Bikram / hot yoga - calories burned?
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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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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.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
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.
A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
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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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.
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 nutrition0 -
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 nutrition0 -
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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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 -
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 done this 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.
HR Monitor's aren't designed to track exercises such as yoga.0 -
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. I don't even log it sometimes. It feels good and my muscles hurt afterwords but calories burned is the same as any other form of yoga.0
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