Historians estimate that yoga has been around since (or before) 2700 BC. That’s right, yoga is older than most countries.
Nowadays, many people use yoga for exercise instead of for spiritual purposes. It’s great for building strength and flexibility, but how many calories does yoga burn? Are yoga poses really able to help you shed weight?
Let’s talk about it. Read on for our quick weight loss yoga guide.
Are Some Types of Yoga Better for Burning Calories?
Yoga is an umbrella term. In reality, there are several different types of yoga at various levels of intensity. Some types of yoga will burn more calories than others.
Vinyasa yoga is the most popular type. It’s often considered the best workout (when it comes to traditional styles of yoga). It includes fast-paced and muscle-intensive movements that will get your blood flowing.
Bikram yoga (often referred to as hot yoga) will also burn a lot of calories. You’ll be sweating all the way through your yoga class. Sweat isn’t necessarily an indicator of burnt calories, but you’ll know that you’re feeling the heat.
If you’re doing a slower form of yoga, you’ll still burn calories, but not very quickly. Yin yoga, for example, is a style of restorative yoga that focuses more on stretching and balance.
Here’s a quick guide for calculating calories burned from a few types of yoga.
Can You Only Do Yoga for Weight Loss?
If you’re trying to lose weight, yoga is a good way to go about it. Again, even if you’re doing restorative yoga, you’ll be burning more calories than you would if you were standing still. That said, you will have to do a lot more yoga than you would other types of exercise if you want to lose weight quickly.
Yoga teachers may be able to lose or maintain weight by doing yoga alone, but that’s because they’re doing several sessions per day (learn more info about becoming a yoga teacher here).
So in short, yes, you can only do yoga for weight loss if you focus on more intense styles of yoga, but it might be a slow process.
Should You Incorporate Yoga Into a Varied Exercise Routine?
Here’s what we recommend: add yoga to a full exercise schedule that includes other methods of weight loss. When you incorporate yoga into a routine that also has strength training and cardio exercise, you’re doing a great thing for your body.
Yoga burns calories, helps you build strength, improves your balance, improves your flexibility, and might even improve your mental health. It’s great for recovery days when you know you shouldn’t put too much of a strain on your muscles, but you still want to burn a few calories and move your body.
So How Many Calories Does Yoga Burn? It Depends
How many calories does yoga burn? It depends on the type of yoga (as well as your own body type). There’s no one way to tell you how many calories you’ll burn during a session. To get a good estimate, we recommend wearing a fitness tracker!
Incorporate yoga into your pre-existing exercise schedule to get the most benefits from it.
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