Effect of Silambam Practice on Body Composition Agility and Cardiovascular Endurance among College Girls

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out the effect of Silambam practice on body composition and cardio vascular endurance among college girls. Silambam fencing is a martial art native to the soil of Tamil Nadu. It has been originated from 3000 B.C and practiced by the pre-historic Dravidian Tamils who were dwelling from the Mohan-ja-daro & Harappa regions and is still practiced today. To achieve the purpose of this study, 40 sedentary college girls were selected as subjects. The age of the subjects were ranged from 18 to 20 years. The subjects were further classified at random into two equal groups of 20 subjects each. Group - I underwent Silambam training for three days per week for sixteen weeks and group - II acted as control. The selected criterion variables namely body weight, BMI, lean body mass, percent body fat and cardio vascular endurance were assessed before and after the training period. The collected data were statistically analysed by using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). From the results of the study it was found that there was a significant improvement in cardio vascular endurance and significant reduction in body weight, BMI, lean body mass, and percent body fat with no significant change in agility among the experimental group when compared with the control group.