Men We Love: The Iron Yogi

He’s dubbed the Iron Yogi. And the name definitely fits, considering he’s a body builder who does yoga. Not too many of those around.

“I’m a purple cow. I’m different,” says Peter Seamans. “There are no other body-builder yogis out there.”

Seamans, 51, who lives primarily in Boulder, but also in California, Costa Rica and Hawaii has been a local figure in fitness and yoga for 30 years.

At 21, Seamans says he was like “John Belushi, without the fan base and paycheck.” After an epiphany at the rec center, Seamans lost 40 pounds and broke his addictions to alcohol, drugs and food. Four months later, he was working in a gym and the members began asking him to train them.

“I was training people before the term ‘personal trainer’ was coined,” he says.

Seamans has since won numerous drug-free and master’s bodybuilding championships (he’s never done steroids). He is undefeated in every competition he has ever entered, was named the National Physique Committee Trainer of the Year in 1993 and had the world’s largest following with 2,000 seats per month when Spinning first took off in the ‘90s. And that’s just scratching the surface.

Now, Seamans is back in Boulder and running his own studio, Iron Yogi, 2516 Broadway, suite 300, Boulder (www.ironyogi.com).

Seamans trains people with free weights, kettle bells, dumbbells, fit walls and Gravity Training Systems. He also teaches his own version of Vinyasa yoga, called Turbo Vinyasa, and Turbo Bar, which is a class for women that targets the butt, thighs and abs.

We wanted to learn more about this powerful “purple cow,” so we asked him five questions — plus one. We then asked the same questions of his friend and student Laura Posen, 41, of Boulder. All we can say is, Iron Yogi indeed!

1. Out of all of the people you’ve trained, who has been your favorite and why?

Peter: Deepak Chopra and Anthony Robbins were both amazing experiences. But honestly, being a guy who seems to connect more with the female population, helping women lose weight and reshape their bodies is what really makes me tick. The confidence, vitality and opportunity for self-realization that comes with such an experience are the real gifts. I am both humbled and honored to be a part such a positive life change.

Laura: Me, of course! But in all honesty, I think Peter’s favorite client would be a woman who after two years training with him, transformed her body so completely that she became a pro-figure athlete.

2. If you could have a superhero power what would it be and why?

Peter: Mind control, so I could get people to stop thinking and enter the present moment.

Laura: Peter already is a superhero with the power to transform bodies and inspire people to lead healthy lifestyles. If he could gain another super hero trait, I think it would be to heal people with touch.

3. What is your most cherished possession and why?

Peter: My white marble Quan Yin statue. Quan Yin is Chinese and literally translates to “she who hears the cries of the world.” This Buddhist goddess (no, I’m not Buddhist) reminds me daily that compassion, understanding and sensitivity are the keys to our evolution.

Laura: Peter’s most cherished possession is his good physical health because if you don’t have your health, nothing else matters in life.

4. Why do you love living in Boulder?

Peter: It’s eclectic, free-spirited and friendly. I feel both proud and fortunate to live in a community where people place such a high value on wellness and self-realization.

Laura: Peter loves living in Boulder because at any time of the day, he can visit Whole Foods and have at least 15 people he knows come up to him and say, “Hi.”

5. What is the most important thing your parents taught you?

Peter: The three A’s: adventure, affection and authenticity. Every day should be an adventure — and it is. Love is something to be felt and expressed freely. And always be yourself, no matter what others think or say.

Laura: Be comfortable with who you are as a person.

6. What is one thing we would never guess about you?

Peter: I love chocolate.

Laura: Underneath all the hard, toned muscles is a very soft, kind soul who truly cares about helping people.

— By Annie Brokaw

In the garage

I never claimed to know anything about cars. My father — a scientist — was not the kind you’d find tooling around under the hood. My mother — a nurse and an artist — can craft anything and mend wounds, but cannot change a tire.

I’ve spent my entire automobile life counting on mechanics and boyfriends to change my oil and tell me where that blue smoke was coming from. I’ve dreaded buying a car any time I’ve had to because I knew I had the mark of a sucker on me. I am afraid of my car. As much as I count on it to get me to work and the store and other states, I had no idea what lurked beneath the white metal exterior.

I have, however, claimed that I wanted to learn more about my car.

I’d wanted to know how to change the oil and for what purpose. I fear the day I’m stranded by the roadside because I don’t even know where my jack is, much less how to use it. And I was paralyzed by my inability to do anything about one pesky burned out headlight. It was long past time to take charge and understand exactly what was going on inside of my heavy machine.

Enter Club Workshop.

I stumbled upon the ad on Craigslist for “Auto Maintenance 101.” It might as well have boasted, “Stop being silly, Leah. Take the mystery out of this once and for all!”

Club Workshop is the brainchild of Steve Garran, who together with his wife, Laura, opened the 16,000-square-foot Denver space in September of 2008. An active hobbyist, Steve Garran quit his stressful IT job to follow a dream. That dream involves an auto bay with a lift; a woodworking shop; a metal working shop; and more.

“I realized there wasn’t a place like this where you could do it yourself,” Steve explains.

Laura interrupts, laughing, “You needed a bigger garage.”

This is certainly a bigger garage.

Mike Kiehl is my teacher today. The former repair shop owner grew tired of running his own place and decided to come to Club Workshop. He now spends his days helping members of the club with their projects and teaching classes to folks like me. The auto classes are always small — three to five members max — and today there are three of us total, all women seeking to know more about the machines we depend upon.

Mike puts a Subaru on the lift. Carefully we inspect the undercarriage and all the parts and pieces located there. We discuss why and when to rotate tires. We remove the oil from the car. Once the Subaru is back on land, we finish the oil change and soak in all there is to know about what rests beneath the hood.

Later, when I open my own Toyota I could effectively point out every belt, hose and tank. I can even tell you what they all do.

“I think it is empowering for women to know the basics,” Laura Garran told me in our first e-mail.
I couldn’t agree more. Next time I come back to Club Workshop, I think I’ll learn how to weld.

—By Leah M. Charney

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