Thursday, February 24, 2011

Benefits of Bikram

As far as my workout today, I think I am going to another Bikram Yoga session tonight. I just love it and have been feeling better all week since my session Monday. The only thing is it is madly expensive. But I can rationalize it as "preventative health costs." It is way cheaper than getting a massage!



And then there's all the health benefits of the heat:


1.Enhances vasodilatation so that more blood is delivered to the muscles. This means that the capillaries that weave around the muscles respond to the heat by dilation. This brings more oxygen to the muscles and helps in the removal of waste products such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid.


2.Allows oxygen in the blood to detach from the hemoglobin more easily. When blood passes through warm muscles, oxygen releases more easily from the hemoglobin. Blood passing through cold muscles releases less oxygen.


3.Speeds up the breakdown of glucose and fatty acids.


4.Makes muscles more elastic, less susceptible to injury.


5.Improves coordination.


6.Reduces heart irregularities associated with sudden exercise.


7.Burns fat more easily. Warmed muscles burn fat more easily than cold ones. Fat is released during stress. The stress of intense exercise causes a deluge of fatty acids into the blood stream. If you exercise with cold muscles, they can’t use the fatty acids, and they end up in places they are not wanted such as in the lining of your arteries. (Source)

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Other news: Its official, my mom is coming to visit this weekend! It has been entirely too long since I have had some time with my mom so it will be nice to soak up the beach, get a little shopping in, and go for a run with my mom this weekend. I always love catching up with her and it will be fun to give a tour of where I live. Maybe I can even get her to come to yoga!


2 comments:

  1. Yeah for your mom coming to visit! Have a blast with her!

    I love yoga classes where the room is super hot! I love how clean I feel after a good sweat!

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  2. I love the sweating! doesn't it feel great? I think thats why I am into distance running so much- I love that empty feeling after a hard workout.

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