Discussion Forum: General Discussion: Iyengar Yoga: yoga : a fat burner?

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Discussion Forum: General Discussion: Iyengar Yoga:
yoga : a fat burner?

pascal
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Jun 5, 2004, 9:39 AM

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we don't practice yoga to loose fat, and i have no extra fat myself (except on christmas period with all these chocolates Tongue

), but i was wondering... does anywhere exist a study about the energy used by each type of asana? a backbend should burn more calories than a forwardbend, what is the asana that burns the most? , and why so many yogi are taking fat with age?

Nadia
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Jun 6, 2004, 12:35 AM

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C'est une bonne question Wink

I've often wondered that myself, and I've never read much scientific kind of literature on yoga and its benefits in terms of burning calories etc. I've found that sequences like salut to the sun get my heart rate up a bit and, and even asanas can make me sweat. As for yogis putting on weight as they get older, I didn't know that. Actually, I also don't know that many yogis let alone yogis who are old, so I couldn't really answer that question. Mais de toute facon c'est interessant Smile

Cheers, Nadia

pascal
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Jun 6, 2004, 2:10 AM

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erratum : i exagerated quite a bit saying that many yogis get fat with age Crazy

...it happens much more with sportsmen because they don't train any more after their competition years (due to the lack of motivation in training without competition challenge). the interesting point about it is to know if some asanas, especially due to their action on hormon secretion could have an influence on fat mass.

coldboy
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Jun 8, 2004, 4:43 PM

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I was interested to so did a bit of searching here are a couple of good links http://www.fitresource.com/Fitness/CalBurn.htm and http://www.tooelehealth.org/Community_Health/CVD/Fitness/Calories_Burned.html which show a persons average yoga practice does not use the same amount of energy as vigorous aerobic activities, but does well compared to walking and less vigorous activates. I suppose a take home message is Yoga is an invaluable component to a healthy lifestyle.

My personal history with yoga was I began practicing when my doctor warned me of knee and spinal damage my Ruby career was causing. During a rehab phase after puncturing a lung I found Yoga with controlled diet maintained my weight.

Most of the older Yogis I have seen are in remarkable health. I remember and anecdote from some who was with Guruji on a tour a rainforest and said for a man in his mid seventies most 30 year olds barley had the fitness and stamina to keep up with him.

eva531
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Jun 23, 2004, 10:49 AM

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My personal history of yoga, I like the swimming and I join the swimming team when I was in the teenage,I was very fit at that time. But When I went to the high school and I stop swimming, then guess what??? Big fat body, it just feels not good and heavy. Then I try many ways to cut it out, pity no use. After sometime they just come back. But when I found Yoga, it really helps me, in the first 3 month, the weight really goes down a little. And I don't always feel hungry. Until now around 8 years, my weight just stable, but my body looks much much better than before even better then when I was still in the swimming team. And the amazing thing is , my weight didn't cut that huge, just 4kgs in the 8 years.

jday
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Aug 27, 2004, 11:23 AM

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I've always wondered how Iyengar yoga could help one lose weight. I can definitely see how Ashatanga and Bikrams do it, what with the intense cardio and sweating, but Iyengar seems so much more about strength and stamina versus cardio and sweating.

jot1
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Oct 9, 2004, 5:57 AM

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Yoga should burn something, and the phony "yoga teachers" should enter this fire.

Nadia
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Oct 9, 2004, 11:26 PM

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Something very interesting happened in my yoga class the other day. Our teacher decided to go through just about all the basic standing poses rather than just a group of them. Since our class is only an hour long we could only hold each pose for about 2 breaths. The only reclining poses we did were leg stretches. I was expecting to be much more tired than usual afterwards, but in fact I wasn't. I realised it was actually the indurance required to hold the poses longer that used more energy, not necessarily fast movements. This may not surprise any body else, but I hadn't really looked at it in the same way before now. With this in mind, would Ashtanga and Bikrams yoga necessarily burn more energy and fat than Iyengar yoga?

