Bikram / hot yoga - calories burned?

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  • geekmomof3
    geekmomof3 Posts: 18 Member
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    For people saying it is not a cardio exercise have you seen to a bikram yoga class? Just like anyone workout you can phone it in some days but when your focused and doing the postures and really pushing yourself...I think 600 is fairly accurate.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,535 Member
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    For people saying it is not a cardio exercise have you seen to a bikram yoga class? Just like anyone workout you can phone it in some days but when your focused and doing the postures and really pushing yourself...I think 600 is fairly accurate.
    It's ANAEROBIC due the fact that poses are isometric. For instance, stand in a door way, put your hands on opposite sides of the wall and push in with all your might for say 30 seconds. You'll huff, you'll puff and if you do it enough times you'll even sweat. Calories burned in that 30 seconds......................about 2.5. Now multiply that by and you're looking at about 450 calories.
    There's no dispute that isometric exercise is anaerobic by any fitness counsil or Journals of study in physiology or sports training/conditioning. And math doesn't lie.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • lisal11
    lisal11 Posts: 59 Member
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    That's tough. I used to be an avid Bikram fan (Power Yoga, Vinyasa flow as well) and the heat really muddles the result. I've seen a wide range of results with people who wear the monitors.

    I definitely would not use a heart rate monitor when first starting the class. You are not used to the heat and it's taxing just to tolerate it. Maybe you'd get a more accurate result after a few months. After doing Bikram for a while, the heat did not bother me at all. I found it to be quite relaxing.
  • cclaudia1968
    cclaudia1968 Posts: 3
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    Most likely the calorie burned in Hot Yoga are overestimated almost everywhere. Just to be safe, I would count Bikram Yoga a bit more than a 90 minute session of non-heated Hatha Yoga. Definitely I burn more calories than standing/weight lifting and definitely less than swimming/running... Just common sense, no math... I lost more weight than with the personal and/or group classes that I've been to for over two years.

    :flowerforyou:
  • cclaudia1968
    cclaudia1968 Posts: 3
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    For people saying it is not a cardio exercise have you seen to a bikram yoga class? Just like anyone workout you can phone it in some days but when your focused and doing the postures and really pushing yourself...I think 600 is fairly accurate.
    It's ANAEROBIC due the fact that poses are isometric. For instance, stand in a door way, put your hands on opposite sides of the wall and push in with all your might for say 30 seconds. You'll huff, you'll puff and if you do it enough times you'll even sweat. Calories burned in that 30 seconds......................about 2.5. Now multiply that by and you're looking at about 450 calories.
    There's no dispute that isometric exercise is anaerobic by any fitness counsil or Journals of study in physiology or sports training/conditioning. And math doesn't lie.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Math?!? What are you talking about? Since when is fitness a math science?!? :laugh:
    "Math doesn't lie"? Neither do our bodies: I've been through personal training for over 6 months (started twice a week and then three times a week) and I couldn't see much difference in weight: from 154 to 148 lb. Then, I supplemented the training with Bikram Yoga. My personal trainer used to laugh at me; big surprise: he didn't believe in Yoga... He was so wrong! After only 4 weeks of Hot Yoga (the 26 postures) I lost a few pounds (141 lb) and my body definitely looked slimmer. Right now I'm only going to Hot Yoga (no personal training scam whatsoever) and I'm still losing weight (136 lb).

    Researcher
    PhD in Biochemistry
    MSc in Physics and quite a few scientific publications that requires real MATH...     :flowerforyou:
  • cclaudia1968
    cclaudia1968 Posts: 3
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    I don't consider hot yoga as a cardio exercise so I only count 1 calorie burned.

    OMG, some of you guys are so smart. Good for you! :bigsmile:

    :flowerforyou:
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,535 Member
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    For people saying it is not a cardio exercise have you seen to a bikram yoga class? Just like anyone workout you can phone it in some days but when your focused and doing the postures and really pushing yourself...I think 600 is fairly accurate.
    It's ANAEROBIC due the fact that poses are isometric. For instance, stand in a door way, put your hands on opposite sides of the wall and push in with all your might for say 30 seconds. You'll huff, you'll puff and if you do it enough times you'll even sweat. Calories burned in that 30 seconds......................about 2.5. Now multiply that by and you're looking at about 450 calories.
    There's no dispute that isometric exercise is anaerobic by any fitness counsil or Journals of study in physiology or sports training/conditioning. And math doesn't lie.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Math?!? What are you talking about? Since when is fitness a math science?!? :laugh:
    "Math doesn't lie"? Neither do our bodies: I've been through personal training for over 6 months (started twice a week and then three times a week) and I couldn't see much difference in weight: from 154 to 148 lb. Then, I supplemented the training with Bikram Yoga. My personal trainer used to laugh at me; big surprise: he didn't believe in Yoga... He was so wrong! After only 4 weeks of Hot Yoga (the 26 postures) I lost a few pounds (141 lb) and my body definitely looked slimmer. Right now I'm only going to Hot Yoga (no personal training scam whatsoever) and I'm still losing weight (136 lb).

