body composition, cardiovascular endurance and anaerobic power

Indian J Physiol Phannacol 1993; 37(3): 225-228
BODY COMPOSITION, CARDIOVASCULAR ENDURANCE
AND ANAEROBIC POWER OF YOGIC PRACTITIONER
T. K. BERA* AND M. V. RAJAPURKAR
Scientific Research Department,
Kaivalyadhama, Lonavla - 410 403
( Received on September 12, 1992 )
Abstract: Forty male high school students, age 12-15 yrs, participated for a study of yoga
in relation to body composition, cardiovascular endurance and anaerobic power. Ths Ss
were placed into two subsets viz., yoga group and control group. Body composition,
cardiovascular endurance anaerobic power were measured using standard method. The duration
of experiment was one year. The result of ANCOVA revealed that a significant improvement
in ideal body weight, body density, cardiovascular endurance and anaerobic power was
observed as a result of yoga training. This study could not show significant change in body
fat (midaxillary), skeletal diameters and most of the body cirumferences. It was evident that
some of the fat-folds (trice!" subscapular, supraiJiac, umbilical, thigh and calf) and body
circumferences (waist, umbilical and hip) were reduced significantly.
Key words:.
yoga training
anaerobic power
INTRODUCTION
Desirable changes in physiological
and
anthropological dimensions signify the improvement
of sports performance (I, 2, 3). A number of studies
have revealed that school athletes who are proficient
in specific sport event have specific body composition
and physiological characteristics (4, 5, 6). Although
little information about physiological characteristics of
yogic practitioner is available (7, 8), no information so
far has been reported about their morphological
characteristics. The present study was undertaken to
observe the difference, if any, in body composition,
cardiovascular endurance and anaerobic power, as a
result of certain yogic practices.
MEHTODS
Subjects consisted of 40 healthy high school
boys, aged 12 to 15 years, assigned randomly into two
equal sub-sets: practitioners of yoga (Group A) and
non-yogic controls (Group B). Cardiovascular and
. respiratory disorders were clinically ruled out. Those
having prior exposure to yoga, were excluded. There
were no significant differences between two-subsets
for age, height and weight (p>0.05). Group A was
*Corresponding Author
cardiovascular
endurance
body fat
given a full course yoga training (9) for 45 mins. day',
from 5 : 00 to 5 : 45 p.m. on 3 days. week' for a total
period of one year. The training consisted of yogic
postures, pranayamas, bandhas, mudras and sodhana
kriyas. Group B served as sedentary control. All the
Ss of both Group A and Group B were residing in the
hostel of Gurukul High School (Lonavla, India). The
Ss were given same food in the hostel and no out side
food was allowed during the experimental period.
The following investigations were carried out
on the Ss before and after completing the total duration
of the experiment:
Body weight was measured on a Toledo
Beam Balance Scale to the nearest 50 gms.
Body height was assessed with a stadiometer
to the nearest 0.5 ern.
For assessing body composition, the body
density was calculated by skinfold prediction
equation (10), the body fat% was estimated
using revised formula of Brozek et al (11),
the absolute fat weight was determined by
Siri's equation (12), and the lean body
weight was assessed using Montoy's
226
Bera and Rajapurkar
Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 1993; 37(3)
equation (13). All these measurements were
recorded by a skinfold caliper nearest to 1.0
mm.
Step Test are reliable. Each subject completed
'Up & Down' task (24 steps/min.) on an 18
inches bench for 3 minutes duration.
Girth measurements
included the neck,
shoulders, chest, waist, thigh, knee, calf,
ankle, abdomen (at the umbilicus), hips,
biceps (relaxed and flexed) and wrist (14).
Measurements
of girths and skeletal
diameters were taken from the right side of
the body by the same investigator and the
test-retest reliabilities were found significant
(r = 0.94 for all grith and r = 0.96 for all
diameter measurements with the error of
estimate not greater than ± 1.0 mm).
Anaerobic power was determined for each
subject using a reliable field method viz.,
Sargent Jump (16). In this test the height of
spot jump was measured to the nearest 0.5
em. on a scale attached with the wall.
Cardiovascular
endurance was measured
using Hardvard Step Test (15). The scores
of Hardvard Step Test were correlated with
the scores of Bicycle Ergometer.
The
coefficient
of correlation
was found
statistically significant (r 0.82, P < 0.01).
This showed that the scores of Hardvard
=
On the basis of the nature of the experimental
design; ANCOV A-followed-by-studentize
range
statistics was performed for analyzing the data.
RESULTS
The results of the experiment
have been
surnrncrizcd in the Table I and II. After yoga training
there was a significant improvement in body density,
ideal body weight, cardiovascular
endurance and
anaerobic power. However, a significant reduction was
observed in fat-folds (tricep, subscapular, suprailiac,
umbilical, thigh and calf) and body circumferences.
TABLE 1: Pre-to-post test change in body composition of yogic practitioners and non-yogic controls.