Another thing that I realised with yoga is that if you experience weight loss after starting yoga, it could also largely be attributed to a change in lifestyle. I think I have gradually lost weight since I started yoga about a year and half ago, but doing yoga really encouraged me to be more active and health conscious (although that doesn't seem to apply to chocolate Crazy

). I was never overweight before, but I feel much more fit and healthy now than I did before I started yoga. So perhaps it not only yoga that helps directly lose weight, but yoga as a trigger in a lifestyle change.

pascal
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Oct 30, 2004, 1:00 PM

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i agree 120 % with you nadia about chocolate Smile

that i consider as the next best thing in life after yoga Tongue

gangadip
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Oct 30, 2004, 3:45 PM

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Hi Nadia, maybe Bikram would burn more fat due to the hot rooms and the sweat factor. Bikram yoga classes are a just a little more 'active' than Iyengar in content over all, typically more poses are done in a single class and a quick sit up is done between some poses. Many of the Bikram poses are quite strenous and the classes are very 'exercise class' in nature. I lost some weight when I took Bikram classes, it might have been water weight though, those hot rooms really sweat it out of you. Ashtanga might also be better for weight loss because it is more classically aerobic in nature. I do Iyengar now exclusively and notice it keeps my weight in control. In the newer book, "Yoga for Holistic Health" BKS Iyengar lays out asana sequences for quite a few health issues, including weight control. I'll give you the weight sequence if you want, shoot me an email. Shoulderstand is one effective weight control asana.

I do know that the Iyengar classes I take really push the limits, and can be very difficult due to the length of time holding the poses and the countless minute adjustments to get the asanas right.

I've noticed that my male Iyengar teachers, like me (i am a man, btw), have a little belly fat. Otherwise, they are very strong, fit and flexible, and the skill they show in doing the asanas is, like all certified Iyengar teachers, remarkable.

Chocolate rules.

Nadia
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Oct 30, 2004, 4:20 PM

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In Reply To

"I've noticed that my male Iyengar teachers, like me (i am a man, btw), "

I assumed from the name "Jessie" that you were a girl! Silly me. That's the funny thing about discussion forums, sometimes a little confusion can arise Wink

Yes, my yoga teacher is a man and he is very toned everywhere except his stomach, which isn't big or anything it's just not as lean as the rest of him. He teaches as a few different places in my city, and one day I went to one of the other classes where my friend and I were the only girls and the rest were men. For the first time in a yoga class I felt like a minority. Apparently and all male yoga class is quite unusual, at least in Australia anyway, maybe men are a bit more macho here Tongue

More interested in drinking beer and watching football...

gangadip
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Oct 31, 2004, 9:03 AM

Post #12 of 13 (4876 views)
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Dear Nadia, Just take the "i" out of the spelling and the gender confusion ends. Like Jesse James. Tempting to launch into a philosophic deal about removing the "I", but will resist. Here in the U.S., the ratio of women to men in most yoga classes sounds just like yours in Australia, sometimes I'm the only man in class, but at best it is like 6 to 1, women to men. Doesn't bother me at all, it's all just yoga students doing their best, plus my partner (female) goes too, so I can concentrate on the yoga. :) More men are showing up lately, but more seem to go to the 'power' type yoga classes and Bikram. Maybe it is just a testimony to women, who seem to have a more natural affinity for things of this nature. If men knew how hard a real hatha yoga class is, they might think of it as more of a challenge, but that macho deal runs pretty deep here too. When I see new men students, even guys who are in good shape, trying to make it thru an Iyengar class, I'm reminded just how difficult hatha yoga can be, not that I need any reminder, my legs do that every day! Yoga calls who it calls, that's the bottom line, I think. It might be hard for a lady to meet a gentleman at a yoga class with such bad odds, though, which is too bad, people who practice hatha yoga tend to be pretty nice.

Have great yogic day!

Nadia
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Oct 31, 2004, 3:38 PM

Post #13 of 13 (4867 views)
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You should see my boyfriend in a yoga class! It's very funny because sometimes when our teacher shows us the next pose he looks at me with disbelief that we have to do the same. He definitely would have the view that hatha yoga classes are tough! That's probably why he hardly ever comes...

Funnily enough, my yoga teacher also teaches a class to the local football team here. Apparently it's quite common these days for pro football teams, but I always feel better when he says "you should see the football players trying to do this one", it must be a bit daunting trying to teach yoga to a room full of human tanks Wink

.

Yes, I realised after I wrote that post that there was no "i", but suddenly I understood that joke by Bryan Alexander about pronouncing you husband and wife. I was kind of confused by that...

Crazy

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