Bikram Yoga

Scorpion Found By Tent While Camping - May 2007

Lately I have been pretty motivated to work out, gotta look good for the wedding... jk. I am motivated way beyond just one special day. I have spent a lot of time on my bike lately, but have also been diversifying my workouts to include frisbee (1x/wk), indoor rock climbing (1x/wk), trail running (1x/wk), hiking, occasional gym workouts, kick boxing, etc. Last night I was talked into doing bikram yoga, aka hot yoga. Bikram is a 1.5 hr yoga class held in a room where the temperature is 105 degrees with ~50% humidity. I have never in my life done yoga and consider flexibility to be one of my weaknesses, so I knew it would be challenging. I was confident in my abilities to handle heat though since I usually work out during the hottest time of the day. Well it was interesting to say the least. The heat was very oppressive, and I can't remember losing that much sweat in so little time ever before in my life. I noticed it most when we were laying on our backs doing nothing, my heart was still racing and I found it challenging to breath. The poses were difficult for me as a beginner since I was trying to emulate some very experienced people. I quickly found out the discrepancies between ACL knee and good knee are much larger than I thought when my bad knee would start shaking very quickly into a pose. And just as I suspected, I really have no flexibility skills.

But the sweating...oh it was great! I love to sweat, and no I am not being sarcastic. To me, a workout without sweating is no workout at all. At least living here in the desert this is true. I must have sweat the equivalent of a large glass of human liquid release. Pleasant thought huh. So once I walked out of the class and starting thinking about what I had just completed, I realized why America as a whole is so extravagant and wasteful. I had just paid $14 for the pleasure of sitting in a room and sweating my ass off at 105 degrees while living in a city where the average temp this time of year is greater than 105. Add to this was the addition of water into the air in the form of humidity to make things even more unbearable. Following this, I got into my air conditioned car and drove to my air conditioned house and had to drink tons of water to replenish lost hydration. Does this make any sense? Uneducated tribesmen in Ecuador would understand that this is activity is nonsense.

But the fact that we have the luxury of totally nonsensical activities such as this is why we should all feel lucky to have been born into a rich country. Where exercise is a choice, not a survival mechanism. Since I am an extravagant American and I have a 30 day pass now, I am going to do this idiocy again next week.