Effect of progressive yogic practices on health related physical fitness of rural middle age women: A randomized pilot study

Abstract

The impact of progressive yogic practices on the health-related physical fitness of rural middle-aged women was investigated in the study. 36 middle-aged rural women were randomly selected for a placebo-controlled exploratory yoga intervention experiment. Experimental group followed a progressive yogic training protocol (three sessions/week for three months), a simplified version of Common Yoga Protocol, which was released by Ministry of AYUSH. Demographic and selected health-related physical fitness components were assessed before and after three months of progressive yogic training. According to distribution pattern, a one-way ANOVA was applied and a significant change in resting heart rate (p=0.004), flexibility (p=4.83e-6), and muscular endurance (p=0.005) were found. However, an improvement but not a statistically significant difference has been observed in predicted V̇O2max (p=0.059). Three months of progressive yogic training helps middle-aged rural women keep or improve health-related physical fitness. It also lowers resting heart rate and increases flexibility and muscular endurance.