Effects of yoga practice on muscular endurance in young women

•We verify the effects of a systematized yoga practice on muscular endurance.•Yoga intervention improves upper limb and abdominal muscular endurance.•Isometric contraction performed in yoga postures improves muscle endurance.

The aim of this study was to verify the effects of a systematized yoga practice on muscular endurance in young women. Twenty six women (24 ± 3.5 years old) participated in six weeks of yoga classes, and twenty one women (25 ± 5.1 years old) participated as the control group. The yoga intervention was composed of eighteen sessions, three times per week, at 1 h per session. The muscular endurance of upper limbs (push-up) and abdominal (sit-up) was assessed through the protocol suggested by Gettman (1989) [1] and Golding, Myers and Sinning (1989) [2] to the maximum repetitions performed in 1 min. To verify the significant differences intra groups and between groups a SPANOVA was performed, and the level of significance was p ≤ 0.05. The findings suggest that yoga provides improvement in upper limb and in abdominal muscular endurance.