[saltzmanjane]

Once a week I practice Bikram yoga. The room is heated to 106 degrees with 60% humidity. Does this hot condition have an effect on heart rate? I don’t feel like I’m working hard but my heart rate for part of the class in actually above my AnT threshold. This type of yoga is poses only there is not a flow portion to the class.

I wanted to use this activity for one day of my training before I got close to my climb where I would switch all training over to sport specific but the high heart rate is concerning me.

Please advise.

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on June 12, 2020 at 4:19 pm #42741

Does this hot condition have an effect on heart rate?

Yes, but it has zero effect on fitness.

Heart rate measures stress, so it includes both internal and external stressors on the body. Although your heart rate rises because of the heat and humidity, it is not a sport-specific stimulus, so you can ignore it for training purposes.

It would be more appropriate to classify yoga as a recovery activity instead of a training activity.

[saltzmanjane]

saltzmanjane on June 12, 2020 at 4:43 pm #42748

Scott,

Regarding heat, if I did my AeT threshold test in my 90 degree plus garage (Arizona) would the data collected be incorrect and should I redo it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on June 12, 2020 at 5:04 pm #42749

Good question… It will definitely have an effect on heart rate, and the same output will probably have a higher heart rate. However, if you’re also training in that same heat, then it may still tell you what you need.

I’ll ask Scott J. to comment as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on June 12, 2020 at 5:42 pm #42754

Heat will have a dramatic effect on HR because the your body is trying to dump the excess heat via convection off the skin. Your peripheral capillaries dilate which shunts more blood to the skin. Since blood volume is constant that means there is less blood going to the working muscles. The result is that for any given work load your HR will have to be higher. Your perception of effort will also be higher.

Just like altitude it is possible to acclimate to some extent to heat so that the HR jump will be smaller. How much is going to vary a great deal from individual based on genetics and time in the heat.

You should do your AeT test in the same conditions, altitude and heat, as you will be training.

Scott

[yashdenz]

yashdenz on July 16, 2020 at 12:24 am #43635

Yoga is the best health exercise, there are many Yoga apps are available on market to learn yoga from basic. My favorite Yoga is Surya Namaskar.