Effect of Yoga to Enhance the Performance of Middle Distance Runners in Athletics

Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 meters. The standard middle distances are the 800 meters, 1500 meters, and mile run, although the 3000 meters may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1500 m came about as a result of running 3+3?4 laps of a 400 m outdoor track or 7+1?2 laps of a 200 m indoor track, which were commonplace in continental Europe in the 20th century. In modern competitive sports, the psychological preparation of a team is as important as teaching them the different skills of a game with scientific methods. These days, the teams are prepared not only to play but to win the games. And for winning the games, it is not only the proficiency in the skills which matters but also the spirit and attitude of the players with which they play and health-related fitness requires desirable levels of cardiovascular fitness, percentage body fat, flexibility, and endurance. These help to prevent the incidence and severity of degenerative types of disease and increase work efficiency. Cardiovascular fitness refers to the efficiency of the lungs and heart. Muscular strength and endurance are the capacity of the muscles to work against the resistance for a longer time. Flexibility is the ability to move a joint freely through its complete range of movement. Percentage of body fat refers to the proportion of an individual?s total body fat. Earlier research showed that Yoga is the best way for balance in physical and mental fitness and it also increases players' performance in middle-distance runners through improved motor ability. A hypothesis has been constructed to meet the objectives of the proposed research work showing the significant effect of yoga practices to enhance the performance of middle-distance runners in athletics. This work was experimental-based research. The proposed research is on samples were randomly selected boys from JN Stadium. New Delhi. The selected age groups of the subjects were from 18 to 25 years. In each group, 30 subjects were selected. In all, 60 subjects were tested initially and the same 60 subjects were tested finally after two months with the training imparted on them. After comparing the mean and standard deviation it is observed that Yoga intervention was found useful to enhance the performance of middle-distance runners in athletics.