Diary of an ExSloth

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3 Reasons I’m adding Hot Yoga to my Workout Routine

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A couple weeks ago, I was invited to attend an event at my gym, GoodLife Fitness, for the opening of their new Hot Yoga studio. I’ve done hot yoga before so I sort of knew what to expect going in. But I was still a bit apprehensive because the first few times I tried hot yoga weren’t exactly the best. However, this time, I actually enjoyed the session. 

3 reasons I'm adding hot yoga to my workout routine via @ExSloth | ExSloth.com

The first time I went to hot yoga, I was still really new to yoga. Combining my inexperience, the fact that it was power yoga and the overly oppressive heat made for a not so enjoyable experience. But, my yoga practice has grown a lot since then, and I was able to hold my own a lot better this time around. Plus, coming off an insanely long winter, there was no way I was going to complain about the heat. 

After the hour long hot yoga class, we were given light refreshments and a chance to mingle with other students and yoga instructors. It was a fun event and I wish I was able to get pictures, but I didn’t have permission from everyone attending. Luckily, I can do you one better than pictures of infused water, Kind bars and sweaty yogis.

My friends at GoodLife Fitness were kind enough to provide me with a free one month membership, to any of their 300+ locations, to giveaway to one lucky reader. You can enter the giveaway at the very bottom of the post, but first I wanted to share a little bit about why I’m hoping to attend more hot yoga sessions in the future.

3 Reasons I’m adding hot yoga to my #yoga practice

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1. It’s different

I’ve made no secret of the fact that my workouts have been boring me for the last few months. I fell into a rut sometime around February and wasn’t able to crawl out for a long time. One of my best cures for workout ruts is switching it up, so having hot yoga sessions on my fitness class rotation will go a long way to staving off future boredom.

2. It’s outside my comfort zone

I’m still not terribly confident in my yoga skills. I’m constantly trying new things, and usually failing. Downward dog and child’s pose are my best friends and inversions are so beyond me it’s not funny. To say I find yoga challenging would be an understatement. And hot yoga is even more so. But, I know that my biggest accomplishments happen when I step outside of my comfort zone, so that’s what I’m hoping to do.

3. It’s relaxing

Lifting and cardio help me to destress, but I wouldn’t say they’re relaxing. When I come home from the gym after a workout, I’m exhausted and energized at the same time. I have tension is whatever body part I worked out that day. Then I wake up the next day feeling just a little bit sore. And it’s glorious. Yoga on the other hand, is challenging and requires extreme feats of strength, but it’s a lot more restful. And sometimes I just need to do something a bit more relaxing to help me figure out the mess in my brain; especially now when I have so much uncertainty in my life around graduation, potentially moving and finding a full time job.

The Giveaway:

What about you?

Do you remember your first yoga/hot yoga experience? Are you a fan of hot yoga? Why do/don’t you enjoy it? 

Share in the comments below!
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This post was written as part of the GoodLife Fitness Blogger Ambassador Program; however all opinions expressed are my own.

Image: By Наталья Видович (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Comments

  1. I made the same decision not too long ago – I never thought I’d like hot yoga (love yoga, not so much the hot part!) but for so many reasons I’ve decided to make it a regular part of my routine. Love the point about lifting and cardio helping to destress, but not necessarily relax or calm the mind. So true!
    Cat recently posted…How Hot Yoga Surprised Me

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    • So was I the first time I tried it. But honestly, once you’re comfortable actually doing yoga, the heat isn’t as bad as you’d think. You should give it a try 🙂

      Reply

  15. I’ve only done Corepower’s heated yoga. It was a challenge for sure. If I were to keep doing it I’d want to invest in one of those microfiber towels that everyone seems to put over their mat. I was slipping all over the place! Extra core points for me.
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  24. After every new workout I have experienced pains of varying intensities and it used to be very uncomfortable but then once I read an interview of a fitness expert who gave a very nice perspective about the post workout pain, he said “you experience pain because that particular body part is weak, it is paining because you are strengthening it through this workout”. This was so inspiring, after that I actually started celebrating post workout pain.
    John Gatesby recently posted…Is Joint Hypermobility Syndrome Ehlers Danlos?

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