Can yoga replace cardio?

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Yoga can be very different: slow and restorative, or intense and fast. When movements rapidly flow one into another and you try to synchronize them with your breathing, yoga turns into a real cardio workout. It is about this type of occupation that Lifehacker talks about.

Try a 90-minute vinyasa yoga workout: your breathing and heart rate increase, sweat starts to run down your face and hands - isn't that cardio?

When people talk about cardio, they usually mean aerobic exercise - continuous activity that raises the heart rate to a range in which it can already be called cardio workout. Yoga is perceived more as training that tames the restless mind, develops the mind and body, giving it flexibility and strength. So can yoga also provide cardio workouts?

Arguments for"

For a workout to fall under the definition of cardio, it must include three components: intensity, duration, and repetition. Ask yourself simple questions: How intense is my yoga workout? How long do these intense periods last? How often do I practice this kind of workout?

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) offers a baseline that shows how much time and effort it takes to maintain a healthy adult cardiovascular system. In particular, the heart rate should remain in the 65–90% range of maximum heart rate for at least 20 minutes at a training frequency of 3–5 times per week. But the most recent research shows that total amount of exercise - and the balance of these three components - is far more important than reaching a certain intensity threshold. This is what Dr. Carol Garber of Columbia University, co-author of the latest statement on the quantity and quality of exercise needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle, released by ACSM, believes.

This can be safely taken into service in order to adjust your load. If your current workout is low intensity, you can increase the execution time or repetition rate. If the intensity is high, simply shorten your workout time or insert short rest breaks between sets.

The main thing is not to forget to monitor your heart rate, since it is this indicator that will help answer the question of whether this yoga workout can be counted as a cardio load.

Can fast paced yoga replace cardio?

To understand if your yoga practice counts as a cardio trainer, you need to determine what kind of yoga you are doing. If your main practice is a slow paced workout with recovery asanas, in which you need to stay in one position for a long period, this workout is unlikely to raise your heart rate to the desired level. But if you prefer vigorous training, the answer to this question may well be yes.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends continuous, rhythmic aerobic activity that involves as many muscles as possible. There are enough yoga styles that fit this description. However, there is still no general opinion on this matter even among yoga teachers. For example, Lisa Black, yoga coach and owner of Shakti Vinyasa Yoga studio in Seattle, believes that her 90-minute session can replace cardio, as the heart rate accelerates to the desired value in the first 30 minutes of training.

Others believe that vinyasa yoga alone is not enough and other yoga, swimming workouts, or at least practice brisk walking should be added.

Science experiment

To test the theory that yoga may well replace cardio training, an experiment was conducted in which three people participated, who have been practicing yoga for a long time and have excellent physical shape. Each of them does yoga six times a week for 75 minutes.

The subjects' cardiovascular health was assessed by Tim Fleming of the Endurance Training Center in Mill Valley, California. The findings should help determine if yoga practice is sufficient to maintain cardiovascular health.

All three participants were given heart rate sensors. The data was collected over the course of a week and then passed on to Tim for study. After analyzing the indicators, he came to the conclusion that all three received a load that can be equated with cardio training. The average heart rate of the subjects was 57% of the maximum. Fleming noted that this was due to the length, frequency, and intensity of each workout and the large volume of exercise throughout the week.

After that, the participants were sent to take tests on a treadmill and measured their VO₂ max. The results obtained are 70–80%. Of course, these are not the indicators that can be seen in professional runners or cyclists (these are sports that include large muscle groups in the work for a long time, which provide a high load on the cardiovascular system), but they allow us to classify the participants in the experiment as athletes. with physical fitness above average. That is, their practice is sufficient to maintain heart health.

Conclusion

If you often attend vigorous yoga classes (ashtanga, vinyasa, power yoga, etc.), over time it will become easier for you to perform asana complexes, which seemed very difficult in the first sessions. Your heart rate after six months of regular yoga practice will drop from 175 beats per minute to 160. This can be considered good progress - your heart muscle is getting stronger and developing.

To do this, it is not at all necessary to practice six times a week for 75 minutes, as the participants in the experiment did. Fleming believes that regular classes three times a week will be sufficient. The main thing is that you feel progress and can easily track it.

Try at least for a month attending classes in strength or other dynamic yoga, remembering to wear a heart rate monitor, and monitor the changes in heart rate. I am sure you will get interesting results that will make you look at yoga practice in a completely different way.;)