EFFECTS OF ASANA PRACTICES AND STRETCHING EXERCISES COMBINED WITH NEUROMUSCULAR DRILLS ON CARDIO RESPIRATORY ENDURANCE OF SCHOOL GIRLS

The aim of present study was to find out the effects of asana practices and stretching exercises combined with neuromuscular drills on cardio respiratory endurance of school girls. Thirty school girls with the age group of 12-14 years from Holly Cross Convent School, Nedumkandam, Idukki, Kerala, were randomly selected. They were assigned into three equal groups, two experimental and one control group. The experimental group-1 (n=10, AP-NMD) and group-2 (n=10, SE-NMD) received asana practice combined with neuromuscular drills and stretching exercise combined with neuromuscular drills respectively for the period of six weeks, three days per week. Cardio respiratory endurance was measured by 9 minutes run/walk test and scores recorded in meters. The data was collected pre and posttest training intervention. The ANCOVA was used to find out the overall significant differences among the group. The Scheffe's Post Hoc test was used to find out pair- wise comparisons between groups. After six weeks, 0.46% and 0.34% of increase in the capacity of cardio respiratory endurance was observed in the asana practice combined with neuromuscular drills and stretching exercise combined with neuromuscular drills respectively. The capacity of cardio respiratory endurance was highly developed in asana practice combined with neuromuscular drills than the stretching exercise combined with neuromuscular drills and control group.