My first experience of hot yoga in Tallahassee was a
success. Am I a bonnified yogi? No way.
Was I good at it? Not close. Did I survive? Yes.
Will I be back? Most
definitely.
Hot yoga is one of the ‘hottest’ crazes in fitness right now
(pun definitely intended). In a room
with an elevated humidity and a temperature ranging between 100-110°F, your
body and its muscles began to contour in ways previously unknown…. Except when
you look at the person next to you- who obviously knows what the heck they are
doing- and can bend their body in freaky metamorphic postures.
My adventure started back in college when I lived in Bowling
Green, Kentucky. After my collegiate
swimming career ended, I needed something to keep me in shape- and exercising
for fun was something I had never known before.
On my quest to find a fitness love, I discovered yoga. After a few classes, I was hooked. I then found hot yoga. Before I could nail my stride, graduation
came and went. Fast forward 7 years and
I have ended my self-induced yogi-hiatus.
I attended Hot Yoga Tallahassee with several close friends this weekend. What a workout it was!!! From the beginning I was pushed to my limit
with reintroducing my body to the ‘self-paced’ flow of the Vinyasa. Essentially performing 2 tricep pushups with
a transition to Downward Dog immediately gave my arms a solid pre-fatigue. From that point on, it mind over matter and
trying to use anything else I could manage to move- besides my Vinyasa tired
arms.
An hour and a half later, sweat drenched, muscles activated,
and heart rate elevated the class ended.
Namaste, indeed. The researcher
in me wanted to find out more about this practice. A quick Google search will bring up thousands
of results on ‘Bikram Yoga weight loss’, ‘Bikram Yoga health benefits’… the
list goes on. But what claims are
actually substantiated? What is just
fitness hype and speculation?
Bikram yoga was developed in the 1970s by Bikram
Choudhury. The focus is more on physical
wellness than spiritual development, like traditional yoga. It is composed of 26 poses and 2 breathing
exercises over a 90 minute period. (Decreased Nocturnal Awakenings in
Young Adults Performing Bikram Yoga: A Low-Constraint Home Sleep Monitoring
Study, 2012). The root word- yoga- means to “to yoke” or
“to harness” (White, 2005). The class I attended was not a traditional “Bikram
Yoga” class. It was a fusion-flow
combination which allowed the beginner in me ‘flow’ at my own pace. The contrast is that the class I attended can be changed from class to class.
SO what about these alleged health claims? Studies in young adults (26± 7 years) have
shown that hot yoga can improve balance substantially, produce modest
improvements in leg strength, and improve leg muscle control for less-steady
subjects (Hart & Tracy, 2008). During the class, I did feel my heart rate
extremely elevated. The elevated heart
rate is essential in caloric burn. While
I did not have my Polar heart rate monitor on, my heart rate was high enough to
burn more calories outside of my normal range.
Will hot yoga make you lose weight?
I would say yes- if done diligently.
Some sites claim hot yga will burn 500+ calories. Unless you are a couch potato, I would say
probably not. And if you are a couch
potato… you probably would not start your workout regimen in an arid dessert
(so to speak). Hot yoga will cause a
reduction water weight BY FAR, however, the elevated heart rate will cause
additional caloric expenditure which will aid in the lasting weight loss most
crave.
I loved Hot Yoga Tallahassee and definitely recommend this
trendy studio to anyone who is in the market for a phenomenal workout. The girls there know their stuff!
References
Decreased Nocturnal Awakenings in Young Adults
Performing Bikram Yoga: A Low-Constraint Home Sleep Monitoring Study. (2012, April 12). Retrieved March 24, 2013, from
ISRN Neurology: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3345216/
Hart, C., & Tracy, B. (2008). Yoga as Steadiness
Training: Effects on Motor Variability in... Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research , 1659-1669.
White, L. S. (2005). Yoga for Children. Pediatric
Nursing , 296-297.
