Yoga

[episodic]

Decided to go to my gym's power yoga class. I've been 3 times now, and enjoy it.
When I leave I'm sore from head to toe in every major muscle group. Since I'm still heavy, 270ish (down from 340), I assume that this is a pretty good muscle work out. Anyone know a reliable calorie burn info for my size?


Any comments on yoga at all? It is a variant called power yoga.

Thanks for thoughts, as I like it but am not sure it is a good use of my time.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I only found one research article with some actual data. It states that hatha yoga induced a mean metabolic demand of 2.5METS. One MET (or metabolic equivalent) is the amount of oxygen used at rest. Perhaps one of the best estimations I've seen for calories per hour is utilizing this MET measurement. Generally, the number of METS times your body weight in kilograms will give you the calories burned in one hour. So for you, it would look like:

(2.5 METS)(122.72kg) = 306cal/hour

That's for hatha yoga, which induced an average heart rate of 93bpm. If you take your heart rate and it's significantly higher than that, you're likely burning more calories. Yoga isn't the greatest calorie burner, but it's a great way to keep you limber, improve muscular endurance, and decrease your risk of injury. There are better things you could do to burn calories, but it all depends on your enjoyment. If you like it, but also like something else better (like cycling), then the alternative might be better for calorie utilization.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Also, here's a list of activities and their MET levels. It might help you estimate caloric usage in the future: http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/downloads/PA_Intensity_table_2_1.pdf.

 

[TallBill]

I really need to check out my gym's yoga class and see if I can get in ever.

 

[Megatomic]

I'm doing some yoga at home geared specifically for runners, but I'd love to do an Ashtanga yoga class to see how I fare.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Bikram is pretty popular with the runners. However, with my bout of hyponatremia this summer, the last thing I need to do is sweat out yet what little sodium I have, esp after the mileage I log per week.

But it's a helluva place to meet chicks at.

 

[episodic]

There are 2 different ladies that teach it evidently. The first is real chill - the workout is hard but doable (just some balance issues for me). The 2nd kicked my tale - I'm still sore like I've never been sore from her workout. Muscularly, I feel it is doing something. Calorie wise probably not so much. Not real sure I'll keep doing the class, probably should keep my spinning class going instead of course. I'm thinking of getting a mat and doing it at home with several videos, etc I've found.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

There are 2 different ladies that teach it evidently. The first is real chill - the workout is hard but doable (just some balance issues for me). The 2nd kicked my tale - I'm still sore like I've never been sore from her workout. Muscularly, I feel it is doing something. Calorie wise probably not so much. Not real sure I'll keep doing the class, probably should keep my spinning class going instead of course. I'm thinking of getting a mat and doing it at home with several videos, etc I've found.

Yeah, that might be a good middle ground for your weight loss process. Being limber is perhaps one of the biggest problems Americans (especially overweight Americans) have. If you alleviate that, you can do a whole lot of other activities, which is nice. Keep up the good work