I know there are some other threads on this, but nothing terribly recent, so I figured on starting a new one…
For background, I have been a weight-lifter, occasional martial-arts practitioner, and generally athletic guy for as long as I can remember. For the last couple years, I have really amped up my training in an attempt to make it as a Air Force Pararescueman. I’ve upped the lifting, running, swimming, etc. and added in some high-intensity Crossfit-type workouts. As a result, I have indeed cranked myself into far better shape than I have arguably ever been in (I’m now 33 BTW). A side-effect has been a growing number of persistent aches, pulls, cricks, and more or less perpetual soreness. Yeah, I know…probably overtraining, but in my estimation necessary for the path I want to walk.
I’ve tried a couple of yoga classes here and there before, as flexibility has always been a weak point in my fitness portfolio, and never really grooved on it. I personally can’t stand the hippie mumbo-jumbo, don’t really care about chakras, am at best skeptical about “removing toxins” and poses designed to “aid digestion.”
That was, until a couple weeks ago, when I discovered that Bikram yoga had finally made an appearance in my area. I had heard about it a few times and been intrigued. The hot room stuff appealed to me and sounded like a truly brutal workout. I’ve tried to simulate it on my own in the sauna before, and generally liked the feeling, so what the hell, right?
I cannot believe how awesome Bikram yoga feels. After just a few classes, aches and pains I figured I’d just have to live with have been melting away. The combination of the hot room and the sequence are exactly what my body needs now. I’ve heard some complaints about how basic the sequence is, in not doing headstands, etc, but at this point I swear it is designed to exactly hit me where I need it most. I can feel myself getting a bit looser already. And the “hippie-speak” is somewhere between limited and non-existent, which is just icing on the cake of a brutally effective workout. I am now doing it 3 times a week, and if they offered it any more often than that, I’d do it then too. It is the perfect compliment to the high-intensity weight and endurance workouts I do in the gym.
Anyway, I know there are other folks around here who do or have practiced Bikram, and am very interested in opinion, tips for better workouts, etc. that you all may have to offer…