    Researcher
    PhD in Biochemistry
    MSc in Physics and quite a few scientific publications that requires real MATH...     :flowerforyou:
    Yoga is great exercise. Never stated that it wasn't. The information I've given is about calories burned. Your personal experience is yours (since I have no idea what your parameters for weight loss were actually set at) and doesn't trump actual science. People will state that boxing did it for them, running did it for them, pilates did it for them, HCG did it for them, etc. and we all know one thing for sure....................it came down to how well whatever they did for them worked with calorie deficit. And math is part of that equation. If you don't believe that, then you're somehow a special snowflake to the law of thermodynamics.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    I agree with ninerbuff. An HRM told me I burn 800 calories in Bikram but there's no way. I used to do it 4-6 times a week, I would be a toothpick if that was anywhere close. I would guess it's more like half that.

    I don't know the physiology of temperature homeostasis in the body but I would guess that the HR increases in high heat because the blood vessels dilate to pump more blood nearer to the skin's surface for cooling, which isn't really a high-energy action. An effect is an elevated HR, which is also an effect of intense exercise where more oxygen is needed and that's what's driving the elevated HR then. So there's a similar effect (raised HR) but not very similar otherwise (raised energy expenditure).
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    I agree with ninerbuff. An HRM told me I burn 800 calories in Bikram but there's no way. I used to do it 4-6 times a week, I would be a toothpick if that was anywhere close. I would guess it's more like half that.

    I don't know the physiology of temperature homeostasis in the body but I would guess that the HR increases in high heat because the blood vessels dilate to pump more blood nearer to the skin's surface for cooling, which isn't really a high-energy action. An effect is an elevated HR, which is also an effect of intense exercise where more oxygen is needed and that's what's driving the elevated HR then. So there's a similar effect (raised HR) but not very similar otherwise (raised energy expenditure).

    Well done--it's really a very simple concept.

    (elevated HR is also driven by increased core temp and some fluid loss via sweating, but you have the basics dead on ).
  • Abbynmione
    Abbynmione Posts: 2 Member
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    I am a recent graduate of the Bikram Yoga teacher training. At my training we got a very informative lecture from a Dr. who has been running tests to scientifically prove the benefits of Bikram yoga. He has people attached to all sorts of machines to test the VO2; to see which muscles are used; testing heart rate and yes, to test the caloric expenditure. He debunked all the information floating around that one class of Bikram yoga burns 1000 calories. He said the average caloric expenditure is around 350, of course it depends on the persons weight, as with any other exercise; the heavier you are, the more calories you will burn. I have found a scientific calculation that gives me a pretty accurate of calories burned based on the Dr's stats. The formula is: (2.73 * 3.5 * weight kg/200) *90. You have to calculate your weight in kilograms, therefore, you have to multiply your weight by 0.45359237 to plug in your weight. My personal calculations using my weight in kilograms looks like this: (2.73 * 3.5 * 74.842741/200)*90 which gives me 321 calories burned. It's a little more than the regular hatha yoga on myfitnesspal but it's not the exaggerated number of 600-1000 calories. At 165 pounds it's just not happening unless I take 3 classes a day...lol...I hope this information helps. Namaste :wink:
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,535 Member
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    I am a recent graduate of the Bikram Yoga teacher training. At my training we got a very informative lecture from a Dr. who has been running tests to scientifically prove the benefits of Bikram yoga. He has people attached to all sorts of machines to test the VO2; to see which muscles are used; testing heart rate and yes, to test the caloric expenditure. He debunked all the information floating around that one class of Bikram yoga burns 1000 calories. He said the average caloric expenditure is around 350, of course it depends on the persons weight, as with any other exercise; the heavier you are, the more calories you will burn. I have found a scientific calculation that gives me a pretty accurate of calories burned based on the Dr's stats. The formula is: (2.73 * 3.5 * weight kg/200) *90. You have to calculate your weight in kilograms, therefore, you have to multiply your weight by 0.45359237 to plug in your weight. My personal calculations using my weight in kilograms looks like this: (2.73 * 3.5 * 74.842741/200)*90 which gives me 321 calories burned. It's a little more than the regular hatha yoga on myfitnesspal but it's not the exaggerated number of 600-1000 calories. At 165 pounds it's just not happening unless I take 3 classes a day...lol...I hope this information helps. Namaste :wink:
    Yay! Finally some truth to lots of exaggerated claims from many Bikram yoga takers and instructors.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    The formula is: (2.73 * 3.5 * weight kg/200) *90.

    Thanks! Congrats on teacher training! One question- is that his estimate of how much you burn total over the 90 minutes or your incremental burn from the class? Because most people would burn 100 or so just sitting home on the couch. I'm thinking it's the incremental burn.

    Just a comment- Why doesn't he simplify that formula down to (weight in kg/200) * 860? LOL

    I knew I'd found the right studio for me when I looked at the web site and the owner had on there that you could burn 300 calories a class. So refreshing to see honesty.
  • Abbynmione
    Abbynmione Posts: 2 Member
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    The formula is: (2.73 * 3.5 * weight kg/200) *90.

