Calories burned doing hot yoga?

In my activity log, i just entered hatha yoga which only burns about 140 calories an hour. I'd think that hot yoga is a lot more strenuous though. Does anybody have an idea as to how many calories i would burn doing 90 minutes of hot yoga?

i'm 16 y/o female, 5'6, small frame and about 124lbs

You Burn anywhere from 300-600 Calories in a 90 Minute Class at 104 Degrees. I did not know how many calories to put in my activity log since I have been doing hot yoga for over 2 months now. Finally one day I asked the instructor who teaches the class and thats what they said. Hope this Helps. Thank you.

Well, in theory...the hotter it is, the more extra work your heart has to do to prevent you from overheating. More than 70 percent of the energy produced by your muscles during exercise is lost as heat. So the harder you exercise, the hotter your muscles become. In hot weather, not only must your heart pump extra blood to bring oxygen to your muscles, it must also pump hot blood from your heated muscles to your skin where heat can be dissipated...so yah...calorie burn can and most likely will be higher.

BUT..let's me remind and/or explain to everyone what exactly a calorie is and what is truly the BEST way to burn one. 

Calorie is a measurement of heat. It is the amount of energy that is required to raise one milliliter of water by one degree. Calorie measures the amount of heat or energy that is released when you burn food down.

Calories are burnt through a complicated process that oxidizes food to its basic components. For example, if you burn a sugar, it will turn into carbon dioxide. However in the body, the food burnt is converted to forms of energy.

So therefore when you consume food, the food is broken down and stored as adipose fat or glycogen (which are stored in liver and muscles cells) to be burnt for energy later. Your body prefers to burn glycogen as its first choice of energy rather than body fat when you expand energy such as exercising.

The more muscles you have in your body, the more calories you will burn. The more calories you burnt, the more weight you will lose. This is because muscle cells are metabolically active whereas body fats are not because fat cells do not have much functionality and are mostly inactive.

Different food categories carry different amount of calories. For example, a gram of protein or carbohydrate has about four calories but a gram of fat packs a whopping nine calories. It is thus a no brainer that the more fat you eat the more calories your body will store.

Some people raise their metabolic rate by eating many smaller meals a day instead of three big meals. By eating several 5-6 times a day, your insulin level is also better regulated and less insulin will then be converted to adipose fat.

So how can you burn more calories and further raise your metabolism to naturally burn more calories and body fats? A simple and effective way to burn more calories is to build more muscles.

Can Yoga do this?...without a doubt in or out of heat. :)

I've been using my Polar F10 monitor to track heart rate and calories during my Bikram classes. Usually I burn 600-700 calories on average. I've been lower and much higher.  I find it varies depending on the heat of the room, time of day, and intensity of the instructor. For instance last night, the room was exceptionally hot and we had a very aggressive instructor. She doesn't let anyone slack off. My calorie total for 90 minutes was 970.

melkor... just out of curiosity, have you ever done yoga?

On occascion. My main instructor was born in Kerala, India and learned Ashtanga from Patthabis Jois and others in the institute at Mysore. According to him, much of what passes for "yoga" in the studios around the world isn't.

 Yoga is - well, for the people who embrace it as a way of life and live the practice every day it's a complete system. For anyone who only takes a few classes a week it's nowhere near enough, often compounded by the classes being taught by people who by all rights should be down in the students' section learning.

 No one exercise or method of exercise can do everything. Yoga as most people practice it is a handy complement to a comprehensive trainign program - covering the flexibility portion of the strength/endurance/flexibility triad. But it's not in any way a substitute for any of the other two.

All movement is initiated from your center of gravity (core), so all activities will be more efficient if your core is strong and coordinated.  Many of the 'tough-power lifter guys and girls' that I have trained have been SHOCKED at how much stronger they became after incorporating Ashtanga yoga into their lives.
If anyone has any doubts, take a look at Madonna, who practices Ashtanga approx 2-3 hrs 6 days a week. 

As most people practice it.

 I don't think you can be called "most people" ;)

Teaching people to engage the core and how to transfer force from the legs to the upper body is crucial for overall performance in most sports that aren't done at a pub; some coaches just suck at doing it. In those cases going in for a specialization program or switching to an entirely different training modality so they aren't encumbered with old motor learning patterns while focusing on re-learning how to use the core comes in handy.

