172 Allen Street, 2nd floor (btwn Stanton & Rivington)
(212) 353-8859 tricia.donegan@gmail.com
(212) 353-8859 tricia.donegan@gmail.com
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So really -- Why DO you make the room hot? And what’s with all that sweat?
1) protect muscles while allowing for deeper stretching; 2) detoxify the body by opening pores and letting toxins escape via the sweat; 3) stimulate your heart rate for a better cardiovascular workout. Here’s some in-depth info on each of those points: 1) This first point is easy to explain – the warmer your muscles are, the more flexible and adaptable they are. It’s the old spaghetti in hot water trick – the heat will make your muscles more supple, allowing you to work deeper while avoiding injury. So say you’re not so naturally flexible; say you’ve been training for a marathon and the idea of having to stretch out your quads makes you want to cry. No need to shed a tear – just some sweat. Your hamstrings are going to fall in love with our furnace. 2) Detoxification via sweat: Let’s talk about sweat. Sweat, as you know, is your body’s natural way of lowering your body temperature when you get too hot. When the sweat hits the air, the air makes the sweat evaporate, and as the sweat evaporates off your skin, you begin to cool down. But what about the detox thing? Is sweating a good way to “detox” ? Yes, to an extent. Sweat is made almost completely of water, with tiny amounts of other chemicals like ammonia, urea, salts and sugar (ammonia and urea are what is left over when your body breaks down protein). Toxins - harmful chemicals that can come from food or water, or from chemicals used to grow or prepare food - are processed by organs like the liver and kidneys and then eliminated in the form of urine, feces, and, (drumroll here …) sweat. So yes, sweating more will help you rid of harmful toxins. Many of us discover that we feel clean and refreshed a few weeks into our Bikram practice – some would even say we glow. 3) Pump up the heart rate:Fact: your heart rate is higher in the heat. They say that if you are exercising in the heat and the temperature increases from 75 degrees to 90 degrees, you can expect your heart rate to increase by approximately 10 beats a minute. And humidity magnifies this effect, mostly because sweat doesn’t cool you off as well in humid conditions (it’s the air evaporating the sweat that causes the cooling effect, and that doesn’t happen as well when the air is wet). So... the next question is, is the fact that heat increases your heart rate a good thing? Yes! In fact it means that you’ll get a nice cardiovascular workout during your yoga practice. In class you’ll find that, due to the nature of the asanas and the heat, your heart rate and respiratory rate become elevated to your target level. This can help you determine how intensely to work during class. BUT... There is one last thing to note about the heat & heart rate: Please be aware that dehydration ALSO causes an increase in heart rate and that coming to class dehydrated ISN’T a smart way to force a cardiovascular workout. When you become dehydrated, your blood volume decreases and, as a result, less blood is pumped with each heartbeat. That means if you come into the yoga room dehydrated, the combination of the exercise, the heat, and the dehydration could be enough to take you OVER your target heart rate, or at least make you feel really uncomfortable in your yoga class. We want you to feel invigorated and alive, not dry and draggy. So stay tanked, ya’ hear? |
