Do You Have To Use A Yoga Towel
Yoga towels wick away your sweat, helping you maintain your grip on your mat. They’re ideal for hot yoga, in which the room temperature can be as high as;105 degrees Fahrenheit;and profuse sweating is part of the practice. Yoga towels absorb and trap the moisture so it doesn’t spread on the surface of the mat, and their dense microfibers keep the surface secure, so you have a sturdy foundation under you.
Many people prefer to spread a yoga towel on top of their yoga mat regardless of the yoga variety they’re practicing. Others like to keep a yoga towel close to hand because they’re prone to sweat a lot. In the end, the decision to put a yoga towel on top of your mat is entirely up to you.;
Yoga studios often provide communal mats for group classes. These can be full of bacteria and dirt, since multiple people use them throughout the day. Placing a yoga towel on top of these mats is an excellent way to maintain personal hygiene, especially when the yoga position requires you to put your face on the mat. If your mat turns out to be too thin for you, using a yoga towel can add a layer of cushion and make it more comfortable to hold positions.;
Are You A Yoga Teacher
This guide shows our proven step-by-step system for creating a yoga website you love. If youre a yoga teacher, snag this guide for FREE.
Cheers!Brandon
About Brandon
Former corporate sales rep turned nomadic entrepreneurial yogi. Street food ninja, avid outdoorsman, craft beer geek, and live music junkie. Co-founder of The Yoga Nomads.
Best Hot Yoga Mat: Manduka Pro Yoga Mat 6mm
One of the best overall mats we tested, the Manduka Pro Yoga Mat is just that made for pros! Specifically, pros who love nothing more than a sweatier-than-thou workout. Even if youre not a typically sweaty person, hot-yoga classes are held at temperatures ranging from 90 degrees Fahrenheit up to 108, with loads of humidity in there to boot. Point being: Youre going to be dripping, and you definitely want a no-slip mat that can withstand all that wetness. Enter: Manduka Pro Yoga Mat.
A beast in its own right, the 6-millimeter-thick mat is beloved by advanced yogis and instructors alike for its density and top and underside gripping, all of which were the reasons we felt it performed better than any other mat we tested during hot yoga. Clocking in at a whopping 7.5 pounds, the PVC mats sheer weight anchors it to the floor and ensures a stable workout. The Pros top-side texture comprises vertical and horizontal grooves that produced some of the best grip we experienced during testing, even when we had sweat dripping all over the place. The underside also has tons of grip, in the form of a rugged dot pattern that we found stayed put on both carpeted and hardwood floors.
All in all, however, we found the Manduka Pro to be an excellent mat for both hot-yoga and regular yoga devotees and thus worthy of its steep price point. Not only is it backed by a lifetime warranty from Manduka, the mat is also Oeko-Tex certified and latex-free.
Dont Miss: How To Add Yoga To Garmin Connect
Don’t Miss: Yoga Catholic Religion
What’s A Yoga Towel And Do I Need One
Believe it or not, there’s likely a lot you don’t know about yoga towels. It may not seem like a pressing topic, but if you’re a seasoned yoga practitioner or want to begin the journey to become one, it’s essential to understand the role a yoga towel has in your practice.;
For yoga studio owners or even gym owners who offer yoga classes, knowing the benefits of stocking your business with yoga towels can lead to happier and healthier clients. With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about yoga towels.
How Do You Wash Yoga Towels
Many yoga towels are microfiber, a high-absorbency material. Microfiber is a straightforward material to wash and maintain, often needing only a wash with cold water and no fabric softener. You can dry them in your dryer on low heat or hang them up to air-dry on a clothesline, since microfiber dries much faster than cotton.
Some yoga towels may have specific washing and maintenance directions on their tags, but generally, it’s as simple as tossing your used towel into the laundry after each use.
A good rule to follow for yoga towels and anything else that absorbs sweat is to wash after every use. That includes yoga mats. However, since yoga mats are much more challenging to clean correctly, using a yoga towel on top of it protects the mat itself, which means you have to clean it less often. Washing your yoga towel after every use will ensure you always return to a clean and hygienic space to practice yoga.
Also Check: Calories Burned In An Hour Of Yoga
How To Wash Yoga Mat Towels: Easy Care Guide
Yoga Guides
Yoga sessions are more comfortable when you have complete yoga gears. This includes having a yoga mat towel. And since intense yoga workout brings sweat, you also need to learn how to wash yoga mat towel. You need to eliminate bacteria that may cause odor and prevent it from spreading. More than just normal washing, there are more effective ways of washing your yoga mat towels and keeping it clean.
What Makes A Good Hot Yoga Towel
Hot yoga towels available on the market are not all that different. Mostly, they vary in size and thickness. Some also have extra features to minimize crumpling during the practice. Thoroughly analyze your needs and make sure to check your wished-for towel against the following characteristics.
