I’ve never been a workout class girlie. I went to one or two in college, but it’s never been my thing. So, when my friend invited me to her weekly Core Power hot yoga, I was skeptical. First, I’m kind of self-conscious when working out in public (thank you, anxiety). Plus, I’m not super active. Most of my workouts are low-key and consist of 30 minutes on my handy mini stepper followed by 15 minutes of DIY Pilates. If I’m feeling lazy, I’ll trek a couple of miles on my walking pad and maybe do some arm curls. But nothing too intensive or sweat-inducing.
And from what I know about hot yoga – which wasn’t a lot, to be fair – it’s intense. Harder than Pilates, some might say. The allure of hot yoga, compared to regular yoga, is that it’s done in a “heated room, typically between 85-105°F with humidity hovering around 40 percent,” says celebrity trainer and founder of Train Like a Gymnast, Danielle Gray. “The practice combines traditional yoga postures, or asanas, with the added challenge of environmental heat stress, which creates a unique physiological response in the body.”
