Key result
Diaphragmatic breathing improves 1-minute post-exercise heart rate recovery by ~8 bpm in junior athletes.
Why the study?
Diaphragmatic breathing exercise may facilitate post-exercise heart rate reduction by stimulating parasympathetic activity, prompting an evaluation of its effectiveness on heart rate recovery in karate athletes.
Does a 4-week diaphragmatic breathing exercise program improve early post-exercise heart rate recovery (HRR1 and HRR2) in junior karate athletes?
Does a 4-week diaphragmatic breathing exercise program improve early post-exercise heart rate recovery (HRR1 and HRR2) in junior karate athletes?
A 4-week diaphragmatic breathing exercise program significantly improved 1-minute and 2-minute post-exercise heart rate recovery in junior karate athletes, suggesting its utility as a simple active recovery strategy.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Hypothesis-generating for diaphragmatic breathing in athletic recovery; randomized trials needed before clinical adoption.
Heart rate recovery (HRR) reflects autonomic function and cardiovascular recovery following exercise. Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise (DBE) may facilitate heart rate reduction by stimulating parasympathetic activity. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of DBE in improving HRR during the first and second minutes after exercise among karate athletes. A quantitative pre-experimental study involving 10 karate athletes from Malang City was conducted using a one-group pretest–posttest design. HRR was assessed at the first minute (HRR1) and second minute (HRR2) before and after the intervention. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, the Shapiro–Wilk normality test, and a paired-samples t-test. Participants had a mean age of 16.10 ± 0.32 years and a mean body mass index of 19.79 ± 1.56 kg/m². HRR1 increased significantly from 36.40 ± 10.16 to 44.70 ± 11.64 bpm (p = 0.001). Similarly, HRR2 increased from 42.70 ± 9.63 to 50.60 ± 9.92 bpm (p = 0.002). These findings suggest that DBE may improve early post-exercise HRR in karate athletes and serve as a potential active recovery strategy.
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Dewi et al. (2026) studied Post-exercise cardiovascular recovery in karate athletes (n=10). Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise (DBE) vs. Pre-intervention baseline (one-group pretest-posttest) was evaluated on Heart Rate Recovery at 1 minute post-exercise (HRR1, bpm) (p=0.001). Diaphragmatic breathing exercises for 4 weeks significantly increased 1-minute post-exercise heart rate recovery from 36.40 to 44.70 bpm (p = 0.001) in junior karate athletes.
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