Original Post by fitnessgirll:

Many of the 'tough-power lifter guys and girls' that I have trained have been SHOCKED at how much stronger they became after incorporating Ashtanga yoga into their lives.

If yoga really made power-lifters stronger, wouldn't most power-lifters be doing yoga all the time? I'm pretty sure westside barbell isn't adding a yoga studio anytime soon.

Mike Robertson, who's a competitive powerlifter and has a master's degree in biomechanics, disagrees with you. 

I respectfully don't care who disagrees with me. :)

I believe strongly that it should be a part - as in my case, a supplement - of anyone's workout. I practice it at least 4 mornings a week - 4-515 AM. It has made me a better and stronger athlete and honestly, a more centered person emotionally. I'm a so high strung..it's been a lifesaver for me. 

As for power weight lifters, they can make good yoga students, and they will benefit greatly from a good education in proper bio mechanical alignment principles. Without full knowledge of proper alignment, however, it's probably not wise for weight lifters to try to do yoga, as their limitations will frustrate them at every turn.

Practicing yoga can help realign your muscles, so they are more balanced. Since you are not overworking any specific muscle group, you are less likely to get injured.

In addition to all its other benefits, yoga can help you improve muscle fitness. Whether you choose to use it as your primary means of strength training or you want it to supplement your other exercises as I do, yoga can help your muscles grow fit, balanced, and strong.

So...basically, weight lifting causes the outer body to become harder. The muscles that are built are shorter and thus more powerful. Yoga causes the muscles to hug to the bones, become longer and leaner, and, ultimately, become more functional in range of movement. Weight lifters can lift more than their body weight; yogis are skillful at lifting and supporting their own weight in all positions, including up in the air.

At some point, these yogi/weight lifters will probably have to make a choice, because there's not enough time in the day to be serious about both practices. [Unless you are Madonna. ;)] But even if they choose weight lifting, the principles of stretching and breathing that yoga offers will still be VERY VERY VERY beneficial to them.

Original Post by fitnessgirll:

So...basically, weight lifting causes the outer body to become harder. The muscles that are built are shorter and thus more powerful. Yoga causes the muscles to hug to the bones, become longer and leaner, and, ultimately, become more functional in range of movement. Weight lifters can lift more than their body weight; yogis are skillful at lifting and supporting their own weight in all positions, including up in the air.

Err,huh? That one, I'd like to hear explained in more detail - what's the proposed mechanism for any different influence in effect on muscle fibre and tension/length makeup?

I would check your Westside sources again. Some of the lifters over there do incorporate yoga into their training.

^ YEP!

And, I've typed twice now, two long, and what I think informative posts..and internet connection crashed here at the gym.

Never one to sit quietly in a corner, I'd be glad to come back and explain again..but...a work is calling and a client is probably hoping I'm not here today! ;)

Suggest looking into The Science of Sports Training by Thomas Kurz

In brief, weight training excercises (as well as fitness, body-building, etc.) tend to shorten the muscle fibers and untie muscles from the bones, hence developing a more or less bulky shape and look BUT AND THIS IS A BIG BUT... that although bodybuilding does tend to lessen flexibility, strength training itself doesn't. The contrary SEEMS to be true. Amazingly, when studies were done at the Olympics to see which athletes possessed the most flexiblity, weight lifters came out near the top. This is because they move through a very full range of motion in Olympic lifts. HOWEVER, that's not true of the smaller, more specialized motions used in MOST bodybuilding programs which are intended to produce bulkier muscles. Also if you've been warned that one cannot be flexible and strong at the same time, you need only look so far as an Olympic gymnast to see that it is entirely possible to combine both in one body.

Modern bodybuilding depreses me. When you look at some of the pros they can't even move like a human being for fear of snapping a tendon or because their muscle gets in the way; and some of the larger powerlifters lack the flexibility or arm reach to wipe their own butts.

 At that point where their "sport" demands that they become dysfunctional as human beings and lose functional fitness for the sake of specialization - well, it's impressive in the same way any insane extreme sport is impressive, but it's still jackassery ;)

 I don't like bodybuilding methodologies promoted to people who aren't bodybuilders and have no reason to train like one; in that respect crossFit has the right general idea but they go off the deep end in the other direction and lack an understanding of why one engages in GPP and SPP in a training program.

I'm not surprised that people's heart rates don't get as high as they expect during yoga because the focus on the breath enables the body to work more efficiently. Fit people's bodies use oxygen more efficiently than unfit people's bodies, which is why their resting heart rates are lower and they can work harder without running out of breath/going over mhr. Yoga mimics that.  

