Bikram Yoga. 5,000 year-old way to nearly pass out.

While on holiday in Italy and between binges of pasta and wine (of course!) I played a little football with some Brazilian relatives. Now, I'm not sure if you know this, but Brazilians are pretty good at football. They do things with the ball that makes you think physics don't apply or at least are more mysterious than you knew.

So, in an attempt to not look like a total fool I over-exerted and tweaked a tendon in my foot. Nothing serious, but no chance I could run on it for several weeks. It effectively derailed my cardio workouts. This was unfortunate, because I was starting to see some real gains in my performance.

So, back in Brussels, and quickly gaining weight because of my inability to run (and because of the good beer here of course), the wife suggested we try a Yoga studio not too far from the apartment. I had some reservations about this. Mostly they centered around just not knowing what to expect and how hard it would be. It is a Bikram Yoga studio (which was at this time meaningless to me). Usually I do some research, but this time I thought 'What the hell, I've never tried yoga, let's go over there and just do it.'

My overconfidence was nearly my undoing. Talk about intense. First, they heat the room to about 40 C (100+F) degrees. Then you are guided through a set of 26 postures over 90 minutes. What's that like? Imagine running a marathon on Venus. There are set water breaks. I had to sit down or kind of partially collapse at least eight times because I was seeing spots and close to passing out. I couldn't do most of the postures, but with most of them there was a sort of half-way position for newbies like myself that I could see would build strength and balance up so that you might one day do the entire posture correctly.

I can tell you this was much harder than any of my cardio workouts for tennis. Also, as you might imagine in this hot room I sweat more than I have ever sweat in my entire life, and I can say this without thinking about it. I have never sweat more - ever. Really.

However, after the session was over I felt great (perhaps because the session was over? =). I had good energy the rest of the day, felt light on my feet and slept very soundly.

Despite this grueling ordeal, I went back. Yes, I returned to this den of misery. The second session was difficult of course, but easier. I was only near to passing out twice, and nauseous once - which was a huge improvement. And today (two days later) I feel amazing. I am still a bit sore, but my legs are stronger and moving around is a breeze. Also, even though during the session my injured ankle felt a twinge of pain, it feels better now than it did before I started, curiously enough. I feel slightly more focused and centered in what I am doing. So, all around  I would say a fairly positive result. Of course I think this result would be similar with any really intense workout, but this was good because it was not so hard on my joints as my usual running routine and it worked many areas that I simply wouldn't be able to work in the gym.

So, I think I will continue the practice and see how I feel and also how it might improve my Tennis game overall. I do have some tips for anyone considering trying this Bikram out for the first time. 

Disclaimer: I am not a Doctor. I am not offering you medical advice of any kind. Consult your doctor(s) before trying this stuff. They may tell you to stay away from it. I am just offering some tips that I wish I had known before my first session. 

Hints: 

• Seriously. Talk to your doctor about it. I am not sure this is for just everyone, though I imagine anyone could benefit from it, provided it doesn't just kill you outright. 
• If you are way overweight or have weak legs I would suggest doing a few simple postures from pictures online for a few weeks before going. This will help a bit with balance and strengthening the legs. My impression now is that doing it is the best practice, but if you can't stand on one foot for about 8-10 seconds then you will have trouble in the session. I grabbed a spot near a wall so I could use it to balance myself. 
• Drink water all day in small amounts. Hydration seems to be rather important. I guess the heated room is supposed to clean your system.   
• Understand that it is going to be hard. Some postures were impossible for me. However I do think now that just trying to do them made me a bit stronger. Working toward being able to do the posture seems to be its own reward.  
• Take it slow, and recognize you may have low limits initially. When I felt dizzy or nauseous, I just sat or layed on the mat and rested until I was mostly recovered, then got back and tried again. They don't give you are hard time about it. 
• Don't worry too much about how you look doing this stuff. Usually the only people looking around are just trying to see how to do the posture correctly. It seems too intense to allow for the luxury of judging others. 

So if you give it a shot, I am curious to know what you think.