thePULSEGet Fit in 2004
With new kind of yoga, the heat is on!
Looking for a kick-ass workout, a short trip to a Caribbean island, meditation, a good stretch or simply an energizing way to mix up your usual workout routine? How about all of the above — at the same time? It’s possible — and the IT is hot yoga!
Hot yoga, technically the Bikram style of yoga, is practiced in a heated room, at a recommended temperature of 105 degrees and about 60% humidity. Why the easy-bake, you ask?
The room is kept at a high temperature to keep the body from overheating (contrary to popular belief), protect muscles to allow for deeper stretching, detoxify the body (open pores to let toxins out) through sweating, thin the blood to clear the circulatory system, increase heart rate for better cardiovascular workout, improve strength by putting muscle tissue in optimal state for reorganization, and reorganize lipids (fat) in the muscular structure, according to the official Bikram Yoga Web site. (on-line: www.bikramyogaslc. com/method.php.)
Bikram yoga, which is a form of Hatha yoga, is named after its originator, Bikram Choudhury, who has copyrighted his series of 26 asanas (or poses) practiced in a specific order designed to scientifically and systematically warm and stretch muscles, ligaments and tendons. In each class, the 26 poses and the order they are performed never varies. (Instructors will vary the room temperature but it will always stay in the recommended range of 95 to 108 degrees.)
Choudhury, the guru of hot yoga is forthcoming that the creation of Bikram yoga was almost accidental. “If you take a piece of steel to a blacksmith and want him to make a knife out of it what does he do? He heats it,” Choudhury says. “This is why we do Bikram yoga in a hot room. When I was teaching in Japan, it was very cold, and my American students could not do it. So I kept the room a little warm. Then one of my students asked if she could bring her own heater, and slowly we kept making the room hotter. We get the room hot so you can warm up faster and stretch your body easier.”
In case you’re put off by this description or the heat involved, the Bikram appeal spans all walks of life. After stumbling on it (with a good shove from a personal-trainer friend) over a year and a half ago, I’ve taken classes with housewives, doctors, world class triathletes, teenagers, overweight people, golf pros, desk jockeys and people who range in age from awkward adolescents to spunky seniors, just to list a few.
I was not originally a yoga enthusiast, preferring my work-outs to be a combination of aggressive activities like kick boxing and boot camp-style aerobics, with the more artistic yet incredibly strenuous ballet classes thrown in for good measure. I didn’t see yoga as a “real” work-out — no matter how many ways or times my trainer-friend tried to convince me to take one of her yoga classes.
Not enough movement, I thought, too slow to achieve any type of cardio benefits and certainly not enough sweating. But I changed my mind when I was hardly able to finish my first 90-minute class — feeling nauseated and faint, wishing to die but being too proud to leave the room before the class was officially over.
Yet after I recovered with a very necessary shower and gallons of drinking water, I experienced an incredibly overwhelming sense of peace and wellbeing, with a heady, little twist of raw power thrown in — because I had lived through it. I felt cleansed and purified from the inside out, energized spiritually, mentally and physically. Strong and rejuvenated — all these elements combined to make hot yoga the perfect form of exercise for me — and millions of other enthusiasts worldwide.
Cherie Ronayne in a hot yoga class at Bikram Yoga, Auburn. – Photo by Dan Dewey
Not enough movement, I thought, too slow to achieve any type of cardio benefits and certainly not enough sweating. But I changed my mind when I was hardly able to finish my first 90-minute class — feeling nauseated and faint, wishing to die but being too proud to leave the room before the class was officially over.
Yet after I recovered with a very necessary shower and gallons of drinking water, I experienced an incredibly overwhelming sense of peace and wellbeing, with a heady, little twist of raw power thrown in — because I had lived through it. I felt cleansed and purified from the inside out, energized spiritually, mentally and physically. Strong and rejuvenated — all these elements combined to make hot yoga the perfect form of exercise for me — and millions of other enthusiasts worldwide.
In fact, Bikram yoga is not only practiced in a hot room, it is hot itself, as an exercise trend. Bikram yoga has been booming in the past few years; according to one estimate, some three million people worldwide are now sweating through the 26 poses and paying an average of $10 to $12 a class for the privilege.
And one can see the number of devotees just by dropping into a class at Bikram Yoga Auburn (Heritage Plaza, Route 12), that boasts a schedule including classes everyday of the week, 4 times a day, filled to capacity. That many people can’t be wrong.
A random poll at a well-attended mid-week class in Auburn revealed that students enjoy hot yoga for a number of reasons including; “It helps me to train for hot climate events” (this from a female triathlete) and “I can escape the kids for an hour and a half” (Mother of three) to the professional dancer who wants a “great stretch combined with meditation.”
Students who practice hot yoga for it’s purported healing benefits have told me that they’ve been “cured” of some of their most persistent ailments, including: arthritis, lower back pain, chronic fatigue, migraines, and pms symptoms.
According to Bikram instructor Sandra Shirman from Bikram Yoga Auburn, students take yoga for a variety of reasons, then get hooked just as she did after her first class (many simply drop all other forms of exercise) and never look back. Among those reasons, she cites injury relief, stress reduction, pain relief from various conditions and weight loss. She herself has lost a total of 25-lbs. since she first started hot yoga over a year ago and has kept it off. (We all know by now that experts say that slow weight loss is the key to maintaining the loss. Especially if it’s based on an increase in exercise and not fad dieting.)
