What to Wear to Hot Yoga: Clothes, Fabrics and What to Bring

For hot yoga, wear fitted clothes in a light, quick-drying synthetic fabric: high-waisted leggings or shorts and a close-fitting tank or sports bra. Skip cotton, loose tops and anything heavy, because they soak up sweat and slide around. Practise barefoot, and bring a towel for your mat and a full water bottle.

Hot yoga rooms are usually heated to somewhere between 32 and 40 °C (90 to 105 °F). A Bikram-style room sits near the top of that range with added humidity. Most people are sweating within ten minutes. What you wear decides whether the next hour is about your practice or about your waistband.

Fabric: why cotton loses

Cotton absorbs water and holds it. In a hot room a cotton tank gets heavy, clings to your skin and stays wet, so by the time you reach the floor poses you are lying in it.

Synthetic blends (nylon, polyester, elastane) take up far less water. They stay lighter when soaked, keep their shape and dry fast between classes. Look for labels like moisture-wicking and four-way stretch. Be realistic about what "wicking" means in a humid room: nothing stays dry in 40 °C and 40 percent humidity. The gain is that the fabric does not turn into a wet weight.

Bamboo and modal blends feel soft and work well for a gentle Hatha or Yin class at room temperature. In a hot room they saturate quickly.

One trade-off. Synthetic fabric tends to hold on to smell more than cotton does, because the oils in sweat stick to the fibres. Wash your kit after every class.

If you want a place to start looking, Berunwear's yoga collection has tops and bottoms in technical fabric that hold up to heat.

Fit: snug, not tight

Your clothes should move with you through twists, binds and forward folds without bunching, rolling or riding up.

• Bottoms. A high waistband that stays put when you fold forward. Test it in the fitting room: bend over and touch the floor. If the waistband rolls down or the fabric turns see-through, keep looking.
• Tops. A fitted tank or a sports bra. A loose T-shirt falls over your face in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog) and bunches under your neck in Salamba Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand).
• Sports bras. Low to medium support is enough for most yoga. A tight high-impact bra can feel restrictive when you breathe deeply for an hour.
• Men. Fitted shorts with a liner, or compression shorts under looser ones. Loose running shorts ride up in seated poses and when you lift your legs. A fitted technical tank on top, or no shirt where the studio allows it.

Shorts or leggings?

Teachers disagree here, and both sides have a point.

In Bikram and Hot 26 classes, many regulars wear short shorts. Several poses in the series ask you to hold your foot or wrap one leg around the other, as in Garudasana (Eagle Pose) and Dandayamana Janushirasana (Standing Head to Knee Pose). Sweaty leggings get slippery under your hands, and bare skin grips better. Some teachers also like to see the knee so they can cue the standing leg.

In hot vinyasa and power classes the room is often a little cooler, you move more and you spend more time on the floor. Here, full or cropped leggings are common, and they protect your knees and shins on a wet mat.

Wear what lets you hold the poses without fiddling with your clothes. If you are new, leggings are fine. You will find out quickly whether the grip poses bother you.

What not to wear to hot yoga

• Cotton anything. See above.
• Loose shorts. They ride up in Pigeon Pose and bunch when you cross your legs.
• Light grey or pale fabric, if sweat marks bother you. Dark colours and prints hide them.
• Shoes and socks. Hot yoga is practised barefoot. Socks slide on a wet mat.
• Jewellery, watches and metal bands. They get in the way in grips and binds, and some studios ask you to take them off.
• Perfume and scented lotion. In a hot room with 30 other people, a scent carries. Lotion also makes your hands and feet slip.
• A hoodie or long sleeves during class. Wear a layer on the way in and out. Take it off before you start.

What to bring

The kit for a regular hot yoga student is small:

1. Two pairs of high-waisted leggings or fitted shorts.
2. Two or three fitted tanks or sports bras.
3. A mat. A good yoga mat with some grip helps, since a wet mat gets slippery.
4. A mat-length microfibre towel to lay on top of it. A light mist of water on the towel before class makes it grip better from the start.
5. A small towel for your face and hands.
6. A water bottle of at least 750 ml.
7. A change of clothes and a bag for the wet ones.

Wash on a cool cycle and hang dry. Heat from a tumble dryer wears out elastane faster.

Before your first hot class

Drink water through the day before class, and eat light, a couple of hours before. Arrive early so you can pick a spot and let your body adjust to the heat. Tell the teacher it is your first class.

Plan to stay in the room for the whole class, and give yourself permission to rest. Sitting or lying down on your mat is always allowed. If you feel dizzy or sick, stop and lie down. Dizziness in the heat is a signal to stop, and pushing through it is not part of the practice.

Hot yoga is hard on the body. You lose a lot of fluid and salt through sweat, and a long, hot class adds recovery time on top of other training. If you combine several hot classes a week with running or strength work, Movement Rebels has a guide to the signs of overtraining that is worth reading. For more on the different styles, see what hot yoga is: Bikram, Barkan, CorePower, Baptiste and Moksha, and our list of the 26 Bikram yoga poses. Our 10 tips to avoid yoga injuries apply in a hot room as well.

Quick checklist

• Fitted, quick-drying top
• High-waisted bottoms that stay put in a forward fold
• Towel on the mat, a small one for your face
• Full water bottle
• No cotton, no metal, no scent

Want to try the sequence at home before you go to a studio? Take the full 60-minute Hot 26 class with Lauren Matters, or learn it pose by pose in the Hot 26 breakdown series. For a hot sequence you can do on your own, try the Hot 60 sequence.

Frequently asked questions

What not to wear to hot yoga?

Avoid cotton, which soaks up sweat and gets heavy, loose T-shirts that fall over your face, loose shorts that ride up, and socks, which slip on a wet mat. Leave jewellery, perfume and body lotion at home.

Should I be barefoot for hot yoga?

Yes. Hot yoga is practised barefoot. Bare feet grip the mat and the towel better than socks, which slide once they are wet. Wear sandals or shoes to and from the studio floor.

Can I take my shirt off during hot yoga?

It depends on the studio. Many hot yoga studios are fine with men practising shirtless and women practising in a sports bra, and in Bikram classes it is common. Some studios have a dress code, so ask at the front desk before your first class.

How do I prepare for my first hot yoga class?

Drink water through the day, eat a light meal two to three hours before, and arrive 10-15 minutes early. Bring a mat, a mat towel, a small towel and water. Tell the teacher you are new, and rest on your mat whenever you need to.

Should I wear shorts or leggings to hot yoga?

Both work. Shorts give better grip in Bikram poses where you hold your foot or wrap your legs, because bare skin slips less than wet fabric. Leggings protect your knees in floor-heavy classes like hot vinyasa. Choose what lets you hold the poses without adjusting your clothes.

What colour should I wear to hot yoga?

Dark colours and prints hide sweat marks. Light grey and pale colours show every drop. Check that light fabric does not turn see-through when it is wet or stretched in a forward fold.

Do I need a special mat for hot yoga?

No, a regular yoga mat works. The towel on top of it matters more. A mat-length microfibre towel soaks up sweat and gives your hands and feet something to grip when the mat underneath is wet.