Abstract:
The purposes of this research were to study and compare the effects of ballroom dance and Latin American dance training upon the selected physical fitness variables. The subjects were 60 healthy volunteered male and female secondary school students of Triamudom Suksa Patthanakarn, Bangyai. They were equally divided into three groups by matched group from maximum oxygen uptake testing results: the control group, the Latin American dance group and the ballroom dance group. The experimental groups danced for 20 minutes a day and 3 days a week for 12 weeks. The physical fitness were measured before and after 6 weeks and 12 weeks in all groups. The obtained data were then statistically analyzed in term of means and standard deviations, one - way analysis of variance, one - way analysis of covariance, one - way analysis of variance with the repeated measure, and Tukey (a) method was employed to determine the significant difference at the .05 level, respectively. The results were as follow: 1. A comparison after the 12 weeks of training showed that : 1.1 In male group, balance in the ballroom dance group was significantly better than the Latin American dance group at the. 05 level. 1.2 In female group, resting blood pressure (systolic) in the ballroom dance group was significantly lower than the Latin American dance group at the. 05 level. 2. A comparison within group before, after 6 weeks and 12 weeks of training showed that : 2.1 In male group; after 6 weeks and 12 weeks of training, there were no significant differences in all physical fitness variables of the control group and Latin American dance group. However, in the ballroom dance group, resting blood pressure (systolic) was significantly lower after 6 weeks of training, resting blood pressure (diastolic) and balance were significantly better after 12 weeks of training at the. 05 level, respectively. 2.2 In female group; after 6 weeks and 12 weeks of training, there were no significant differences in all physical fitness variables of the control group. However, in the Latin American dance group, resting heartrate and balance were significantly better after 12 weeks of training at the. 05 level. In the ballroom dance group, resting heartrate, reaction time (sound), and percent body fat were significantly lower after 6 weeks of training and resting blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), handgrip strength, and balance were significantly better after 12 weeks of training at the. 05 level, respectively.