Bikram / hot yoga - calories burned?
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You're instructor would be incorrect. It's more in the 350-500 range.My instructor last night told me that you can burn 600 to 1200 cal in an hour and a half.
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For strength and balance type exercises like this, I compute gross calorie burns based upon perceived exertion as compared to cardio.
For me, when I'm doing cardio, as in running, I tend to burn about 12-14 calories a minute (as its relative, I'm 190 pounds). That puts my maximum at about 840 an hour. My perceived exertion is about 40-75% of that when strength training depending on how hard I'm pushing myself. When I'm doing basic yoga I'd guess it'd be around 30-40% or 4-5 calories per minute. So an hour of yoga I'd expect to be 240-300 calories. Varying types of yoga may go up or down from there, but should be in a relative range.
The figures above are gross calculations. So then I have to convert to net to figure out what to eat back here on MFP. In general, the lower the intensity, the less net calories. For intense cardio, that 840 number would turn into something more like 750. The 240-300 calories for yoga would become 150-220.0 -
Anyone who thinks that Bikram yoga is solely an isometric, anaerobic exercise is sorely mistaken. While that may be true of many Hatha yoga classes, what sets Bikram apart is not just the temperature of the room, but also the rapidity of the movements. 26 postures are crammed into a 90 minute session, and most postures are performed twice. There is no resting in child's pose or the like in this class. This keeps your heart rate pumping at a steady pace from start to finish, and for a good 30 minutes thereafter. Compared to running outdoors, the effects are very similar, if not more intense. I would estimate a calorie burn of 600-750 per 90 class (performed to completion).0
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I do Bikram yoga, and when I first started last year, I was burning about 600 cals (used my hr moniter). Just used HR monitor again about a month ago, and I was burning 520. I'm 5'4 and weigh 128. I had to add it as an exercise because it wasn't in the database.
The hot room does make your heart beat faster, not to mention all the asanas - especially the dreaded triangle! Wowee!
And neither the heat nor the fater heart rate means you burn more calories. A HRM will assume you burn more if you HR speeds up, but that does not mean you do. HRM's are only accurate for steady state cardio, not for yoga, not for strength training etc. It will over estimate the burn for all other activities.
That said you may only burn a couple extra cals due to the heat, sweating more does not mean you burned more calories, usually in heat you burn less because you cannot push as hard.0 -
I just have to chime in and say that absolutely, positively, not all yoga is strictly isometric. In one posture of my 60 minute hot yoga class, we are asked to use ~20% effort. Otherwise, it's full-on contraction of the muscles. And it is HEAVEN ON EARTH, imo. It's the sweatiest, loveliest thing I've ever done. It feeds my mind, body, spirit... I just came from a class so I'm feeling extra dreamy about it... It strengthens, stretches, and wrings you out like a washrag. If you let it, it can release old emotions stored in the body, especially in tight hips and shoulders. You get from yoga what you put in. You can go to your edge and burn cals like hell or you can just hang out and burn less. But do it for your SOUL!0
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Not mistaken. If one did 26 weight lifting exercises with no rest, their heart rate would be up too. Doesn't mean they'd burn more calories compared to someone doing a cardio workout for the same duration. There's a reason why exercise is distinguished as aerobic and anaerobic.Anyone who thinks that Bikram yoga is solely an isometric, anaerobic exercise is sorely mistaken. While that may be true of many Hatha yoga classes, what sets Bikram apart is not just the temperature of the room, but also the rapidity of the movements. 26 postures are crammed into a 90 minute session, and most postures are performed twice. There is no resting in child's pose or the like in this class. This keeps your heart rate pumping at a steady pace from start to finish, and for a good 30 minutes thereafter. Compared to running outdoors, the effects are very similar, if not more intense. I would estimate a calorie burn of 600-750 per 90 class (performed to completion).
I'd say if you can eat back that 600-750 calories per class and still lose weight, you may have something to stand on. I'd like to see it.
