You’ll all remember (or maybe you won’t — whatever) that 10 days ago I set my personal goals for September. One of them was to count to 10 to remain patient, another was to let my husband know how much I appreciate him, and the other was to go to a yoga class at least once per week.
And right now I want to take a moment to say that I don’t know how it’s already 10 days into September. Wasn’t I “rabbit rabbit’ing” like yesterday? What. The. Heck.
But, back to that yoga goal. I’ve been to a plethora of yoga studios in the last year or so, trying to find my niche. I like hot yoga, vinyasa style — with a lot of flowing and fast paced movements. I can’t do the low and slow, hold the pose for like 10 minutes kind of yoga — that’s just not me. For someone who is a cardio queen, I need something a little bit faster and up to speed with my “go go go!” personality.
I went to a few different studios so I could find an instructor that specifically meets my needs and who’s style matches mine. It took a few tries, but I’ve finally found it. A 75 minute hot vinyasa flow class, with an instructor who plays music to mimic the practice — slow when we’re warming up, music we can flow to when we’re on our own (Maroon 5 “Moves Like Jagger” anyone?), and encourages us to try something new and explore our own practice every single class.
With that being said, I’ve been going to the 8:30 Saturday morning class each week, and I have been loving it. I come out refreshed and stretched out from all the longer mileage I have been slowly squeezing back into my life. I feel energized and ready to tackle my weekend one errand, one chore, one get together at a time.
Over the course of the past few weeks, I have been leaving my class, dripping in sweat (awesome), and absolutely starving. No joke, I am literally ready to gnaw my arm off at the end of it. I eat my normal breakfast beforehand (this morning was hot protein oats with some TJ’s valencia peanut butter on top!) and head out. Although I know you’re not really “supposed” to eat before yoga, I’m pretty sure I would pass out if I did that. This girl needs her fuel.
While I don’t necessarily exercise just to “burn calories”, this was really weighing in on me. I exercise for the way it makes me feel, for my health, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t work out for a toned body. Yoga makes me feel strong and empowered, so “how many calories” I burned isn’t one of the reasons why I practice.
After last week’s class, I went home and Googled “calories burned in hot vinyasa yoga” — and I got a few different results. However, the main consensus was that on average, a woman my size burns approximately 560 calories an hour in a hot yoga class. I had seen some reports saying that some people will burn an upwards of 1,000 calories in a hot yoga class, but that is out of control! I feel like in yoga my heart rate doesn’t get up “that” high.
This morning before class, I pulled out my trusty Polar F6 that I used a lot when I was training for a race so I would know just how much to refuel my body after a longer run. I dusted it off (sorry, Mom — I still love it!), and strapped the heart rate monitor around my chest. For your viewing pleasure, please enjoy these pictures of my Saturday morning sleepy face looking like a fool trying to get a good picture of the watch on my wrist.
Apparently I’m not so good at self portraits like some people I know.
And this, my friends, makes me a very sad CEC.
Good enough. I’m wearing the watch.
I thought I would be distracted by the watch during class and constantly look at the time to see “how much time is left”, but to be perfectly honest with you, when I’m in yoga class, I am in a completely different world. Time flies and I’m just “being”. It’s an amazing feeling for someone who feels like they run a marathon each and every day at work.
I left class eager to see the results of my experiment were.
Really!?!??!!?
Someone please help me out here — yogis, weigh in because I’m really not understanding it. I know my HRM (heart rate monitor) doesn’t take into account how much I am sweating, so does that make the difference in the reports I read online versus what I see today on my watch?
I’m a little bit confuggled (I just made that word up — make it happen, folks) at this and would like your input, especially if you are a fitness/health professional! Heck, I’ll even take your opinion if you’re not. I’m really interested to see what you all think.
So, do your research people — I’m just going to sit back, drink my iced coffee, and wait for you to tell me what’s going on.
Question: Why do you think my HRM was way different than the reports I read online? Do you think a person sweating makes a different in the calories burned?
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