Dr. Susan is the first person using Swiss ball as a tool in spinal physical therapy to promote balance of patients, and Aerobic Fitness & Health Association of R.O.C. imports it in the gym courses in 1996. The principle of Swiss ball is to train muscular endurance and to balance body on an unstable surface. An aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 6-week Swiss ball training upon the muscular endurance, flexibility and balance of undergraduates. 43 health female and male undergraduates were randomly divided into 2 groups, Swiss ball-training group and resistance-training group. For theses two groups, the training was 50 min each time, 2 times a week and persisted for 6 weeks. In order to compare the effect of Swiss ball training with that of resistance training, balance (standing on one foot with eyes closed and balance beam walk), static muscular endurance of abdomen and dorsum (horizontal push-up and bending knees and facing up with abdominal muscle’s brace), dynamic muscular endurance (back extension and bent-leg curl-ups in 1 min) and flexibility (sit and reach test and total body rotation test) were used as indices. All statistical tests were considered significant at α=.05 and two-way ANOVA was used. The results showed that both Swiss ball and resistance training had a significant effects on static balance, static muscular endurance of abdomen and dynamic muscular endurance of abdomen (p＜.05), respectively, however, they did not have significant effects upon dynamic balance, dynamic muscular endurance of dorsum and static muscular endurance of dorsum (p＜.05). The sit and reach test showed significant difference in resistance training, but there was no significant difference in Swiss ball training. Both Swiss ball training and resistance may contribute to promote balance, flexibility and muscular endurance of abdomen of undergraduates.