Variables of
body composition
Body fat%
Body density (grn/cc)
Absolute fat Wt (kg)
Ideal body Wt (kg)
Fat-fold (mm)
Tricep
Suhscapular
Suprailiac
Midaxillary
Umhilical
Thigh
Calf
Skeletal Diameters (ern)
Elbow
Wnst
Knee
Ankle
Circumference (ern)
Neck
Shoulder
Chest
Waist
Umbilical
Hips
Biceps (relax)
Biceps (flexed)
Wrist
Thigh
Knee
Calf
Ankle
*p < 0.01
Adjusted mean
Coni.
Gr.
Adusted mean
Yoga
Gr.
MS
error
Adjusted mean
difference
q-value
10.0522
1.0757
4.0175
40.2823
03.7103
1.0938
1.5986
44.8090
1.1267
0.00212
0.4 132
8.5025
-6.3419
0.0182
-2.4189
4.5267
8.30*
7.82*
16.83*
14.61*
12.56
9.50
13.24
7.48
11.23
22.50
13.21
7.32
6.14
8.39
6.70
7.05
12.36
10.50
0.96
0.62
1.02
0.47
0.78
1.42
0.98
-5.24
-3.36
-4.85
-0.78
-4.18
-10.14
-2.71
7.52*
6.93*
7.26*
2.51
6.96*
8.52*
6.90*
6.98
4.81
8.34
7.59
7.05
4.72
8.32
7.52
0.06
0.66
0.17
0.13
0.07
-0.09
-0.02
-0.07
2.56
1.93
0.98
0.92
31.52
100.57
91.98
63.20
71.92
86.21
27.93
31.20
15.21
69.i3
35.31
35.02
21.86
31.25
100.00
92.73
60.29
65.24
80.45
27.28
31.39
15.37
68.82
35.25
34.92
21.53
0.59
1.50
1.08
0.81
1.20
1.57
0.48
0.71
0.14
1.54
0.57
0.38
0.30
-0.27
0.61
00.75
-2.91
-6.68
-5.75
-0.63
0.19
0.16
-0.31
-0.06
-0.10
0.33
1.08
1.42
1.56
7.05*
9.33*
8.72*
1.39
0.98
0.85
0.46
1.19
1.36
0.85
Indian J Physiol
Pharmacol
TABLE
Variables
Anaerobic
1993; 37(3)
II:
Physiological
Adjusted mean
yogic
practitioners
variables of yogic practitioners
Adjusted mean
non-yogic
controls
and non-yogic
MS
error
Power of Yogic Practitioner
227
controls.
Mean
diff·
q-value
Cardiovascular
endurance (Pts.)
72.53
60.74
4.98
11.79
9.23*
Anaerobic power
(kg-rn see")
141.20
133.60
7.30
7.60
6.82*
*p< 0.01
DISCUSSION
The significant increase in ideal body weight
and body density may be due to the fact that yogic
training reduced body fat (17, 18) which is inversely
proportional to ideal body weight and body density.
Such finding inturn suggests that as a result of yoga
training girth/circumference
of fat deposited area will
reduce. This was also observed in this experiment. It
appears from the result that leanness is one of the
characteristics of yoga practitioner as claimed in the
traditional literature (19).
Despite greater lean body weight, it was
surprising that the yoga practitioners
had smaller
circumferences than the controls at those sites viz.,
shoulders, biceps and calf which might be expected to
be larger and perhaps indicative of greater lean body
weight. This may be due to the fact yoga gives more
exercise to the trunk region and reduces the excessively
deposited fat (17, 18) by enhancing body density. This
further suggests increase in strength and endurance of
abdominal
muscle (20). It is evident that yogic
practitioners have lesser abdominal circumference and
higher body density.
Cardiovascular endurance varies with different
sports. However, yogic practitioners appear to rely more
on parasympathetic, neuromuscular and aerobic than
on cardiovascular attributes (7, 8,21). Although a high
aerobic power may be considered of less important of
the yogic practices, yoga practitioners in this study
had a significantly greater cardiovascular
endurance
than the controls. The reason for the significant
cardiovascular
endurance
values
of the yogic
practitioners was not readily apparent. However, it was
possible that the signficantly
high cardiovascular
endurance might reflect the demands of the yoga
training programme in which the yogic practitioners
were involved. This result showed an agreement with
the earlier studies on different samples (22, 23),
Cardiovascular endurance depends upon aerobic power
(16).
Improvement
aerobic power as a
significant increase
yoga training also
24).
in endurance was due to increased
result of yogic practices (21). The
in cardiovascular endurance after
indicates improved V02 max (21,
According to the metabolic acuvuy the slow
twitch (ST) and fast twitch (FT) muscle fibres are
further classified
into slow oxidative
(SO), fast
glycolytic (FG) and fast oxidative glycolytic (FOG)
fibres (4). The SO fibres have capacity for aerobic
power, the FG fibres contribute to anaerobic and FOG
fibres are responsible for both the aerobic and anaerobic
power. The present experinment showed that yoga
training improved both the cardiovascular endurance
and anaerobic power. This may be due to a balanced
conversion takes place between three fibre types (FCG,
SO, FG). As the basic nature of yoga is to maintain
'balance'
or homeostasis/or
equilibrium,
similar
mechanism perhaps operates in the present study
leading to increase both the cardiovascular endurance
and anaerobic power along with significant change in
body composition.
228
Bera and Rajapurkar
Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 1993; 37(3)
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