Abstract: Objective: To investigate the influence of Baduanjin exercise on of "weak" college students' physical self-esteem and exercise motivation. Methods: Freshmen students from physical health class (natural class) of two universities in Nanjing were chosen as the experimental subjects to conduct Baduanjin exercise intervention. Results: (1) Before the experiment, the experimental group and the control group had no significant differences in physical self-esteem and scores in various dimensions, internal motivation, external motivation, and no motivation (P>0.05). After the experiment, the experimental group and the control group were not significantly different in scores of physical self-esteem and physical attractiveness (P>0.05). The total scores in physical self-esteem and the scores in the other dimensions, internal motivation, external motivation, and no motivation showed significant or very significant differences ( P＜0.05, P＜0.01); (2) The physical self-esteem and the scores in various dimensions increased in the experimental group after the intervention. The paired T test before and after the experiment showed that the total score of physical self-esteem, motor skills, physical condition, physical attractiveness and the difference in physical fitness was statistically significant (P＜0.01, P＜0.05, ES value stands between 0.465～0.978); the internal motivation and external motivation scores of the experimental group increased after the intervention, and the non-motivation score decreased. The paired T test showed that the differences were statistically significant (P<0.01, P<0.05, and ES values stand between 0.570 and 1.262); (3) Correlation analysis showed that the difference in the overall physical self-esteem scores of "weak" college students before and after the experiment was related to internal motivation, The score difference before and after the external motivation experiment showed a significant positive correlation (P＜0.01, P＜0.05), among which the physical attractiveness dimension was significantly positively correlated with external motivation (P＜0.05), and the physical condition dimension was significantly positively correlated with internal motivation (P＜0.01), and the motor skill dimension has a very significant positive correlation with internal motivation and external motivation (P＜0.01). Conclusion: Baduanjin exercise can significantly improve the level of physical self-esteem and exercise motivation of "weak" college students, and as the level of physical self-esteem, especially the level of "motor skills" increases, the level of exercise motivation increases accordingly.

Key words: "weak" college students, physical self-esteem, exercise motivation, intervention study