Setting Up A Hot Yoga Studio - 5 Points To Consider

Fully insulate the room

Hot Yoga Design - 5 Points To Consider

 Whether you are looking to build a brand new, purpose built hot yoga studio, or add heating to an existing yoga centre to provide an additional offering to your customers / clients / yogis, there are 5 things to consider:

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 Or Go To Our New Hot Yoga Studio Design Website

Insulation: 

Make sure the building or the room you intend on heating will be very well insulated. Making a good investment into double glazed windows, and adding additional insulating fibre to the ceiling and the walls will 1) keep the heat in the room once the infra red heaters have done their job in bringing the ambient temperature up to 30-42 C, and 2) you will save money in the long run.

Heat Recovery: 

A heat recovery system works by simply adding a small percentage of fresh air to the room through duct work. The heat recovery unit will retain up to 80% of the heat of the room, while at the same time introducing fresh air into the room, and exhausting stale air. Traditionally, you would have used a ventilation system that wouldn't have heated the airbut instead just brought in fresh air, however, you would have lost all of that valuable heat during extraction, and on a cold day you would have to reheat the air that enters through the inlet.

 

Within the heat recovery unit, there is a wheel that turns very slowly. The hot air that is in the room is piped (ducted) to the wheel, and the wheel captures the hot air. As the wheel turns, the hot air is moved over to the pipework where the fresh air is entering the inlet duct. The mix of fresh air and the heated air is pulled into the room giving the room warm and fresh air at the same time, so you only really lose a very small percentage of the air you have spent money on heating. The heat recovery system is refrigerant free, very economical and will help keep the room fresh and will reduce the amount of money you will have to spend on reheating the room.

Heating: We recommend using infra red heating panels for the heating of the studio for these main reasons -

Infra red waves are the same type of waves that are emitted from the sun, which means the warmth you experience is natural and comfortable

FRICO EZ200 - Hot Yoga Heater

1. They are easy to install - no pipework, no moving parts, they come with brackets
2. They are easy to control - one thermostat rigged up to one circuit
3. You can move them if you want to change the design of the room
4. They blend in with the design of the room - they are designed to be discreet
5. The heat is instant - you can feel the infra red heat when you stand directly under the heater
6. There energy efficient and green - no harmful gases or emissions, perfectly safe
7. The infra red waves emitted from the heaters will be absorbed by the surfaces and the people within the room. It has been stated that the human body can absorb 98% of the infra red waves that are emitted from the heaters, meaning you can literally feel the heat from within and the heat will not go to waste.

In addition to using the infra red heaters, we also recommend using a high quality industrial fan heater to increase the ambient air temperature so that when people are walking in and out of the room, the air that has been heated can be maintained at the optimal temperature. The fan heater can be wall mounted or portable making it easy for you to control the temperature as the class is in full swing.







 The yogis will experience an all round feeling of wellbeing as their body warms under the infra red waves. The muscles will warm up and feel more supple allowing the client to move into deeper stretches earlier in the class. For those wishing to take their yoga practice further, performing yoga moves under the influence of infra heat can be very beneficial. Likewise for those just starting out, hot yoga can be a great introduction to the practice and may prove to reduce the chance of injury due to the muscles being warmer and more pliable at the beginning of the class.

Humidity: 

As the colder months get closer, it will be important to monitor the level of rH (relative humidity) in the room. In a nutshell, for humans the comfort level of rH is 40-60%. In countries where there is a lot of rainfall (like good old Blighty) there is less need to add humidity to achieve the above levels of rH. However, when the winter does strike and there is little rainfall, the rH of the air can drop to below 40% - without the humidity in the air, it can mean your clients may feel the dryness in their airways and complain of breathing problems.

Steam Humidifier

They may also complain of not sweating enough, or that it doesn't feel hot enough - the temperature may be high enough, but the added humidity is not there, making it feel cooler than it actually is. So, to combat this problem, simply add a steam humidifier that is capable of bringing the humidity back up to around 50% on the coldest and driest day of the year. In addition to the health benefits of using a humidifier for the room, it will also get people sweating sooner. The added humidity to the room means the sweat will not evaporate as quickly off the skin, and the body will be working even harder to push the sweat out from the limbs, through the skin.

The Room: 

The best and most effective type of room to use would be a room with no external walls, in order to keep the heat in. However, this would a be rare find, so we need to have a look at the shape of the room itself to maximise the performance of the hot yoga studio. Ideally, the room will be shaped like a box, have a ceiling height of betweem 2.1 and 3 metres with a hard floor to reflect the infra red waves from the heating panels. Any nooks and crannys should be covered up, sealed and boxed in if possible to allow for the heat to travel through the room, and heat all of the surfaces. Having windows can affect heat loss, unless they are triple glazed.

