om magazine- get in the ring

7/31/2019 OM Magazine- Get in the Ring

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In the late 90s, professional wrestling in the USA

experienced a boom period the likes of which

had never been seen before and has not been

repeated since. As Vince McMahons World Wrestling

Federation (now WWE) went head-to-head with Ted

Turners World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a

prime time ratings war, men who would once have

been overlooked and ignored by the mainstream,

became overnight pop-culture icons.

Few could have anticipated that Diamond Dallas

Page (or DDP), a man who entered the world of

wrestling in his 30s, and who was almost universally

condemned to fail from the outset, would rise to

the heights of WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

More than a decade in the ring, he performed in

front of thousands all over the world, and went on

to be remembered as one of the greatest American

wrestlers of all time. Since retiring from the ring, DDP

has been on a campaign to show the world the secret

of his longevity and success: yoga. Or, to be more

precise, his own brand of it, DDPYoga (DDPYoga.com),

which hes hoping to bring to the UK soon. But yoga

was not something he picked up until aged 42, when

an injury made him think carefully about his body

and how it would continue to survive in the ring. He

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overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and

extend his stay at the top.

At 42, hed had three doctors tell him his career was

over; at 43, he was heavyweight champion of the

world. I was the guy who wouldnt have been caught

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Then I ruptured my L4 and L5 [in my back], at the end

of 1998 going into 1999, and had three doctors tellme my career was over. I didnt start wrestling till I

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He then started mixing the yoga with his rehab, then mixing the rehab

with old school calisthenics, and then adding what he calls dynamic

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muscle; whether its your quads, glutes, forearms, biceps, triceps, he

says. As you engage a muscle, and you move from one position to

another, your hearts got to beat faster to get the blood to the muscle.

And so DDPYoga was born, but its not something youre likely to

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L"!%(.0M1#)B($.#$(1''(#1!4.%B(.!"1'"4(E"F.+.2.)/(1&4(#%!"(')!"&5)*(

conditioning, he says.

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hybrid system. Recently returned WWE superstar Chris Jericho came

back from a herniated L4 [back injury] after the doctors had said he

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part in big events. Other American wrestlers to have embraced the


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system include superstars Mick Foley and Hurricane Shane Helms,

recovering from a bad motorcycle accident. Its a whole host of

guys, says DDP. Wrestling is tough, were beat up. Yet they feel

there is so much pain relief for them, because they strengthen their.&&"!(#%!"(1&4(+"#%0"(E"F.+2"(.&(1!"1'()*1)()*"/(3"!"(&%)(+"-%!"8C(

Some of DDPs old wrestling buddies, Ray Lloyd and Marc Mero,

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