Why Bikram Is Good For you.
Sometimes I get a comments on a post... And I find myself writing a novel-length comment back that it just makes more sense to respond in a follow-up post.
One fellow practitioner (who has such an amazing practice that they inspire many around them with their graceful postures to get into class more often) left a comment on my earlier post about my seventh day in the challenge.
In that post (see directly below), I wrote about how many calories I burned in each of the classes I took this week. And the fellow practitioner wanted to know...
"...how many does your body burn when you're NOT in class as your overall health and fitness improve. All that blood pumping, oxygen flowing, muscle tone building... totally changes the way your body processes energy. I KNOW that my body processes food differently as a result of my practice."
The MOST interesting question is... WHY (and HOW?) are you tracking calories at yoga in the first place?
These are excellent questions Dancing J!
My body definitely digests and burns more calories by practicing Bikram more often. I track my calorie burn with a heart rate monitor. It's a strap that I wear around my chest, and it syncs up the pink watch I wear around my wrist. I'll keep my heart monitor on for hours after a Bikram class, and even though my heart rate goes back to normal, I seem to keep burning calories at a high rate.
I started wearing the monitor in class a year ago just out of curiosity. I wanted to prove to all those "haters" of Bikram yoga that Bikram is in fact a WONDERFUL cardio workout. My heart rate goes up very, very high in some poses.
Standing Bow Pose, for example, pushes it up between 160 and 170, depending on the day. My "resting heart rate" is about 63 beats per minute. So it's awesome, and dizzying, to see and feel it get up that high from the heat and the holding of the postures. And the floor poses... HELLO! My heart rate stays around 150 beats per minute all throughout the series on the floor.
And that brings me to an important thing to note: Do you know what I have to do at the gym to burn that many calories and get my heart rate that high?
Well, I have to move around A LOT. Seriously, the activities at the gym that shoot my heart rate to the 150-160 range are running and step-ups. Nothing else at the gym gets it that high. And running and step ups definitely take their toll on your feet, quads, calves... Lots of things!
Bikram yoga, on the other hand, it takes it's toll for a few seconds on certain body parts, each at a different time... And then you're DONE!
Don't get me wrong, people. I love my gym. I love working out in different ways. But Bikram yoga is a very effective way to get a workout in without traumatizing your body. There's no pounding your feet on a treadmill. There's lifting of heavy weights, which - if not done properly, can wreck you. In Bikram, all you have is your body and the heat.
But again, as I've said before, Bikram isn't for everyone. But it is for me. And so far, my heart rate monitor confirms my affection for the yoga.
One fellow practitioner (who has such an amazing practice that they inspire many around them with their graceful postures to get into class more often) left a comment on my earlier post about my seventh day in the challenge.
In that post (see directly below), I wrote about how many calories I burned in each of the classes I took this week. And the fellow practitioner wanted to know...
"...how many does your body burn when you're NOT in class as your overall health and fitness improve. All that blood pumping, oxygen flowing, muscle tone building... totally changes the way your body processes energy. I KNOW that my body processes food differently as a result of my practice."
The MOST interesting question is... WHY (and HOW?) are you tracking calories at yoga in the first place?
These are excellent questions Dancing J!
My body definitely digests and burns more calories by practicing Bikram more often. I track my calorie burn with a heart rate monitor. It's a strap that I wear around my chest, and it syncs up the pink watch I wear around my wrist. I'll keep my heart monitor on for hours after a Bikram class, and even though my heart rate goes back to normal, I seem to keep burning calories at a high rate.
I started wearing the monitor in class a year ago just out of curiosity. I wanted to prove to all those "haters" of Bikram yoga that Bikram is in fact a WONDERFUL cardio workout. My heart rate goes up very, very high in some poses.
Standing Bow Pose, for example, pushes it up between 160 and 170, depending on the day. My "resting heart rate" is about 63 beats per minute. So it's awesome, and dizzying, to see and feel it get up that high from the heat and the holding of the postures. And the floor poses... HELLO! My heart rate stays around 150 beats per minute all throughout the series on the floor.
And that brings me to an important thing to note: Do you know what I have to do at the gym to burn that many calories and get my heart rate that high?
Well, I have to move around A LOT. Seriously, the activities at the gym that shoot my heart rate to the 150-160 range are running and step-ups. Nothing else at the gym gets it that high. And running and step ups definitely take their toll on your feet, quads, calves... Lots of things!
Bikram yoga, on the other hand, it takes it's toll for a few seconds on certain body parts, each at a different time... And then you're DONE!
Don't get me wrong, people. I love my gym. I love working out in different ways. But Bikram yoga is a very effective way to get a workout in without traumatizing your body. There's no pounding your feet on a treadmill. There's lifting of heavy weights, which - if not done properly, can wreck you. In Bikram, all you have is your body and the heat.
But again, as I've said before, Bikram isn't for everyone. But it is for me. And so far, my heart rate monitor confirms my affection for the yoga.
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