Testing and Prescription of Exercise

Catalog description

Students will learn how to appropriately utilize the American College of Sports Medicine's (ACSM) guidelines to test and interpret cardiovascular, metabolic, hemodynamics and musculoskeletal capabilities with the intention of accurately assessing and prescribing proper physical activity for the maintenance of health, rehabilitation and/or fitness outcomes. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to: 1) Demonstrate competence in understanding the principles of exercise physiology (i.e., bioenergetics, exercise and cardiovascular physiology, resting and exercise metabolism and endocrine function); 2) Demonstrate an understanding of the program standards for the American College of Sports Medicine; 3) Demonstrate competence in performing and interpreting standardized field and clinical evaluations of the following health and physical fitness components: body composition, aerobic and anaerobic capacity, flexibility, hemodynamics and metabolism; 4)Demonstrate competence in prescribing safe and appropriate exercise for the maintenance and control of cardiovascular function, as well as prevention and rehabilitation of cardiovascular disease using various methods (i.e., metabolic equations, anthropomorphic measurements and graded exercise testing); 5) Demonstrate competence in interpreting general health and medical information and clinical and field assessments of cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health, so as to prescribe safe and appropriate exercises for rehabilitation and maintenance of health; and 6) Demonstrate competence in writing scientific summaries of pertinent peer reviewed materials and collected data utilizing the American Psychological Association (APA) format.