Above all, check the absorbing qualities and thickness. A good yoga towel will be able to soak up large amounts of moisture during a lengthy exercise. Generally, the thicker the towel, the more sweat it can wick away.
The high-quality hot yoga towel should offer you non-slip and grippy surface, where you would feel safe to do fast changing asanas without slipping. If your feet and hands are not naturally sweaty, it is recommended to spray the towel with water to increase traction.
Good yoga towels will stay attached to the mat and wont bunch up during the yoga session. To achieve this, manufacturers combine microfiber with a rubber bottom or add small corner flaps on the towel or special silicone nubs. Some have no specific features but tend to stay in place when wet. It is mostly a matter of preference. For instance, if you are sensitive to rough textures, then avoid towels with silicone numbs at the bottom as this feature will need some getting-used-to.
Hot yoga towels are designed to be quick drying and lightweight. While, at the same time, the thicker the material, the heavier the towel is and the longer it takes to dry out.
You May Like: How To Add Yoga To Garmin Connect
Its Clothing Collection Is The Only One Of Its Kind
While its yoga equipment is unique and distinct, Mandukas clothing collection is no different. Keeping in line with their eco-friendly manufacturing processes, the fitness apparel by Manduka is produced using all-natural, high-quality fabrics hardly used by any other brand.
The cotton is obtained from organic farms whereas the polyester required for stretchy pants is obtained from recycling old clothes to reduce the environmental impact.
Do You Need A Yoga Towel
The grip and support provided by a yoga mat means it’s a pretty necessary item. The question becomes, however, do you need a towel to cover it? A regular bath towel isn’t appropriate for a yoga practice, as it isn’t designed to stay put on your mat. A yoga-specific towel, however, has small grips on the bottom that lay on your sticky mat, so the towel doesn’t slide. Terrycloth towels also get heavy as they soak up moisture and don’t absorb sweat as efficiently as microfiber versions made for yoga.
Before purchasing a yoga towel, ask yourself the following:
- Do you attend a practice during which you sweat a lot?
- Do you want the most hygienic practice possible?
- Do you want your mat to last a long time?
Recommended Reading: Can You Do Yoga After Botox
Whats The Best Yoga Mat
Although I can highly recommend Manduka mats, they are not my favorite brand. Im a big advocate of Liforme mats. They are made from natural rubber on the base with a polyurethane surface which provides excellent grip, even when your hands are sweaty.
These mats are particularly great for beginners thanks to the alignment lines on the mat that can help you self-correct when practicing without a yoga instructor.
Read Also: Does Hot Yoga Burn A Lot Of Calories
Yoga Towel By Youphoria Yoga
As Amazons #1 best seller in yoga mats, the Yoga Towel by Youphoria Yoga is bound to work well. It can hold seven times its weight in liquid and dries very quickly. The moisture-wicking microfiber towel is ultra absorbent, slip resistant, lightweight, machine washable, and high quality. It can improve your grip and wont slide around on your mat. It is recommended to mist the towel with water before beginning class for best results.
This comes in a range of colors to suit your personal style. It is one of the most wished for items on Amazon and has outstanding reviews online, including more than 1,700 five-star reviews on Amazon. It is also backed by a satisfaction guarantee, so youre bound to be happy.
And those are our recommendations for the best hot yoga towels. As always, be sure to check Wise Bread’s Buying Calendar to learn when and how to buy just about anything!
You May Like: Does Hot Yoga Burn A Lot Of Calories
What Is A Hot Yoga Towel & Why Use It
A yoga towel is a piece of highly absorbent cloth that keeps you dry during the intense workout, decreases slippage and improves traction by soaking up moisture and sweat. Yoga towels are generally made of microfiber material known for its wicking qualities.
No matter, how good your mat is, if its not designed specifically for hot yoga, you will probably lose grip and slip more than on a dry surface. A yoga towel can make the practice more comfortable and prevent you from potential injuries caused by sliding on the wet mat.
And the great thing is that the more you sweat, the better the grip is. Most of the yoga towels absorb several times more sweat than their actual weight and can be used repeatedly during the workout.
A yoga towel will be best suited for the Bikram yoga class, where the high temperature in the room makes even the most resistant to perspiration sweat profusely. But if you are naturally a heavy sweater or have sweaty palms, a yoga towel may prove to be helpful during other types of yoga, including fast-paced Power and Vinyasa yoga.
Apart from wicking away sweat and preventing injury, a hot yoga towel can offer you so much more. Here are some of the advantages of investing in a high-quality yoga towel.
You Should Always Use Yoga Mat Towels And These Non
LEUS brand yoga mats conquer sweat and never stop gripping your body, letting you practice the hottest yoga or other sweaty exercises.
Ive been using yoga mats at the gym all wrong and Im very glad to have become enlightened about how this is supposed to work.
