Rainbowhill: Inspired Aspiration: My Take: "Does Yoga Count As Cardio?"

08:52 29th Jan 2012

Notes: 10

Reblogged from bmbanford

Inspired Aspiration: My Take: "Does Yoga Count As Cardio?"

As a seasoned yogi, I felt the need to respond to the article “Does Yoga Count As Cardio?” by Ben Greenfield, which was posted today (1/27/12) on the HuffPost Healthy Living.

Likewise.

Don’t forget that despite the obvious benefits to your outlook on life, and the fact that there is not a single cell in the body that is not reached by yoga, fat burns in oxygen. When you look at all the other benefits…

I’ll cut the rant short to respond specifically to the misleading claims Ben Greenfield (@GetFitGuy) makes in the Huff Post article.

In direct response to the claim (here in 2005 and again in 2007) that there is little, if any, cardiovascular benefit, one could point to the study in 2009 that found 30 minutes of surya-namaskar performed 12 times by 6 well-trained yogis resulted in heart rates of 80% HRmax and an energy expenditure of 230 calories for an average 60kg individual, conferring considerable cardiovascular benefit. The first study in 2005 describes a “30-minute hatha yoga routine of supine lying, sitting, and standing asanas”. The second study in 2007 found no benefit to this 30 minutes of “lying”, “sitting” and “standing” conceded that “yoga practice incorporating sun salutation postures exceeding the minimum bout of 10 minutes may contribute some portion of sufficiently intense physical activity to improve cardio-respiratory fitness in unfit or sedentary individuals”.

As you can see lying, sitting and standing won’t contribute much to your workout, but launching back into chaturanga and floating up from your downward-dog will. If you’re unfit even 10 minutes of salute-to-the-sun confers a cardiovascular benefit.

The results of third study (2006) quoted in the Huff Post article indicates “that there may be different fitness benefits for different styles of yoga practice”. Not everyone practices yoga with just the cardiovascular benefits in mind. If you are focussing on total calorific expenditure versus total calorific intake you’re probably missing the point of yoga all together.

Here are some other benefits of yoga:

I could go on, but I think you get the point. If you are just starting out, or considering taking up yoga, I don’t think you should dismiss it as having little cardiovascular benefit based on the opinion of one Huff Post journalist. Talk to others that do yoga. Observe the people you know that have done yoga for a while and how they interact with others, how at peace they are with their circumstances.

Visit a class and ask the teacher about it. But more than that, give it a go. Even 10 minutes of salute-to-the-sun each morning will give you positive cardiovascular benefits if you’ve never done it before.