Cardiorespiratory And Metabolic Responses Of High Intensity Yoga-surya Namaskar Session

Abstract

The recent global rise in obesity appears to be a threat to public health as it is connected with various cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Surya Namaskar (SN), a component of Vinyasa yoga, consisted of a specific sequence of 12 yoga postures performed with controlled breath, is often used as an alternative of a typical fitness program to improve overall health, including body weight management. However, research data studying high intensity SN (HSN) are limited. PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to assess cardiorespiratory and metabolic demands of HSN performed with 3 s/pose. METHODS: Heart rate (HR) response of twenty-four moderately trained subjects (12 males and 12 females; mean ± sd age: 39 ±7.33 years, body stature: 167.38±9.32 cm, body mass: 66.60±14.07 kg, % body fat: 23.30±5.86; VO2peak: 45.48±7.12 ml.kg-1.min-1 and HRmax: 183.54±10.13 bpm) was recorded during two-15 min sessions HSN practice 7 days apart. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and maximum HR (HRmax) had been estimated earlier, after an incremental test to exhaustion. VO2 during HSN was estimated from individual regression equations using the relationship of VO2 and HR values derived from VO2peak test, while the metabolic rate (kcal.min-1) was calculated from the relationship of HR and kcal.min-1. Total HSN energy consumption was the average value of the two-15 min sessions. RESULTS: Mean ± sd values of the %HRmax, %VO2max and rate of energy expenditure during HSN were 71.7 ± 7.5%, 59.9 ± 10.3 and 8.9 ± 3.3 kcal.min-1 (7.9 ± 2.0 METs) respectively. Total session energy expenditure was 133.04 ± 50.14 kcal. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study confirm that an HSN session may produce a sufficient training stimulus to promote cardiorespiratory fitness and favor weight loss in moderate trained adults.