INFLUENCE OF YOGASANA AND PRANAYAMA ON SELECTED PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES AMONG UNIVERSITY MALE PLAYERS

The purpose of the present study was to find out the influence of yogasana and pranayama on selected physiological variables (resting pulse rate and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max). To achieve these purpose thirty male players from Kalasalingam University, Krishnankoil, Tamilnadu, India served as subjects. These subjects were divided into two groups, Group- I was experimental (n=15) and Group - II acted as control (n = 15). The control group was not engaged in yogasana and pranayama training. The experimental group was engaged in yogasana and pranayama training. The pre and post-test data were analyzed by analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA), the process by which pre-test mean differences can be adjusted to the pre-test means. Since, only two groups were involved in this study, the Scheffe’s post-hoc test was not used whenever the F- ratio for adjusted post-test mean was found to be significant. In all the cases 0.05 level of confidence was selected to reject the null hypothesis. Yogasana and pranayama training showed a significant decrease in resting pulse rate. Yogasana practices group showed a significant increase in maximal oxygen uptake.