Rob Van Dam Says His Backstage Stretching Routine Was The Inspiration For DDP Yoga
On a recent episode of "1 of a Kind," a fan urged Rob Van Dam to write a book on the secrets behind his "flexibility routine," suggesting that such a book could help out other athletes in pushing their bodies to the limit. The question prompted RVD to reveal that he had previously considered documenting his stretching routine in the form of a book or video.
"I have floated around a few different platforms, to try and explain what I'm doing, and what's going on inside my head and body," RVD said. "I'm sure it's been at least 20 years since I've wanted to do that — but I have never found a way yet, to actually explain it. Over the years, I've had camera crews and I've filmed my routine a few times."
As he reminisced over the origins of his routine, RVD recalled catching the attention of Diamond Dallas Page during their time together in WCW in 1993. "A gentleman saw me stretching — of course, I was always the only one who stretched real hard in the dressing room. He noticed that I wasn't getting hurt taking all these bumps, and he says, 'It must be something to do with the stretching.'
"So, he started stretching and made an entire empire out of DDP Yoga," RVD added, implying that DDP got the inspiration for DDP Yoga from watching him work out.
Nearly 23 years after that incident, RVD visited the DDP Yoga studios in Atlanta, with the intention of distributing his stretching routine in the form of a video, a project that DDP was backing. Unfortunately, the content never came to fruition due to various challenges RVD encountered.
"I figured maybe I can instruct the class through it, but it's a contrast to talk while I'm doing it [the routine]," RVD informed. "That's a big problem, so I thought I'd add audio separately — just showing me going through my routine [while] adding some CGI graphics, to show which muscles I'm working on while talking." RVD added that he was unable to get the voiceover to sync with his routine in a way that made sense.
"Anyway, I decided it might not happen. It may be something just for me," RVD concluded.