The Athlete's Pocket Guide to Yoga: 50 Routines for Flexibility, Balance, and Focus

First, the spiral binding is genius, it makes this a very useable book.A little about me, I am an aging cyclist, approaching retirement. In my late 30s, while cycling, I got hit by a large tour bus. I survived, but parts of my body were constantly stiff and sore. Certainly not what I had been used to before the bus incident. During my first year of post surgery physical therapy, the clinic I attended had a yoga studio. After my insurance claimed that I had recovered, I continued doing Yoga at home along with several books. This book though has been my favorite. I am sure that you will find it a wonderful book too.Oh, one last thing. I recently spent a couple of summers cycling across the US and Europe. In both trans-continental journeys, I used the routines that I learned in this book.Thank you Sage Roundtree!

I am a newly registered yoga teacher, and I was looking for a book that would help me plan my classes. This was recommended to me by a friend, a fellow teacher who has been teaching a few years longer than me, so I thought I would check it out.Unfortunately, this book didn't click with me in the same way it did with my friend. First, I found the organization of the book to be odd, mainly in that it was not sequenced in the same way that one might sequence a class, or at least not how I was taught. For example, the chapters in the book include Warm-Ups, Balance, Standing Poses, Core Back & Shoulders, Hips & Legs, Restorative Routines, and Breath Exercises & Meditations. Some of these correspond to a typical class, which of course can vary but tends to follow a structure that includes Warm-Ups, Sun Salutations, Standing Poses, Standing Balance, Handbalancing, Hip Openers, Backbends, Inversions, Forward Bends/Twists, Meditation, Relaxation. As you can see, several components of a typical class are not addressed by the chapters in this book.This book also lacks any instruction on how to do the poses other than inhale-exhale. As a yoga teacher, this wasn't an issue for me, but this is certainly NOT a book I'd recommend to those without prior yoga experience, even athletes. Author Sage Roundtree does include attractive, clear color photographs, but these simply do not provide enough detail for someone unfamiliar with the postures. For those who are more experienced in yoga, Roundtree offers some unique flows, and at the end of the book, she provides suggestions for several short sequences, including "Focus on Strength," "Focus on Power," "Focus on Flexibility," and "Focus on Focus."So, to summarize, there are some nice things about this book, and it might work for experienced yogis looking for a practice guide, but as a yoga teacher looking for ideas in planning classes, I did not find it to be as useful as I had hoped.

I have always done a little yoga, learned from ballet. I recently started up road cycling and this book has really helped! As I am not in ballet anymore I do not stretch like I used to and I knew I had to start again. I don't know if this book would be good for a true beginner, but for someone who already knows about stretches (and proper form - very important) this is a good simple book. I especially like that there are different levels, from those with very little flexibility yet, to those that are rubber bands. Doing the stretches after cycling really makes a difference the next day - I am also noticing that I am not getting neck pain from work (typing, computer) which is a very pleasant unexpected bonus!

This is a great book for someone already familiar with yoga looking for a guide to targeted routines. It is well laid out and the spiral format is ideal. If you know how to do the poses and just want something to provide short routines with poses that flow well from one to the next, this book is great. I am not an athlete, but this book is exactly what I was looking for to supplement my yoga practice on days that I do not go to the yoga studio. It is also really helpful if you have a specific area you want to focus on and don't want to go through the trouble of trying to figure out an appropriate series of poses on your own.

It’s a book of Yoga poses, nothing specific for athletes. Of course athletes can benefit from any yoga, but the title suggested the book would be specifically geared towards athletes. Not what I expected.

The Athletes's Pocket Guide to Yoga is such a great resource for a at home practice or for yoga teachers looking for quick routines/refreshers. The book is organized nicely and there are so many routines and types of routines to choose from! This book will definitely be a book I refer to and take routines and add-on or combine them.

Amazingly helpful and easy to use

The Athlete's Pocket Guide to Yoga is exactly what I was looking for. I'm a cyclist and I wanted to increase my flexibility and my core strength. I didn't need a book with long explanations and more text than pictures. I just wanted to have a reference book with logically organized poses and routines that I could lay down open next to me. This little spiral bound book fits the bill perfect! The book is a small format, so the pictures are also small, yet very crisp and clear and user-friendly. I highly recommend.

This book may be great for athletes but for a beginner yoga person it is awesome. The first thing that is great is that it is a coil bound book, no more trying to keep the pages open. The next great thing is that the photos move from one pose to the next. There is no need trying to read what you have to do while the book closes shut. It also has the breathing that one should do for each pose. The other thing that is nice is that they have warm up poses (which I always do) but then it is separated into different sections: core, balance, legs, etc. this way you can focus on what you want depending on how much time you have. This book has inspired me to do yoga for over a year now and I still keep coming back to it. With this one book I have been able to do a home practice consistently. I have recommended it to all of my friends.

This book is all I was looking for. There is not a lot of "Yoga is good for you" in it, which I really appreciate since I bought the book to get more into Yoga and therefore do not need more convincing. The routines are short, well illustrated and divided into short categories which are easy to understand. It can help you incorporate Yoga into your specific sports with short routines and this book also includes full routines to spend the whole workout doing just Yoga.

It's a great pictorial book, but honestly I expected it to be a lot more detailed with focus explained on specific muscle groups. Also expected a lot more sequences for classes. But a good buy nevertheless. I just didn't find anything different or unique for athletes here.

This little book is perfect for what I wanted - a lot of photos and coil-bound so it lays flat. I'm a beginner so it should do just fine.

A1