Hindawi Publishing Corporation Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2015, Article ID 958727, 12 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/958727 Research Article Effects of a 12-Week Hatha Yoga Intervention on Cardiorespiratory Endurance, Muscular Strength and Endurance, and Flexibility in Hong Kong Chinese Adults: A Controlled Clinical Trial Caren Lau, Ruby Yu, and Jean Woo Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, Hong Kong Correspondence should be addressed to Ruby Yu;
[email protected] Received 20 November 2014; Revised 15 March 2015; Accepted 18 March 2015 Academic Editor: Mariangela Rondanelli Copyright © 2015 Caren Lau et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. To examine the effects of a 12-week Hatha yoga intervention on cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility in Chinese adults. Methods.173adults(aged52.0± 7.5 years) were assigned to either the yoga intervention group (=87) or the waitlist control group (=86). 19 dropped out from the study. Primary outcomes were changes in cardiorespiratory endurance (resting heart rate (HR) and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max)), muscular strength and endurance (curl-up and push-up tests), and lower back and hamstring flexibility (the modified back-saver sit-and-reach (MBS) test). Results. < 0.01 < 0.05 Compared to controls, the yoga group achieved significant improvements in VO2max ( ), curl-up ( )andpush-up ( < 0.001) tests, and the MBS left and right leg tests (both < 0.001) in both genders.