ABSTRACT
Surya Namaskar (SN), a popular traditional Indian yogic practice called “Sun Salutations”, includes practice of twelve physical postures involving alternate backward bending and forward bending postures. The practice of twelve postures in succession makes one round of its practice. Many people practise it as part of their daily physical fitness regimen. No study is available to compare cardiorespiratory responses of SN with bicycle exercise (BE). 20 healthy Yoga instructors practicing various Yogic practices including SN since last 7-8 years participated in the study. They performed SN in the laboratory according to their customary daily practice routine. The subject also performed incremental load bicycle exercise test till exhaustion on their second visit for measuring their V O2 max. SN and BE were compared at three similar exercise intensity levels in terms of % of V O2 max. The exercise intensities were light (10-20% V O2 max), moderate (21-40% V O2 max) and high intensities (41-50% V O2 max). Heart rate at high work intensity was significantly higher in BE than SN (P<.001). Ventilation and carbon dioxide output were significantly higher in BE than SN at high exercise intensity (P<0.001). Overall, cardiorespiratory stress is less in SN than BE at similar work intensities