Bikram Instructor Tony Vangel was led to Hatha Yoga to increase stamina and concentration to improve his ability to play drums, some 30 years ago while in high school. He kept up his attendance at regular yoga classes until he heard the buzz about hot yoga several years ago. He tried a class and was hooked immediately. He signed up for a year’s membership and as luck (or karma) would have it, was laid off from his job shortly afterward. He decided to forego the rat race of a traditional job and pursue Bikram instruction as his next career.
Tony sees students come to Bikram out of curiosity but end up staying as they experience the “true yoga” benefits that include being more at peace, having more patience, better focus and increased relaxation. He also has students with sports injuries, referred by physical therapists as well as students who are looking to control high blood pressure and high cholesterol — and they do! Tony’s maxim is that “Yoga fixes everything.”
My own personal experience “fixing everything” with regular hot yoga practice includes insomnia and migraine cessation, depression relief and overall stress reduction. My over-zealous boss’ voice seems to dim and fade during my hectic workdays. I’m better able to handle a chaotic, deadline driven job without the usual freak-outs that I’m prone to. My peers have commented on my newfound and unusual ability to remain calm in the face of daily crises. I credit Bikram and my boss heartily thanks Bikram daily, I can assure you.
Another benefit to practicing yoga in a heated room, in the dead of winter, is, well, the heated room. It’s like taking a mini-Caribbean vacation without the cost of airfare or the hangovers from the nasty rum drinks – deliciously warm and utterly soothing. The day just melts away — literally. It’s easy to forget about that foot of snow outside when everyone in the classroom is wearing next-to-nothing and sweating puddles. (Newbies take note: leave the excess workout wear at home. Less IS more, here.)
There really isn’t any other work-out that will satisfy so many different needs in one class; the combination of a great cardiovascular work-out, an excellent meditation, supreme stretch, and an awesome sweat like being in a sauna. For those who insist on weight training, there is nothing better than using your own body’s resistance to tone muscles, which also keeps injuries at bay.
Understanding the ins & outs of strength training
To build a successful weight-training program, you have to understand that weight training, whether it is performed with selective equipment or free-weights, is an external stimulus that causes metabolic and structural changes in the body. However, in order for these changes to occur, certain guidelines need to be followed.
Lifting weights, in essence, is strength training. The development of muscular tone and changes in lean body mass are by-products that are dependent not only on weight training, but on other interdependent factors that include: genetics, caloric intake and nutritional dietary make-up, aerobic conditioning, and proper rest. This does not mean that strength training does not depend on these factors, it does, but not to the same degree.
Before these principles and guidelines can be followed, it is important to understand the basic constructs of a weight training workout. Traditionally, a single weight training session is comprised of a series of specific exercises that target specific body part workouts. For example, bench presses for chest musculature, or leg presses for the muscle groups of the legs. Furthermore, these sessions may be constructed on various combinations of exercises depending on the goal and preferences of the individual, such as: full body training sessions, single body part workouts, or a combination of body parts for a particular session. So a group of workouts are the basis of an overall weight-lifting program.
Each exercise is then broken down into two basics parts, a rep, and a set. A “rep” or repetition is the act of lowering and raising a weight to and from a starting point, and a set is a series of continuous repetitions that can start at one, and end any specified pre-determined number.
Any exercise is performed using a combination of reps and sets in an attempt to achieve muscular strength, tone, and vascularity in muscle tissue. The volume of work, sets and reps, has been discussed and dissected in a variety of books and articles. These documents and manuscripts outline programs that supposedly validate any or all of these results. And, while some of these programs work and others don’t, a large majority fail to address basic principles that should be followed when undertaking a fitness program centered around weight training.
A majority of national health related organizations such as the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), and the International Association of Resistance Trainers (IART) have identified certain variables that affect the development of muscular strength as a result of weight-lifting workouts. These variables are the frequency of training, intra-work out and inter-workout rest, training time, and the overload principle. These variables along with genetic factors, hormone levels, nutritional intake, and conditioning levels determine an individual’s ability to develop muscular strength through training.
Intra-workout rest is defined as the time taken between sets and exercises during the course of a workout. Again, research has indicated that it takes 60-120 seconds for the body’s metabolite levels to return to normal values after a set of intense weight-lifting, and this is dependant on the amount of repetitions performed during a set; the greater the amount of repetitions the greater recovery time.
A shortened or abbreviated rest period makes it difficult for a trainee to perform continuous sets because of fatigue. Ideally, the development of strength depends upon adequate muscle recovery between sets and exercises to produce the wanted effect. In essence, a lack of sufficient recovery results in the training session producing more of a conditioning effect rather than its intended goal.
In addition, the total training time of workouts also determines strength development. It is physiological given, that intense anaerobic training, or weight-lifting, exhausts the body’s carbohydrate stores after an hour. Since muscle glycogen is the primary fuel source used during a workout, it inhibits an individual’s ability to train at desired levels after that period, therefore diminishing the body’s ability to develop muscle strength.
Finally, the basis of any program relies on the overload principle. Research unequivocally shows that muscular strength cannot be developed unless a muscle tissue has been sufficiently overloaded. In the realm of training, this is accomplished by increasing the weight, repetitions, or sets (although some research indicates that no more than two to three sets of an exercise are necessary), performed on a workout by workout, or weekly, basis causing the tissue to adapt to a new stimulus.
To summarize, the path to muscular strength development, consequential training effects, and training success can be achieved by understanding and following sound training principles.
