Sunday, January 29, 2012

Bikram Yoga

It’s been a year since I practiced Bikram Yoga to supplement my mountain biking and windsurfing. I was looking for a discipline that could help in my core strength, balance and flexibility. Sophia and I did some research and joined Bikram Yoga City Hall (BYCH) and what an amazing experience it has been.

I consider myself a reasonably fit athlete with a VO2 max of 69 ml/min/kg. In other words, I have good endurance threshold and recover quickly. However, nothing prepared me for how challenging Bikram Yoga would be.

Initially, I could hardly breathe and was panting heavily as I did not regulate my breathing. The 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises practised in a 40º C room in 90 minutes is my toughest physical activity - period. I feel totally spent after every session.

Here's a map of the poses to my heart rate, total calories burned is 550 calories. More data points in this Garmin link.


My favourite pose is Half Tortoise and the most intense is Triangle where my heart rate peaks at over 150 bpm. That is 90% of my maximum heart rate. The other pose that peaks my heart rate is Camel, although it is not a difficult pose.

But the "after-glow" is almost magical. I feel energized and light, much like getting a good tune-up and flushing of my entire body system. My lower back does not hurt as much now even during long hard rides and my niggling knee pain from an old ACL injury seems to be less after a session.

Sophia's occasional stiff neck dissipates after her sessions. Our little daughter May Shann has also joined Bikram Yoga and is loving it.

Thanks to all our wonderful teachers in BYCH - Marcus "Chest-Up", Tara "Grrr", Charlie the Fireman and of course Drill Instructor Diane.

Namaste...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How did you chart your heart rate and calories burned?

Loh Ching Soo said...

I wore a Garmin heart rate monitor.

BYCH Hot Yoga said...

Since 12th Nov 2015, BYCH Hot Yoga has relocated to:
123 Penang Road, Regency House (Office Tower) #04-12/13, Singapore 238465
Tel: 6339 6639
Web: www.bych.sg

Nearest MRT station: Dhoby Ghaut / Somerset
Basement carpark and outdoor public carpark are available.

hasnain said...

Say goodbye to crunches for good! Yoga’s wide variety of poses ensure you work on all aspects of core strength, including obliques, deep core muscles and superficial core...READ MORE depressed poses

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