A lot of people have very little time for working out, so when they do exercise, they want to make sure that they’ll be getting the most out of it—meaning, more calorie- burning experience for the price they pay. So even, if we could all try to log a few hours at the gym each day for a workout, clearly, that would hog precious hours away from activities that almost everybody loves doing—
binge-watching, couch surfing, party-going, and sleep
ing. (Not okay).
Finding yourself an effective workout, of course, is the key to not wasting your precious resources and getting your body in its best possible form. With the help of a few experts in the field, this short article attempted to dive deep into the very trendy workout referred to as hot yoga to actually see what happens after doing it for a full 60 minutes. Below are some of the factors to consider when deciding to try the hot room or not.
The Heat
The very first thing that you’ll notice even before the session starts is the intense heat inside the room which is normally set at 104 degrees. Why? According to CorePower Yoga’s brand marketing manager and yoga pro, Jennifer Hassett, the heat is not just simply added to challenge people in their workouts;
it’s there because it can provide several advantages to your body. Heat can stimulate the body’s fat receptors which in turn can facilitate loss of fats and the release of fat-soluble toxins. These toxins are major reasons for you having a much slower lymphatic
drainage and also trigger many skin ailments such as blemishes and overall skin dryness. So getting these toxins out of your system can aid in the improvement of your health in general, but you’ ll see the results fast through your body’ s largest organ which is the skin. Another thing? Your blood capillaries tend to dilate with heat which can increase blood flow. An increase in blood flow serves you well by allowing effective oxygenation of your cells and increases the metabolic processes of your vital organs.
The Calorie Burn
Because the heat increases your body temperature, you stan
d to burn more calories than you would while attending
a normal yoga class. On the average, you may burn aroun
d 450-500 calories for an hour of hot yoga session. That’s
a pretty good count! 500 calories can account for downing 4 slices of bacon, maybe two packs of Skittles or chomping on a fast food burger.
The Muscle Work
Admittedly, hot yoga can be limiting at this area. Yes, you’ll burn lots of calories and the transitions it makes you do when it comes to poses makes it a full body workout, however, there are some muscle groups (like the arms) which will be rarely used while doing the workout itself. And while you’ll be able to tone your legs in yoga, unless you’re always on tippy toes doing your poses which are not that typical in hot-style yoga classes, then you won’t likely be working your legs/calves either.
The Flexibility
The more you do yoga, the more elastic your muscles, connective and skin tissues will be. This will provide you with better flexibility with lesser probability of incurring injuries. Viewing it this way, hot yoga can be a great supplemental workout for weight-lifting which will prove very helpful as you age.
The Sweating
With hot yoga, all that heat won’t just make you stay flexible, torch calories and eliminate toxins off your body—it will also make you sweat like a pig. Sweating will make you lose a couple of pounds of water weight when you sweat, however, those pounds will come back after you replenish yourself with water.
So don’t be tempted to skip hydration after your yoga class or you’ll start to faint afterwards.
