The Turkey Burn, Hot Yoga Style
Do people do hot yoga on Thanksgiving Day?
You betcha. And for this we are thankful
At Riverflow, we hold one 90 minute Classic Hot Yoga class at 9:30AM, Thursday, Thanksgiving Morning, November 27
Why? For the Turkey Burn, of course.
What's a Turkey Burn? The Wall Street Journal explained it that "People are turning Thanksgiving into one of the biggest workout days of the year: pumping it up before loading their plates with turkey, stuffing and pie."
More running races are held on Thanksgiving Day than any other day of the year, according to Athlinks, an aggregator of athletic-event data. About 870,000 people ran in a turkey-day race in 2013, according to industry tracker Running USA. That’s a 770% increase from the 100,000 who ran in races on the day five years earlier.
"By 11 a.m., my body’s burned a ton of calories and I am ready for Thanksgiving. "
Many people take a walk or play touch football after dinner. But some like getting it hot first, burning the calories and relaxing for the rest of the day.
Because it's a lot harder to work out after you’ve had a full Thanksgiving meal
Active users of the app MyFitnessPal, which has 65 million users world-wide, logged an average increase of 46% in calories burned on Thanksgiving Day from 2011 to 2013.
In Michigan, the Slaughter Boot Camp starts at 6:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving, with a full workout, at a park in Clinton Township, Mich., is “a great way to let go of all your responsibilities,” at least for a few hours.
At Riverflow Yoga, we open in the morning only and class size can swell as people get hot before cooking in the kitchen and traveling in traffic to see family.
We'e not alone. The Crunch Gym chain offers a 75-minute Turkey Burn and Firm class, with 45 minutes of cycling and 30 minutes of abdominal exercises. The five YMCAs in Snohomish County, Wash., are closed on Thanksgiving except for Burn the Bird morning activities that range from Zumba and kickboxing to a one-mile run.
Thanksgiving workouts are more than a century old. Buffalo, N.Y., founded its turkey trot in 1896 and calls it the nation’s oldest continuously running public footrace. It passed 10,000 runners in recent years and includes a costume contest and postrace party with a live band.
Research has shown that aerobic exercise curbs appetite, another popular reason that people concerned about overindulgence love to come to hot yoga on Thanksgiving morning.
But honestly, there's only one reason to do hot yoga on Thanksgiving morning: to give thanks. Hot yoga feels so good, it's just the best way to start a holiday or any day. And on Thanksgiving, when it comes your turn at the table to say what you're thankful for, just smile and say, "I got myself hot today."
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Reader Comments (2)
I made plans to go to Thanksgiving Day's hot yoga class in the a.m., but that plan was cancelled as we had to go to our one family's house earlier than expected. How I regretted that change of plan! I would have loved to have put myself in that heat, sweat, and good feeling before the fun but very energetically charged day of family gatherings and heavy, delicious foods!
Hot yoga just gets you in a state of peace from which you can easily ward off any negative feeling coming your way. NOw, the big next step is to let that be a state I am in constantly, whether I'm on or off the mat!
Three cheers for life, just one big asana.
this year i decided to give "thanks" to my body and go to a hot yoga class. luckily at the studio close to my house they offered a second 4:30 class which i was able to make. this class was much smaller than i expected, with only 5 other students. It finally dawned on me that everybody was in the AM class! i guess doing hot yoga takes a little more guts to do on Thanksgiving than a 5K, but at least you're getting out and doing something good for yourself. honoring and being thankful for the body that you have and making room for more pumpkin pie!