Energy expenditure during a Vinyasa yoga session.

BACKGROUND: Vinyasa yoga has been recently promoted as one of the most popular mindful exercises to improve overall health, including body weight management. The purpose of this study was to determine the metabolic response of 24 moderately trained individuals during a 90-min group Vinyasa yoga routine. METHODS: Heart rate (HR) time course of 12 males and 12 females (age: 39±7.33 years) was recorded during two group Vinyasa yoga sessions consisted of four sections (warm-up, high-intensity Surya Namaskar (HSN), no Surya Namaskar postures, and cool-down). Maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2peak) and maximum HR had been estimated earlier after a maximal treadmill test. V̇O2 during Vinyasa yoga sessions was estimated from individual regression equations using the relationship of V̇O2 and HR values derived from V̇O2peak test, while the metabolic rate (kcal/min) was calculated from the relationship of HR and kcal/min. Total session energy consumption was the average value of the two yoga sessions. RESULTS: The 2 (gender) × 4 (sections) mixed ANOVA revealed no significant interaction between the two factors (P=0.101) for the mean metabolic rate (7.1±2.6 kcal/min). Mean metabolic rate thought was higher (P=0.015) in males compared to females at each section. Also, significant differences were found among the four Vinyasa yoga sections (P<0.001) in the rate of energy expenditure, with HSN presenting the highest mean values (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It seems that systematic participation in Vinyasa yoga may effectively improve cardiorespiratory fitness and promote body weight loss, as an alternative method to traditional aerobic exercise.

Effect of acupuncture in physiological parameters and endurance running performance.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the effect of acupuncture (AC) treatment in aerobic capacity and endurance performance in healthy adults. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of AC on selected physiological parameters and 3 km running performance. METHODS: Twenty-four healthy subjects with low to moderate aerobic capacity participated in the study and randomly assigned in two groups: AC group (ACG - N.=14) and control group (CG - N.=10). The subjects completed an incremental test to exhaustion and a 3 km race on a treadmill to evaluate their physiological responses and endurance running performance respectively, prior and after 4 weeks (8 sessions, twice a week) of acupuncture treatment. RESULTS: AC treatment had a significant main effect in T3km [F(1, 21)=7.173, P=0.014, partial η2=0.255], as well as in VT [F(1, 21)=8.476, P=0.008, partial η2=0.288] and HRmax@3km [F(1, 21)=4.930, P=0.038, partial η2=0.190], after controlling for the effect of the pre-test, while no other significant main effects were detected. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy physically active adults significantly improved their endurance running performance after 4 weeks of AC treatment. This is mainly due to the enhancement of the speed corresponding with VT, comparing with their baseline values.