Will you lose weight doing yoga? Can't hurt, I say. And it makes other exercise easier for sure due to the cardiovascular and muscular benefits. Notice I'm not skinny though.  

Don't take ANYBODY'S word for it - just wear your heart rate monitor to your yoga class and see for yourself.  Me?  I burn substantial calories in both hot and vinyasa yoga classes because I'm working really hard.  No doubt, there are folks in class just going through the motions and aren't burning as many.

FYI, I used to be a runner and had to stop because of an injury.  I put on a few pounds, naturally, with less activity.  When I started hot yoga, the pounds melted off and I haven't resumed running at all.  Also, I'm no longer bothered the injury or the chronic back pain I used to suffer.  Just saying.  

I know that yoga is to be practiced for the mind-body-soul connection and benefits, but being addicted to counting calories I have found two sites that give about the same amount of calories burned based on my weight. I am a female, 5'6, medium frame, and currently weigh 138 Lbs. According the both of the following sites I burn approx. 630 calories during 1 hour of Bikram Yoga. I believe this is due to several factors, the heat, the effort required to properly sustain the poses, and if you have ever practiced Bikram yoga you know that your heart rate really gets going during many of the poses.

Check out the following calorie counters

http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/Calories_Bu rned/conditioning-exercise-bikram-yoga.asp

http://www.bikram-yoga-noosa-australia.com/we ight-loss-and-yoga.htm

Whenever this discussion comes up, I find it necessary to mention that my mother lost 65 lbs last year.  1 hour of yoga everyday, and occasional walks were her only exercise along with a reasonable deficit of calories. I also have a friend that has become a yoga instructor, yoga is her only exercise and she has lost a ton of weight and really toned up.  So I really believe that the generalization that "Yoga does nothing for weight loss" is frankly false.

Now, I will concede, if you are an extremely active person, can already do 100 push-ups and run 5 miles, then no, standing at tree-pose for an hour or going to one yoga class a week is not going to do much for your calories burned.  But for most of us that are trying to lose weight, and learning how to incorporate exercise into our daily routines, yoga raises our heart rates (I know it does for me) and uses your body weight as resistance in the same way that push ups and sit ups do (just not to the same extent).  If you are like me, you add pilates techniques and weight resistance to your yoga routine to get the maximum benefit of the practice.  You get out of it what you put into it. 

So no, your average person going to one or two yoga classes a week will not transform their body magically, but to say it is not an effective tool for weight loss is an assumption that I am sick of hearing.  You are going to lose weight doing the exercise and activity that you love enough to do on a regular basis, put 100% effort and energy into, and will use to push yourself passionately towards your goal.  For many people, this is yoga and that's what they should be encouraged to pursue.  I do believe that cross-training with other activities is important no matter what you are training for however, and the same goes for yoga.

Hot Yoga, also known as Bikram Yoga, burns approx. 500 calories per full practice hour (i.e., not the part where you're just lying there in Shivasina, but the part where you are actually engaged). (So yes, it is considerably more than Hatha Yoga)

I find it interesting, jmoore, that you believe that bikram yoga is not as intensive as running, as I used to run marathons and, in my experience, bikram is far more challening-IF you do it consistently.

Perhaps, you should stop minimizing other people's weight loss tools and try the stuff yourself.  I am 35 and have exercised no less than 4 times per week since I was 14..I have NEVER, even after a major surgery, missed more than 7 days of exercise since that age..and I can safely say that bikram is the most rigorous workout I've ever done..and that includes, again, doing boot camp trainings at the gym, intensive cardio classes, running long distances, etc..

so, please don't knock it until you try it..making a blanket statement that yoga is not strenuous is simply based on lack of knowledge and assumption.

If people aren't losing weight doing bikram, then they are either 1. overeating and using the excessive calorie burning as an excuse to take in unnecessary calories or 2. not showing up consistently, which are the main reasons most people don't lose weight.

I'm 5'5" and 130 lbs.  I wore my GoWear Fit to a Bikram class and was disapointed that I only burned about 200 cal in a 90-min class.  DH thinks that the GWF may not respond well in extreme circumstances.  It doesn't really matter, Bikram is awesome and I feel great after, I just don't rely on the 500-800 cal claims (maybe if I was larger...)