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Contraction of a muscle without lengthening it is isometric. So holding a posture, regardless of intensity, is isometric. Sorry, but that's the definition.I just have to chime in and say that absolutely, positively, not all yoga is strictly isometric. In one posture of my 60 minute hot yoga class, we are asked to use ~20% effort. Otherwise, it's full-on contraction of the muscles. And it is HEAVEN ON EARTH, imo. It's the sweatiest, loveliest thing I've ever done. It feeds my mind, body, spirit... I just came from a class so I'm feeling extra dreamy about it... It strengthens, stretches, and wrings you out like a washrag. If you let it, it can release old emotions stored in the body, especially in tight hips and shoulders. You get from yoga what you put in. You can go to your edge and burn cals like hell or you can just hang out and burn less. But do it for your SOUL!
Everything else that one experiences from it is personal and great, but if we're speaking about calories BURNED, then correct information is that an yoga class from 60-90 minutes will burn on average about 350-450 calories.
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wow! thanks for the inspiration!0
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No chance that it is correct.0 -
It is a challenging workout for sure. But, so many people believe because they are sweating, they are burning a lot of calories. Therefore, they overestimate. It is a great workout but It is very misleading to the public. I count my power yoga as about 200 calories max and I weigh 119 lbs.0
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I don't think its 900 calories, but a certified trainer does not make you a doctor. Plus, the poses are much more difficult in bikram than in most general yoga classes. If I walked for 90 min it would be at least 600 calories.0
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What does being a doctor have to do about it? And do you walk 90 minutes in bikram yoga? So what is your point?I don't think its 900 calories, but a certified trainer does not make you a doctor. Plus, the poses are much more difficult in bikram than in most general yoga classes. If I walked for 90 min it would be at least 600 calories.
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Lol, totally an overestimation of calories.
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This might help - article in Time Magazine about overestimating Bikram Calories "Is Bikram Yoga Good For You - And For Weightloss?" http://time.com/2967716/you-asked-is-hot-yoga-good-for-you-and-for-weight-loss/0
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The concept that sweating equals caloric burn is so pervasive that it is hard to get past when addressing the general public. That coupled with marketing hype create images of these intense calorie shredding events when science keeps showing that is a fallacy. Walking and yoga are great physical activities but they are not huge net calorie burners.This might help - article in Time Magazine about overestimating Bikram Calories "Is Bikram Yoga Good For You - And For Weightloss?" http://time.com/2967716/you-asked-is-hot-yoga-good-for-you-and-for-weight-loss/
The one issue I have with the article, and it is a common train in calorie related stories and most tracking devices, is the failure to differentiate between net calories burned through exercise and total calories burned including exercise and metabolic processes. Using 400 calories as a hypothetical burn ... if that's net, great ... if it's total then we have to subtract out the BMR/RMR leaving a significantly lower number after 90 minutes of activity. It comes out to around 100 fewer net calories for a person with a 1600 cal per day RMR.0 -
Well, a 'brisk walk' METs value would be 4.3 gross or 3.3 net, so for my BMR of around 1 cal/min., a 90 min. brisk walk would burn around 300 (net) or 390 (gross), which is right around their 330 for women estimate.
https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories/walking
I did a lot of BY for a year and I figured from my weight change it probably burned about that much.
There was often a mother and teen daughter practicing with HRMs on. Even ignoring the inflated burn from heat, I wondered why you'd bother wearing it for dozens of classes, since each class is identical.0 -
I wore my heart rate monitor to class 3 times in the last 2 months. Each time it reads a burn between 550 and 600 for the 90 minutes... therefore, I log as such. (I'm 5'5.5" and lost weight throughout the 3 times i've worn my monitor 175-161lbs)
Regardless of the calorie burn - I HAVE to eat right to last through class so, it keeps me "on track" even the hours of the day I'm not in the studio.0
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