Use These Postures To Harness The Fat Burning Power Of Yoga
Whenever one thinks of yoga, one tends to think of relaxation, stretching, and breathing. Yoga has countless physical, mental and spiritual benefits for anyone who chooses to practice this way of living. Now although these things have obvious health benefits, some people want to focus on shedding weight, and need to burn calories to do so.
The question is, can yoga help? Studies do suggest so. Any form of exercise does help burn calories, and yoga is no exception. The number of calories you burn will depend on a lot of things, including the duration of your yoga routine and your current weight. For example, a 160 pound man can burn 183 calories with one hour of Hatha yoga, according to Mayo Clinic. The type of yoga you practice also determines how many calories you burn, and active styles of yoga such as Bikram yoga can obviously help burn more calories.
While yoga doesn’t burn as many calories as running or aerobic exercises, it is much easier to inculcate into your routine and provides many other health benefits. If you’re looking to lose weight quickly, experts recommend switching up your exercise routines occasionally to lose weight faster.
With that being said, here are a few yoga postures that can definitely get your heart pumping and help burn calories.
Plank:
The Plank is an excellent posture to burn calories, and does not put adverse strain on any part of your body if done right. It targets all the major muscle groups in your body, including the thighs, core, arms, shoulder and glutes.
There are several modifications of the plank in yoga, so no matter what level you are at, there is a type of plank that will challenge you and let you burn more calories.
Utkatasana (Chair Pose):
This pose is great for building abdominal strength, and for tightening the core to really get the belly fat burning. If you find it difficult, you can always use a wall for support. This pose also targets the glutes, which is one of the largest muscle groups in your body. In doing so, you’ll be burning a lot of calories, and strengthening your muscles as well. This pose is also easy enough for practitioners of all levels to perform.
Chaturanga Dandasana (Four limbed Staff Pose):
This is another pose that targets major muscle groups and aims to help burn calories quickly and efficiently. This is something that challenges even expert yoga practitioners, so make sure to go easy on yourself and start your practice slow. This is a great way to build muscle strength in the arms, shoulders, core and thighs as well. This yoga pose is the equivalent of holding the lowering part of a push-up, and is quite challenging.
Urdhva Dhanurasana (Wheel Pose):
Not only is this an excellent pose if you want to stretch out your back and open up your heart and chest, it’s also good for burning calories too. This is a pose that your should try only after a good amount of warmup, which will help get your circulation going and get your heart pumping. Practicing this asana in a heated room is guaranteed to help your quickly burn off the fat.
Surya Namaskara (Sun Salutations):
Sun salutations are a sequence of 12 asanas that combine to create a full body flow unlike any other. Practicing the sun salutations will engage your entire body, including abs, glutes, thighs, calves, arms, back, shoulders and arms. This will also help oxygenate your entire body as well, which will aid your stamina and help increase the duration of your workout.
If you want to learn more about the fat burning powers of yoga, and make yoga an integral part of your life, consider joining Hith Yoga if you’re in Delhi. It is one of the best yoga studios in Delhi, and offers many different kinds of yoga, including Hatha Yoga, prenatal yoga, yoga for diabetes, hypertension, and much more. This is always accompanied by meditation and relaxation routines, and is a all-round approach to yoga in your life.
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