These last few weeks I’ve been trying out Bikram Yoga.
Previously I had never been a big fan of yoga. This is because I’m not very flexible and yoga deals heavily in what I would call “flexible strength”.
Flexible strength means that you apply power when your muscles are in a stretched position. Many people who are more flexible than me can do this relatively easily, or at least do it in a way that the muscles can stand it. In the past, I’ve been so inflexible that when I put my muscles in a stretched state and then attempt to flex them, I inevitably pull the muscle due to the strain.
This really sucked and I stopped after trying yoga many years ago.
However, after much training this year, and with the help of my physical therapist’s suggestions on stretches and exercises, and couple that with ART, I have found that I can actually survive yoga poses and build my ability to execute them without pulling muscles.
Unfortunately, I think that Bikram will require many months, if not years of training to get to some level of proficiency. My race season training is about to start and I think that given time constraints, and the added stress training puts on my muscles, that I won’t be able to continue this once real training begins early next year.
It’s too bad. My coach thinks it is great heat acclimatizing training since you do it in a room that is heated to 100+ degrees.