A controlled trial on the influence of varied pace of surya namaskar on body fat percentage among Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Children’s of Tinsukia District

This controlled trial investigated the effect of different paces of Surya Namaskar practice on body fat% of male schoolchildren, age ranged from 13-16 years at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Tinsukia District, Assam. Therefore, to achieve the objective of present study, 60 male students were selected randomly from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Tinsukia District, Assam, and assigned randomly to four groups (n=15 each). Further subjects were distributed in experimental group-1, which practiced Surya Namaskar in one minute, experimental group-2, which practiced Surya Namaskar in two minute, experimental group-3, which practiced Surya Namaskar in three minutes, whereas one group served as control group, which did not receive any intervention. All three experimental groups received intervention for the period of six weeks. Body fat percentage was measured before and after the intervention, for this purpose four-site skinfold (subscapular, triceps, suprailiac, and biceps) was measured, for this purpose skinfold caliper was used, whereas, standard equations (Durnin-Rahaman with Siri’s formula) were used to estimate body fat%. To test the effect of varied pace of Surya Namaskar on body fat% analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), was used (?=0.05). Findings suggest, that significant effect was found on body fat% of all Surya Namaskar groups, where each group showed significant lower adjusted mean body fat% than the control group (p<0.05). Adjusted post-test means were, 14.90%, 14.92%, and 14.93% for the experimental group-1, experimental group -2 and experimental group -3, respectively, in comparison to 15.59% for control. Pairwise comparisons reflect no significant differences were found among three experimental groups. Based on finding, it can be concluded that, regular Surya Namaskar practice markedly reduces body fat percentage in adolescent boys, and variations in Surya Namaskar pace produce similar benefit in terms of reduction on body fat%.