The Effect of Aerobic, Yoga, and Aerobic-Yoga Training on Physical Fitness of Female Students in General Physical Education 1 Course

The purpose of the present study was exploring the effect of the aerobic, yoga and aerobic-yoga training on some of the factors relating to female students’ physical fitness. 76 sedentary female students participated in the general physical education 1 classes held by Ferdowsi University of Mashhad with an age range between 19 and 25. The participants did not have any previous experience in selected training modes. They were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (aerobic, yoga and aerobic-yoga) and one control group. The subjects in experimental groups participated in specific exercises for 14 weeks, which included two sessions per week each lasting for 60 minutes. During this period, the subjects in the control group participated in theoretical physical fitness course and had no organized exercise programs. In order to collect data, at the end of exercises in the experimental groups, 1200-meter run, vertical jump, shuttle run, sit-ups and push-ups tests were used for assessing the factors of physical fitness. One-Way ANOVA and Tukey’s Post Hoc Test showed that the mean of total physical fitness and the factors of cardio-respiratory endurance, muscular strength and abdominal and upper body muscular endurance in aerobic, yoga, and aerobic-yoga groups compared to the control group was significantly higher (P<0.05). Also, the means of agility in yoga group and aerobic-yoga group were significantly higher than aerobic and control groups (P<0.05). The results indicate that selected training modes especially yoga exercises have improved the physical fitness and its factors among the female students. Therefore, it is recommended that these training modes be used in the instructional programs of general physical education 1.