After LEUS sent me a few yoga mat towels to try out, I did at home and at the gym. And boy, did it change everything for me. The ultra-absorbent soft suede that LEUS uses on the full yoga mat towel is very nice to kneel and spread out on, depending on your yoga, stretching, or core activities. I used it at home to run some nighttime core exercises like ab rolling, cross body crunching, and planking. The fabric never turned abrasive to my skin, and my knees never slid, even while drenched in sweat. To the gym, I took with me the yoga hand towel, which I primarily used under my knees and hands, keeping my sweat off of those public mats and, more importantly, their sweat off of me.
Speaking of sweat I sweat a lot. And I always need products that can handle a little extra moisture while maintaining their core tenets. In this regard, LEUS really shined. I never felt like my sweat was pooling or affecting the grip of either towel, which is rare for me. Im usually garnering stares from across the room and silently cringing at each bead of effort as it rolls off my forehead.
Don’t Miss: What Is Vajra Yoga In Astrology
What Is The Difference Between A Yoga Towel And A Regular Towel
When first starting out with yoga, it can all seem a little overwhelmingwhat products will you need, what products will you want, what products arent really worth the investment?
With so many questions in mind, its common to see someone new to the practice bring a regular shower or beach towel into the hot room to spread out over their mat. Essentially, they work in the same way, but maybe not as well.
Regular cotton towels are a little softer and more pliable than yoga mat towels. While mat towels do feel soft underneath your hands and feet, the material itself is a bit stiffer and more durable than that of a towel you would use to dry off with.
This means it will hold up better in a heated room, and its less likely to move around underneath you as you practice.
Mat towels are also much more absorbent than regular towels for the beach or shower. While these do a great job of drying you off, they arent sweat wicking. This makes a huge difference when sweat is actively dripping onto your mat!
Particularly in a heated room, you might be surprised by how much you actually sweat during class.
For many peoplethough it depends on how much you sweata regular cotton towel will easily get soaked through.
When the cotton towel is soaked with sweat, youll end up with nothing more than a soppy mess covering your mat. It wont absorb any more sweat, and because its soaking, it wont really help keep you from slipping either.
Best Yoga Mats For Bad Knees
Finding the best yoga mat for bad knees can be a pain.
But no worries.
Luckily, weve gathered up the top yoga mats for bad knees so that practicing yoga can be as comfortable as possible.
The Fusion Mat is made specifically for bad joints. No matter what activity you use it for, you can be sure that it will keep you comfortable and protect your knees.
Dimensions: 24 width, 68 or 74 lengthThickness: 7.9 mm
You May Like: What Does Sutra Mean In Yoga
A Guide To Yoga Towels
Weve all seen the sign outside the hot yoga studio Bring Your Own Yoga Towel but we need to remember that these simple yet transformative pieces of textile are for all types of yoga and can help you in the most unexpected ways. Yoga towels are for use way beyond a sweaty intense flow, they are for all and every type of practice to help you with your grip and moisture management around any yoga mat. Adding a yoga hand or full mat towel to your toolbox can be a game changer and we are here to tell you why and provide some PRO tips.
What is a Yoga Towel for?
Fundamentally they provide 2 main performance characteristics:
1. Provide extra GRIP when your hands or feet start to release heat and moisture.
2. Absorb excess moisture aka SWEAT, from collecting on top of your mat.
Why do you lose Grip?
For some, grip is the most important aspect of their yoga mat. Depending on the class, the weather, how your body is feeling, time of day, your level of practice, how far into the yoga lesson/practice, the condition or the construction type of your yoga mat can potentially mean a loss of grip.;Which for some is extremely frustrating. For some not so much. But as heat builds in your body and the muscles that are in use tire, the natural reaction is for the body to try and cool down by releasing moisture. Normally first through the hands, then arms, then feet and so on.
A few things to know or unknow.
;Full mat yoga towels are for hot or intense practices.
yogitoes®
What About The Hybrid Yoga Mat + Towel Combos
There are a few companies trying to create a hybrid yoga mat and yoga towel combination. In my onion that is a challenging task. It would need to have a sticky yoga mat texture on the bottom, and an absorbent, non-slip, towel-like surface on top.
I was skeptical of these products and here are a few questions I had right away:
- What if you dont want to practice with a yoga towel surface today?What if the soft yoga towel surface is too slippery?
Luckily, we;did find one product that nailed it!
Recommended Reading: Is Hotpod Yoga Good For You
What Is The Best Yoga Towel
- Best Overall: Manduka Yogitoes Yoga Mat. Buy on Amazon Buy on Manduka.com.
- Best Budget: AmazonBasics Yoga Towel. Buy on Amazon.
- Best for Hot Yoga: Yoga Mate Towel. Buy on Amazon.
- Best Non-Slip: CD CDream Yoga Mat.
- Best Quick-Drying: Reehut Hot Yoga Towel.
- Best for Travel: Alfamo Cooling Towel.
- Best Non-Bunching: Iuga Yoga Towel.
What Is The Best Non Slip Yoga Mat
Review of the Best Non-Slip Yoga Mats
Recommended Reading: What To Wear To Yoga Class
