "real life" strength. You learn to work with your body in an integrated fashion that will help you in your day to day movements. Even if you are doing very physical work you'll find you can do it more effectively because your body works cohesively. Third, you learn how to breathe more completely. This helps with stress, fatigue and also your ability to focus. Fourth, if you do a vigorous vinyasa style of yoga several times a week (one that is continuously flowing) you CAN actually get a pretty intense cardio workout (this is my only point of disagreement with the author who thinks you still need a separate cardio practice). Sure, your heart isn't going to be pushed as hard as if you are running or biking, but from my own experience I have found tremendous cardio benefits from a vigorous yoga practice. You will push yourself enough to get a serious sweat going and raise your heart rate up to a higher yet safe rate without putting yourself into a situation of "overwhelm". While I'm sure there are many who will disagree with this, there have been studies that show that serious yoga practitioners have excellent cardio scores when tested. Of course there are multiple other benefits of yoga in general but now I want to speak about this book in particular. This book is a great introduction to yoga, whether you are a man or a woman. It has sound and clear instruction,is actually more thorough than I expected it to be, and it is a book that many men might be inclined to read who otherwise wouldn't give yoga a chance. The short vignettes throughout of various world class atheletes as well as men who do yoga just to enhance their regular lives (as well as their "weekend" sports activities) helps bring yoga into the realm of real people. My only complaint, and it's a VERY small one, is that sometimes I find that the author "tries too hard" to appeal to a certain "jock" mentality in his use of language. It seemed a bit forced to me and actually geared to a "locker room" mentality. It's not that he uses profanity, its just that he sounds like he's speaking to idiots from time to time and I found it annoying. I happen to be a huge football fan in general and a Tennessee Titans fan in particular and can assure you that if you've ever heard Eddie George speak (who is on the cover of the book) he is highly intelligent and extremely well spoken. This goes as well for many other professional atheletes (such as Defensive end for the Titans Kevin Carter, who is another Yoga Junkie). So I would've liked the book more with less forced "jock talk" and language geared more towards intelligent men who are also sports junkies as well as interested in their physical well being. Still, the content of the book more than makes up for this shortcoming and that is why I still gave it the five stars it deserves. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Yoga for real people
Review: This is one of the easiest "starter yoga" books that I've read -- and it's not just for men. Capouya's descriptions of the various poses are easy to follow, and entertaining too. Each chapter adds poses and the book ends with a basic workout and a more advanced workout. If you practice each of the positions as you read it, you'll be doing the workout by the end. I've been reluctant to attend a yoga class because I didn't think I could do it; after reading this book and practicing the positions, I'm ready!
Rating:
Summary: Yoga for real people
Review: This is one of the easiest "starter yoga" books that I've read -- and it's not just for men. Capouya's descriptions of the various poses are easy to follow, and entertaining too. Each chapter adds poses and the book ends with a basic workout and a more advanced workout. If you practice each of the positions as you read it, you'll be doing the workout by the end. I've been reluctant to attend a yoga class because I didn't think I could do it; after reading this book and practicing the positions, I'm ready!
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