Objective: Yoga and Pilates exercise are becoming more popular among those different kinds of fitness programs. In this study, the aim was to examine the effects between Yoga and Pilates in healthy females.

Methodology: This study used a quasi-experiment to examine how the 10 weeks workout of Pilates and Yoga exercise impact health women’s physical and mood. The following main outcome measures were assessed at baseline. The measurement procedure is as follows the exercise intensity, height, BMI, body composition, muscle strength of upper body, upper body strength, balance (one leg stand), trunk strength (Push up), the endurance of abdominal muscles (1 minute sit up), trunk flexibility (fingertip-toe). The mood index was attained by a shortened version of Profile of Mood State (POMS), which was modified by Zhu Beili (1995). The Validity of the scale was between 0.60-0.82, with a mean of 0.71. The Cronbach's alpha is 0.75 (p<0.01). The 30 participants were equally divided into (PG) (aged 28.13±4.85 years), Yoga Group (YG) (aged 31.25±8.25 years), and Control Group (CG) (aged 25.00±4.9 years). Pilates Group (PG) and Yoga Group (YG) attended 2 sessions of workouts (60 minutes for each session), respectively. CG did not involve in any workouts during this study. The bottom line for all subjects was no significant difference in the pre-test.

Results: Prior to the intervention period, the t-test analysis, the muscular endurance (p<.05) and strength (p<.01) in YG were significantly different; PG showed improvement in muscular endurance (p<.01), but not body composition. The trunk flexibility of YG improved more than PG (p<.01), but the muscular endurance of PG improved more than YG. Pilates and Yoga exercises could improve several aspects of physical fitness, but there was no evidence to the impact of these two types of exercises in improving body composition. The POMS was significant in Pilates (p<.05).

Conclusions: This study revealed positive outcomes for applying the 10 weeks intervention exercises program with healthy women. The beneficial effects of improving trunk strength, and flexibility are applicable in Yoga exercise; the endurance of abdominal muscles is applicable in Pilates exercise. The two exercises did not change the variables items: upper strength, balance, BMI, and mood. Further studies are needed to extend the number of samples, and the intervention period.