Blogs : Nate Jenkins

Trying bikram yoga for the first time

So in my continued search for a cure for my right hamstring problem I decided on the advice of an email and after reading a long letsrun thread on people with the same problem, some of whom had found no solution after a decade or more, to try Bikram yoga.  So tonight I tried it for the first time.  Honestly it will be a bit before I have any idea if it will work or not but it’s a good story so I’ll tell it now.

  Ok so first a bit about me, I’m your average guy who admittedly wears short shorts.  I see yoga classes as a great thing for any guy to do as a means of picking up women.  I myself have never done this but I know those who have and consider it a fine plan.  If this is your plan don’t do Bikram.  I kind of thought this might be a way of fixing my leg and picking up some cute girls impressed by my feminine side and my confidence to be scene doing yoga.Wrong!!  So the room is hot, really really hot.  I was aware of this going in but I was unaware of how big a difference this would make.

  I arrived in my sweats and stripped down to my bike shorts and a singlet, the closest thing I had to what I considered yoga gear.  I went into the class and rolled out my yoga mat and my towel as I was told to do both by the online instructions and the instructor when I got there.  Then I waited.  It was hot but not killer it wasn’t like sitting in a sauna or anything but it was real hot.

  Once class started it was a whole other story.  I was pouring sweat from the word go.  I struggled with the most basic breathing exercises which I assumed would be the one thing I could do well just on the basis of my over developed cardio vascular system.  Hell I passed my life guard test and I’m as ****ty a swimmer as you will ever find but I was just so fit I could force my self through everything.  I thought the breathing would be my territory.  Wrong again!!!!  Everyone seemed to be able to breath deeper then me, breath in longer then me and breath out longer too.  It was very frustrating.

  The class is 90 minutes long and there was no clock on the wall and I had no watch on. I struggled fought and pushed my way through constantly hoping the next exercises was the last constantly afraid that we had only been going for 10 or 20 minutes. 

  I am telling you I was the fittest person in the room.  I’m in monster shape.  That said these heavy middle age wonders mostly made it through fine, with a ton of sweating but they were fine.  I nearly passed out once and struggled mightily many times.  When it was all done my legs twitched and felt locked up and I was unable to relax them.  I finished and I did all the exercises I was instructed to do, though I did stop one early because of nearly passing out but it was a struggle and took some real will power just to finish. 

Bikram yoga

1:26 AM, December 31, 2007 .. Posted by frank georges

Your yoga experience seems consistent with mine. People who are athletic seem more muscle bound and tighter...athletes of all types tend to have very tight legs and feet. It's been a while since I last did yoga...maybe five years now. I might snap in two now. As for meeting hot women doing yoga checkout this info about "the teacher training program": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtWcb0bcA-A

Yoga

12:52 PM, December 31, 2007 .. Posted by Anonymous

At school i attended pilates class to better my flexibilty. Pilates and Yoga are similiar but not exactly the same. Basically the more you do it the more familiar you are with running. If you were to take the middle age heavy set women to the road and told them lets catch an 11 miler they would prolly feel much ****tier then you did during the yoga class. It took me like awhile but i did get use to it.

Untitled Comment

2:17 PM, January 2, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

It is somewhat comforting that someone as fit and fast as you had a similar experience with yoga. Its kind of depressing to show up and notice out of shape older folks doing things with ease that you struggle to do, but its par for the course with a lot of runners from what I've heard. If I am doing lower mileage, I can kind of slog through pilates and yoga (i try and do one or the other once or twice a week)...but if I am running anything resembling normal mileage? not at all. certain movements are damn near impossible.

However I did discover one yoga DVD I've had luck with - Rodney Yee's Yoga for Athletes. (I picked it up for about 10 bucks at Target.) I've had chronic hamstring soreness for a good year or so (lingering after a bad pull), and doing this after long runs maybe once or twice a week has helped quite a bit. You can set it so you're looking a "flexibility" standpoint, and the instructions are given in a manner meant for athletes - not for yogis. There is even a quick 5 minute workout for runners which is a good way to loosen up. Get yourself a mirror and do it in front of your own TV - then it doesn't matter what you wear.

It's more difficult when you're worked from working out.

1:51 PM, May 5, 2008 .. Posted by Buck Williamson

I've found that when you are sore from other training, I have a much harder time than those people who have the Bikram yoga as a primary form of exercise.

It's more difficult when you're worked from working out.

1:53 PM, May 5, 2008 .. Posted by Buck Williamson

I've found that when I am sore from other training, I have a much harder time than those people who have the Bikram yoga as a primary form of exercise.