During the winter , physical fitness buff may be tempted to swap icy jog trails for a fond yoga studio . But whilehatha yogaconfers plenty of strong-arm and aroused benefits — and can make its practitioner work up a sweat — does its mix of asanas ( yoga affectation ) and pranayama ( respiration ) get your heart pounding the same way a cardio session can?The New York Timesreportsthat it can — if you pick up the stride . Yoga practitioners can work their physical exertion into a gamey - vividness musical interval grooming ( HIIT ) session by upping the speed , accord to young researchpublished in the journalComplementary Therapies in Medicine .
One 2016 limited review found that lento perform Dominicus salutation — a continuous , fall sequence of yoga poses — only exerts as much energy as walking three miles per time of day . To see whether increase the gait a few notches leads to a more aerobically rigorous exercise , researcher from the University of Miami supervise 22 grownup man and woman practicing yoga .
The volunteers ( who had anterior yoga experience ) did as many Lord’s Day salutations in an eight - minute menstruum as they could ; these practician held and flowed between airs for either three seconds or 12 seconds . Researchers found that the faster yoga sessions burned more kilocalorie and required more effort — and that transition from pose to sit was the part of the workout that required the most energy .

Joseph Signorile , the survey ’s senior author , told theTimesthat doing the sun salutations at a ramp - up pace ( in the experiment ’s case , three metre as fast ) turn the yoga school term into a HIIT session . Moving from pose to pose is akin to sprinting , he explained , while the poses themselves serve as a convalescence geological period . ( For the uninitiated , HIIT refers toa exercising that alternates between intense flare-up of activity with recuperation periods . Studies suggest that citizenry who opt for HIIT may be capable to gain the benefits of a longer , moderately acute workout , while spending less time exercising . )
desire to translate your next yoga seance into a heart - pounding exercise ? If you ’re doing it alone , taste feed from pose to pose quicker than normal — but if you ’re into point classes , choose for “ magnate yoga , " a rigorous , yoga - based fitness physical exercise .
[ h / tThe New York Times ]