Hot yoga must burn more calories???

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lmprout
lmprout Posts: 2
in Fitness and Exercise
I practice hot yoga and can't imagine that it only burns 100+ calories an hour? It is a very hard work out and you sweat like crazy. I also run and lift weights but whenever I log the yoga it gives me so few "earned" calories. There are only two choices for yoga, regular yoga and stretching yoga, but neither compare to hot power yoga.

Does anyone know how many calories are likely burned during a session?

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Yoga tends to burn fewer calories because it isn't elevating your heart rate. The purpose of yoga isn't to burn calories but to increase flexibility and to relax. Sweating isn't an indication of calorie burn, it's your body's attempt to cool down. Some forms of yoga will burn more than others because of the poses they use and the speed but yoga fits more into the same category as strength training which has other benefits than calorie burn.
  • MaritaD
    MaritaD Posts: 178 Member
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    Hot yoga burns no more calories than regular yoga. Maybe even less since you're exhausting yourself with the extreme heat. Many people tend to think it burns so much because you are sweating a lot but it's not the case, you are sweating because of the heat, not the exercise.

    Still great to do yoga! It's so good for you! But hot yoga really isn't any better than regular yoga.
  • clh126
    clh126 Posts: 115 Member
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    It probably depends on the type of class you go to. The heated power yoga place where I go is very fast paced and even when I was very fit, it got my heart rate up. People don't go there for relaxation....it's not the same as the regular yoga classes I went to at my gym which were more about increasing flexibility and working on breathing, but who knows. I imagine that if you went to a standard flow yoga class and just turned up the heat, the calorie burn wouldn't change that much from a regular yoga class.
  • larvkars
    larvkars Posts: 2
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    I looked this up recently, I practice Vinyasa yoga and was doubting that I was only burning 171 calories in a 1 hour session. After I found doing some research, I found this article in Women's health magazine that breaks down the more intense. According to this Bikram (or Hot) yoga burns 636 calories an hour. Of course, every yoga class is different but hopefully this provides a better gauge.

    http://www.womenshealthmag.com/yoga/yoga-calorie-burns
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    From everything I've read/researched hot yoga doesn't burn anymore than regular yoga. It all depends on what you actually do rather than the temperature you do it in.

    Just like running. 50 degrees is MUCH easier to run in than 100 degrees, but you still burn the same calories.
  • MiamiKid305
    MiamiKid305 Posts: 357
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    i wanna try it! but just cause your sweating doesnt mean your burning calories... im pretty sure you burn the same amount
  • baileybiddles
    baileybiddles Posts: 457 Member
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    I burn about 200 calories an hour at my yoga class, a combination of Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga. It is fast paced and gets your heart rate up which is why it burns more than traditional yoga.

    I doubt that the heat in the room changes what you burn. You are more than likely sweating because of the heat, not the workout, and you're overestimating how much sweat is from the workout and how much sweat is from the heat. :)
  • lmprout
    lmprout Posts: 2
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    Thanks everyone, I guess I was thinking that because you sweat so much it should burn more calories. At least the sweating is a cleansing of sort. The key for me, having read your responses, is actually that the type of yoga that we do does get your heart rate up so perhaps I burn slightly more than the regular yoga...

    Either way, I love it! I feel stronger and more flexible and keep surprising myself with the poses I am learning to do. It helps a lot with counteracting the tightness from running too. I would recommend it all day long :-)
  • Kelly043
    Kelly043 Posts: 51 Member
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    You can try getting a heart rate monitor to see how many calories you are actually burning... just a thought.
  • catrunsintowindow
    catrunsintowindow Posts: 77 Member
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    A Heart Rate Monitor isn't accurate for hot yoga, because your heart rate is elevated due to the heat instead of the physical activity. The best way would to use a HRM would be to do the same workout in a normal temperature room, and use that calorie count as an estimation of what you're doing in hot yoga.
  • hockey247
    hockey247 Posts: 118 Member
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    I looked this up recently, I practice Vinyasa yoga and was doubting that I was only burning 171 calories in a 1 hour session. After I found doing some research, I found this article in Women's health magazine that breaks down the more intense. According to this Bikram (or Hot) yoga burns 636 calories an hour. Of course, every yoga class is different but hopefully this provides a better gauge.

    http://www.womenshealthmag.com/yoga/yoga-calorie-burns

    Thank you for sharing this. I am going to yoga classes that are in no way just stretching, my heart rate is up, the flow never stops and the only time you pause is at the end.

    I also doubted the calories MFP has for Yoga and this might help explain why I am so hungry. I most likely am not eating enough to sustain such an intense calorie burn.

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