    Thanks! Congrats on teacher training! One question- is that his estimate of how much you burn total over the 90 minutes or your incremental burn from the class? Because most people would burn 100 or so just sitting home on the couch. I'm thinking it's the incremental burn.

    Just a comment- Why doesn't he simplify that formula down to (weight in kg/200) * 860? LOL

    I knew I'd found the right studio for me when I looked at the web site and the owner had on there that you could burn 300 calories a class. So refreshing to see honesty.

    Thanks for the congratulations. It was not easy buy SO worth it! The calculation is not the Dr's that gave us the lecture. I found it on another website and I found that this formula gave me numbers that correlated with the information he gave us. If you want to check his work you can find him on FB. His name is Brian L Tracy. He showed us the different stages of heart rate changes and he did confirm that Bikram yoga is definitely a cardiovascular workout but you don't burn as many calories as some people profess. I'd chalk that up to overzealousness for the practise ;) Now, I will say this: without a doubt it is fantastic for weight loss and losing inches!
  • Lyerin
    Lyerin Posts: 818 Member
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    Congratulations on teacher training! What an accomplishment!

    I count a 90 min. Bikram class as just 90 min. of "yoga" on MFP. I sort of don't care how many calories it burns - I do yoga for *me* because it is good for me and makes me feel good. I get my calorie burn from running, Zumba, etc.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,535 Member
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    Congratulations on teacher training! What an accomplishment!

    I count a 90 min. Bikram class as just 90 min. of "yoga" on MFP. I sort of don't care how many calories it burns - I do yoga for *me* because it is good for me and makes me feel good. I get my calorie burn from running, Zumba, etc.
    THIS. Exercise of any type is for focus on health and fitness. If someone is using it strictly for calorie burn, then maybe their relationship with food needs to be addressed.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • betsywilliams45
    betsywilliams45 Posts: 1 Member
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    I completely agree with you. I have tried multiple types of "workouts" for years that I just have hated. I hated going to the gym and was so bored and miserable and didn't enjoy it. I went to a hot yoga class and absolutely loved it and I get so disappointed on nights I can't go. I went from going to the gym once a month to going 5x a week. As a result, I have discovered more things that I actually enjoy, like weight lifting and HIIT workouts. Yoga, however, is my main workout. I recognize I could probably see quicker results if I were to engage in a more intensive workout plan, but the fact of the matter is that I am doing something I look forward to and enjoy, not doing it to solely to see results (which I feel like wouldn't be a lifestyle change.) All this to say, if you find a workout that you actually enjoy that takes you from sedentary to non-sedentary, do it. Don't be concerned if it's not the top calorie burner. If you find something you love, it will more than likely become a lifestyle change, and the goal is permanent lifestyle changes, not quick fixes. Additionally, like I said earlier, as hot yoga has been incorporated into my every day life, I have gained motivation to engage in other activities as well, that have actually helped me in my yoga practice (i.e. weight training and high intensity interval training).

    To sum up-find something you love and do that.
  • babyjoy78
    babyjoy78 Posts: 1
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    My instructor last night told me that you can burn 600 to 1200 cal in an hour and a half.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    For people saying it is not a cardio exercise have you seen to a bikram yoga class? Just like anyone workout you can phone it in some days but when your focused and doing the postures and really pushing yourself...I think 600 is fairly accurate.
    It's ANAEROBIC due the fact that poses are isometric. For instance, stand in a door way, put your hands on opposite sides of the wall and push in with all your might for say 30 seconds. You'll huff, you'll puff and if you do it enough times you'll even sweat. Calories burned in that 30 seconds......................about 2.5. Now multiply that by and you're looking at about 450 calories.
    There's no dispute that isometric exercise is anaerobic by any fitness counsil or Journals of study in physiology or sports training/conditioning. And math doesn't lie.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Math?!? What are you talking about? Since when is fitness a math science?!? :laugh:
    "Math doesn't lie"? Neither do our bodies: I've been through personal training for over 6 months (started twice a week and then three times a week) and I couldn't see much difference in weight: from 154 to 148 lb. Then, I supplemented the training with Bikram Yoga. My personal trainer used to laugh at me; big surprise: he didn't believe in Yoga... He was so wrong! After only 4 weeks of Hot Yoga (the 26 postures) I lost a few pounds (141 lb) and my body definitely looked slimmer. Right now I'm only going to Hot Yoga (no personal training scam whatsoever) and I'm still losing weight (136 lb).

    Researcher
    PhD in Biochemistry
    MSc in Physics and quite a few scientific publications that requires real MATH...     :flowerforyou:
    Yoga is great exercise. Never stated that it wasn't. The information I've given is about calories burned. Your personal experience is yours (since I have no idea what your parameters for weight loss were actually set at) and doesn't trump actual science. People will state that boxing did it for them, running did it for them, pilates did it for them, HCG did it for them, etc. and we all know one thing for sure....................it came down to how well whatever they did for them worked with calorie deficit. And math is part of that equation. If you don't believe that, then you're somehow a special snowflake to the law of thermodynamics.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    All of what Niner said...
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    My instructor last night told me that you can burn 600 to 1200 cal in an hour and a half.

    Your instructor is wrong. Just know that going forward.

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