Sunrise Yoga - Ideal Room

Finding a suitable room to use for hot yoga can be difficult. The most important things to consider are the following:

1. Three Phase power supply is available
2. A D2 Planning Licence is in place
3. The Landlord has agreed to using it as a hot yoga studio

There are many calculations that are involved in specifying the type of heat recovery, heating and humidification needed for a successful installation. We have experience in providing tailored packages for hot yoga operators, so feel free to get in touch for a professional and accurate quotation.



Or, read this blog post outlining The House of Yoga and their new project: Read article

A few of our customers:

 

Can Athletes Use Hot Yoga As Preparation For Sports?

Opening up your studio to local athletes looking to get the edge

Ryan Giggs.  Source: Topnews.in

With hot yoga becoming more and more popular in the UK, more studios are rising to the demand and installing infra red heating and humidification systems for yogis to sweat it out.  Hot yoga attracts athletes of all kinds (Andy Murray, Ryan Giggs to name just a couple) to increase flexibility, tolerance and strength.



Hot yoga studios, or health clubs with the facility to heat a studio to 40⁰C could also benefit by offering heat acclimation training for local athletes, thus boosting revenue and profile in the area.

What is heat acclimation training?

Heat acclimation training is widely known in the sports performance arena as training under controlled hot and humid conditions, usually within a purpose built chamber where the athlete is rigged up to all sorts of apparatus to test heart rate, VO2 Max, etc, where test can be monitored to record the change in physiology that takes place.

Athletes Training in Heated Room.  Source: 80percentmental.com

Dr Christopher Minson and various other sports scientists have proven how training in the heat (heat acclimation) builds tolerance and triggers a response in the musculature of the athlete that boosts performance.

How do I set up heat acclimation training in my studio?

Simple.  Heat the room as normal, and add either a spinning bike, some aerobics equipment or simply hold a movement based exercise class that requires the athletes (pro or amateur) to perform at around 50% of their max.  You wouldn't want the participant to work out to the maximum, but enough to create a stress response within the body and to increase heart rate, breathing rate etc.  You could request the participants bring their own heart rate monitor to check on the level of intensity of the training, and to avoid any possible problems.  Hydration will be of great importance pre, during and post exercise.

Stay Hydrated When Training In The Heat.  Source: Juveleblog.com

It is not only yoga that can be practiced in the hot and humid conditions we find in hot yoga studios.  Athletes can take advantage of this training protocol to prepare for upcoming competitions and events.

Health club owners, and hot yoga studio owners can use the space for training athletes when there is a gap in the timetable, allowing for greater return on the investment on the heating system and creating a buzz around the brand.

What do you think?  If you are a hot yoga studio owner, would you entertain having athletes train in your hot environment?  How would you charge?

Heat Acclimation - Perform Better!

Heat Acclimation Improves Intermittent Sprinting In The Heat But Additional Pre-Cooling  Offers No Further Ergogenic Effect

How can training in the heat result in improved cardiovascular and sprint conditioning, and prepare an athlete for competition in the heat?

Pulling on several resources and research papers, it has been proven that heat acclimation could be the missing link for those wishing to compete at higher levels, especially when having to compete overseas in hot and humid conditions.

This article contains a number of snapshots to give you a taste of how you can benefit from heat acclimation training, followed by recommended products to create your very own heat and humidity controlled training room:

 "....after heat acclimation, no significant correlation was evident  between peak power output and the physiological strain index in any condition, and peak power increased by ~2% in the heat"

 "The improved peak power output after heat  acclimation might have been due to reduced muscle temperatures  and lower epinephrine concentrations, leading to less reliance on muscle glycogen and thus producing higher  power output over time........it is likely that the sparring adaptation accounts for at least some of the performance enhancement observed post acclimation in the hot condition."


 "Heat strain has been negatively correlated   to peak power output in hot, humid conditions in previous investigations and the current investigation prior to heat acclimation.  However, no such correlation was observed when acclimated.......our data confirm previous observations that heat acclimation of short duration improves tolerance”

“It is the first study to show increased basal HSP70 concentrations and improved intermittent sprinting performance due to heat acclimation”

“These results are important for the travelling athlete....if time and facilities [are available] to heat acclimate, it is possible  that heat acclimation  could enhance  intermittent sprint performance”.

References of quotations available: Tim Watts – sales@eurocontrols.co.uk
 
We tailor heating and humidity products to provide hot and humid conditions for those wishing to perform at higher levels, and to get the competitive edge.  We calculate heat load, humidity duties required and offer a simple supply and installation package that creates a heated environment for athletes to train.  We use the latest infra red heaters combined with commercial steam humidifiers to control the temperature and humidity within your heat acclimation training chamber. 

Contact us for more information on how to get more out of your training programme.