Effect of brisk walking and yogic practices on flexibility and blood pressure

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to find the effect of brisk walking and yoga practice on flexibility and blood pressure. For this purpose, forty five women living in and around Kannur town, Kerala State in the age group of 35 – 40 years were selected. They were divided into three equal groups (n = 15), each group consisted of fifteen subjects, in which group – I underwent brisk walking, group – II underwent yoga practice and group – III acted as control group who did not participate in any special training. The training period for this study was five days in a week for twelve weeks. Prior to and after the training period the subjects were tested for flexibility, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. Flexibility was measured by administering sit and reach test and blood pressure was assessed by using sphygmomanometer respectively. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to find out the significant difference if any, among the experimental groups and control group on selected criterion variables separately. Since there were three groups involved in the present study, Scheffẻ S test was used as pos-hoc test. It was concluded from the result of the study that the brisk walking and yoga practice has positively altered the criterion variables, such as, flexibility and blood pressure when compared with the control group. But there was no significant difference was found between the training groups.