Yoga has gained recognition all over the globe with fitness and health freaks for its long term benefits on physical fitness, concentration, stress relief, and peace of mind. And to celebrate this worldwide acceptance June 21 is celebrated as International Yoga Day all over the world. Apart from providing a complete stretch and muscle building exercise to the body, yoga helps to strengthen the muscles and tone the body with the help of high- calorie burning yoga poses.
Thousands of yoga practitioners swear by its life-changing experiences which demands to hold the poses increasing the endurance, building the concentration, and burning the high amount of calories, making yoga a must included activity in one’s fitness regime. It may lead to a slow and steady weight loss or muscle toning exercise routine but the change is bound to happen with a long-lasting effect.
“Most people have no idea how good their body is designed to feel.”
– Kevin Trudeau
Many write it off as a simple stretching and mild form of exercise citing yoga as a slow meditative, transition process from one pose to another. But the actual truth about its fat or high-calorie burning nature will surprise many. Yoga is estimated to burn around 180-600 calories per hour depending on its various styles for example power yoga is considered to burn the most calories. Though It also depends on the specific yoga poses you or your yoga instructor selects. These are the 7 high-calorie burning yoga poses one must include in their regular practice.
1. Suryanamaskar or Sun Salutation
Surya namaskar or Sun Salutation is known to be ‘the ultimate asana’ due to its multi-dimensional benefits. Suryanamaskar includes a total of 12 yoga poses with each pose having its own benefits. A single set of Suryanamskar includes all these poses performed with both the legs and each set burns around 13.90 calories. It is recommended to do a minimum of 12 sets of Suryanamaskar in a day contributing to 228 poses in a total. So, by doing it for around 25-30 minutes one could burn around 250-350 calories depending on the number of sets, the weight of the person, and the speed at which one performs it.
2. Phalakasana or Plank
This pose is a major calorie-burning exercise because every muscle is engaged while practicing it. Various modified versions are also available where one can raise a single leg one or two feet above the ground. The longer you stay in the pose – ranging from 30 seconds to 5 minutes – the more calories you burn. This 5-minute workout strengthens the core muscles and reduces belly fat, toning your stomach. Calories burn- around 50.
3. Utkatasana or Chair Pose
The largest muscle in the body is involved while practicing this pose. It is recommended to hold the pose as long as you are comfortable. The longer you hold the pose the more beneficial it is and more calories get burned. One minute of holding this pose burns around 5-6 calories. Parivritta Utkatasana is the rotated variation of this pose, strengthening the quads and gluteals. Doing this pose with weight resistance can increase the number of calories burned.
4. Anjaneyasana or high lunge or crescent lunge
A very commonly seen pose in many forms of workouts due to its involvement of the whole body, Anjaneyasana is especially good for the glutes and quads. This lunge pose is known as a muscle-strengthening pose. It stretches the hamstring, legs, thighs and puts the pressure on each muscle starting from the hips to the ankles. This body balancing pose requires your body to work harder to maintain the balance thus burning more calories.
5. Chaturanga Dandasana or Low Plank
It is basically holding the low part of a push-up. When done properly it requires major muscles of your body to hold the position. Elbows are required to maintain the perpendicular angle, legs are engaged and core muscles are contracted exhausting most of the calories. Also known as the Four Limb Pose as four limbs i.e. four anga are involved in the pose.
6. Kakasana or Crow Pose
The Kakasana is a modern-day balancing yoga pose that will help you burn calories really fast. This is known to be one of the best power yoga poses for weight loss. Not only it helps the practitioner to burn the high amount of calories but it also helps you to strengthen the arms enormously. It aids in digestion by toning the abdominal muscles.
7. Chakrasana or Wheel Pose
Chakrasana or wheel pose engages the legs, buttocks, thighs, spine, chest, arms muscles, and also involves heart and lungs. It opens up the chest and shoulders. Giving a stretch to the whole frontal body requires attention to the form and alignment. This pose increases the heart rate thus burning a lot of calories.
The relation between calorie burn and yoga:
The more efforts you put in the more calories you burn. The whole logic of calorie burn depends on sweating. Most of the yoga instructors or yoga teachers all over the world believe it is the best way to throw out the unwanted and toxic material from your body. The body requires energy while doing all these yoga poses which gets replenished through steady breathing. Thus more and more oxygen is provided to the body making it warmer. To maintain the temperature of the body it sweats in the form of burning extra calories in the body, aiding to maintain the weight and health.