Wednesday, March 27, 2013

A Very Sweaty Namaste



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.

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