Birkham/hot yoga combo

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xraylady33
xraylady33 Posts: 222 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been doing a "hot YOGA" or Birkham yoga for more than a month. It is not a traditional 98 degree class, but it is hot. The class is called FLOW because we combine yoga and weights for a portion of the class. The class incorporates PLANKS with every new movement. It is a killer. I litterally loose so much water weight during this class that it is alarming.

Anyway....when I looked up calories burned it gives some crazy notion of like 800! Now while this may be true, I am looking for others who have done this type of YOGA and if you have a guesstimate on calories burned. The typical response on the list is 230..if thats it, I will list it, but can anyone offer a little more.

Thanks bunches for any input!

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  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
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    I have been doing a "hot YOGA" or Birkham yoga for more than a month. It is not a traditional 98 degree class, but it is hot. The class is called FLOW because we combine yoga and weights for a portion of the class. The class incorporates PLANKS with every new movement. It is a killer. I litterally loose so much water weight during this class that it is alarming.

    Anyway....when I looked up calories burned it gives some crazy notion of like 800! Now while this may be true, I am looking for others who have done this type of YOGA and if you have a guesstimate on calories burned. The typical response on the list is 230..if thats it, I will list it, but can anyone offer a little more.

    Thanks bunches for any input!

    I hate to give the typical 'buy a quality heart rate monitor' advice hun...but seriously, that's the only way you're going to get a valid number here. Level of fitness, in this type of extreme scenario, is going to have a huge impact. In decent shape, I was burning 600cal plus in one hour of P90x. Weighted yoga, with an elevated ambient would be brutal, and I couldn't even begin to make a guess.

    I know that doesn't answer your question...and is even semi unrelated...but it's the basis for my actual answer...which is again, any response you get is going to probably be wildly inaccurate =(.
  • xraylady33
    xraylady33 Posts: 222 Member
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    That is exactly what I will do. To this point I have not purchased one because I continued to see results! Anyway, long of the short, injury has slowed my stride. I will research what I should purchase. Thanks!
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
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    That is exactly what I will do. To this point I have not purchased one because I continued to see results! Anyway, long of the short, injury has slowed my stride. I will research what I should purchase. Thanks!

    I recommend Polar...at minimum the FT4. The FT7 (which I use), is only about $10 more ($75 shipped on Amazon when I bought mine), and has a few more options. Definitely don't cheap out and buy a SportLine from Walmart or the like. The quality of my Polar far, far outweighed the cost!

    Good luck, and thanks for taking my reply as intended =D!
  • xraylady33
    xraylady33 Posts: 222 Member
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    I will order it now! I use kettlebells a lot, it will be interesting to see.
    Thanks for the detailed information. I am excited to order this and use it. Hope its here by Thursday, I have the patience of an gnat. HA
    Have a super day!
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
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    I will order it now! I use kettlebells a lot, it will be interesting to see.
    Thanks for the detailed information. I am excited to order this and use it. Hope its here by Thursday, I have the patience of an gnat. HA
    Have a super day!

    Kettlebells are awesome...my girlfriend uses them almost exclusively, and the results are very much worthwhile lol.

    The Polar was an awesome purchase for me. I do pretty much strength training only, and it's such a useful tool for gauging proper rest periods for my goals, etc.

    You will love it =D.
  • dreaasha
    dreaasha Posts: 31
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    I used to attend Bikram yoga (which is a series of poses done over 90 minutes in a closed room, temperature not exceeding or below 110 degrees).

    I was told by several instructors that you burn 500-600 calories in a 90 minute period.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    A heart rate monitor is worse than useless for bikram yoga in any form. It will significantly overestimate your calories--worse than if you just made up a ridiculously high number for fun.

    When heart rate increases due to thermal stress, there is no increase in calorie burn. An HRM doesn't know this--it just senses the increased HR.

    Bikram yoga is not a big calorie burner. For most people, I would not even count it at all--just consider it regular daily activity.

    I hate to see someone wasting money on an HRM just for that purpose.
  • Sweet_Pandora
    Sweet_Pandora Posts: 459 Member
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    I did my first Bikram yoga class last Friday, the room was 105 and the session was 90 minutes, I wore my Polar FT4 and burned 463 calories.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the class and the cleanse. To me it was an unexpected bonus workout to my weekly exercise goals.

    K
  • Snoopy72
    Snoopy72 Posts: 25
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    I have been wanting to do this type of yoga when i return ... but I'm a bit of a sweater does that distract or make it harder to do it?
  • Annalisa419
    Annalisa419 Posts: 64 Member
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    I do the hot yoga, though I only use the regular yoga calculations for my diary (only because hot yoga wasn't in the database when I started and I guess I haven't looked recently). I wore my heart-rate monitor watch (from Walmart) once for a vinyasa/power class and it only said I burned like 90 calories, which I highly doubt is the case. I've heard people say that the sweating tricks you into thinking you're burning more calories than you actually are but I definitely don't think my watch was accurate. Let me know what you find out because I'd like to know!
  • Annalisa419
    Annalisa419 Posts: 64 Member
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    To Snoopy72: No, everyone sweats like a pig in a 105 degree room! The only thing that bothers me is when the sweat gets in my eyes but that's why you have a towel. If you're doing it correctly and focusing your gaze, you'll learn to ignore the sweat.
  • gwark
    gwark Posts: 7 Member
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    I've been doing Moksha hot yoga, which I hear is similar to Bikram. The temperature is usually between 39 and 45 degrees Celsius. I've been plugging it in for 541 Calories burned for my weight of 170 ish. It's just a guess, but after going a few times a week, the energy used definitely is adding up to weight loss. I have a hrm but the batteries are dead, so maybe I'll fire it up one day. I've sent an email to the Moksha people, but haven't heard back yet. Maybe try sending an email to the Bikram people for some advice.
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
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    A heart rate monitor is worse than useless for bikram yoga in any form. It will significantly overestimate your calories--worse than if you just made up a ridiculously high number for fun.

    When heart rate increases due to thermal stress, there is no increase in calorie burn. An HRM doesn't know this--it just senses the increased HR.

    Bikram yoga is not a big calorie burner. For most people, I would not even count it at all--just consider it regular daily activity.

    I hate to see someone wasting money on an HRM just for that purpose.

    That's interesting...and could be very well true. I would think the heart rate would be increasing due to the added stress on your body, rather than simple increased heart rate due to heat...but I've been wrong in the past.

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