Anyone do Bikram Yoga? Has it helped you lose weight or tone up at all?
I generally do iyengar yoga, and kept at it for several years (had to reduce my schedule due to work/grad school). I felt like it kept me really toned. I gained a bit of weight when I stopped going regularly, and now I am looking at a Bikram studio near my house as 1) It's much closer than the other studio I went to 2) It has classes ALL THE TIME. The studio is even open on Thanksgiving day. I have no excuse not to be able to make it to a class at the Bikram studio. They run 5 classes 7 days a week. 3) They give a student discount which makes it pretty affordable to go a lot.
So...that said, I've gone a handful of times in the past year and I just didn't love it like I love iyengar. I hated the fast pace and that a peppy woman uses a microphone to scream out the poses. The poses weren't challenging to me and I felt like I didn't have enough time to really get into them properly or hold them long enough. I did love the heated room. It made things harder and the sweating felt cleansing...I am not entirely sure how healthy this is or if it makes you burn more calories (they say it does as you are working harder).
But...I am going to give it another try due to the convience factor. Just looking for other experiences or opinions on bikram yoga.
If you don't know what I am talking about, Bikram is the yoga done in a room heated to 105 degrees with 40% humidity. Classes are 90 minutes with the same 26 poses done twice each class. There are no advanced poses and it is good for beginners.