Course Number and Title:
EXS 100 Introduction to Exercise Science
Prerequisites
Prerequisites: BIO 120 and (MAT 162 or higher)
Course Credits and Hours
4 credit(s)
3 lecture hours/week
2 lab hours/week
Course Description
This course presents an overview of scientific principles, methodologies, and research as applied to exercise and physical fitness. The emphasis is on physiological responses and adaptations to exercise. Coordinated laboratory experiments are an integral part of this course.
Additional Materials
Exercise Science Program Manual
Allied Health/Science Department Policy Manual
Core Course Performance Objectives (CCPOs)
- Discuss the historical background of the field of exercise science. (CCC 5; PGC 1, 6, 7)
- Identify and examine the requirements for prescreening a client prior to beginning exercise. (CCC 3, 4; PGC 1, 7)
- Differentiate the biochemical and metabolic influences of various food sources at rest and during exercise. (CCC 2, 6; PGC 2)
- Analyze cardiopulmonary adaptations to exercise and their influence on modifying exercise prescription plans. (CCC 2, 6; PGC 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- Analyze skeletomuscular adaptations to exercise and their influence on modifying exercise prescription plans. (CCC 2, 6; PGC 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- Determine how the nervous and endocrine systems are affected by exercise. (CCC 2, 6; PGC 4)
- Explain how environmental stress affects exercise performance. (CCC 2, 6; PGC 4)
- Administer and analyze various protocols used in clinical settings to evaluate fitness performance. (CCC 2, 6; PGC 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- Identify and demonstrate the components of professional behaviors as applied in the classroom and lab activities. (CCC 3, 4; PGC 1, 4)
See Core Curriculum Competencies and Program Graduate Competencies at the end of the syllabus. CCPOs are linked to every competency they develop.
Measurable Performance Objectives (MPOs)
Upon completion of this course, the student will:
- Discuss the historical background of the field of exercise science.
- Describe the research that established the field of exercise science.
- Explain important scientific achievements that have developed the discipline of exercise science.
- Identify the professional organizations associated with the practice of exercise science.
- Identify the current state, future directions, and career opportunities of exercise science.
- Identify and examine the requirements for prescreening a client prior to beginning exercise.
- Discuss legal and ethical issues in the practice of exercise science.
- Demonstrate the problem solving necessary to resolve sample ethical situations.
- Discuss all aspects of confidentiality as they relate to exercise science.
- Describe the factors related to effective helping, and identify behavior that may interfere.
- Discuss personal and professional values and explore the role they play in determining the behavior of a healthcare provider.
- Identify ways to control the negative effects of stress.
- Identify the significance of cultural variations such as communication and attitudes towards health and wellness.
- Describe and demonstrate appropriate methods of greeting a patient.
- Describe the characteristics of a helping interview, and demonstrate interviewing skills.
- Describe and demonstrate the appropriate method for administering an informed consent and/or health history questionnaire.
- Describe and explain the sections of the informed consent and/or health history questionnaire.
- Administer and interpret an informed consent and/or health history questionnaire using effective interview skills and interactions with a client.
- Analyze a completed informed consent and/or health history questionnaire, and teach clients ways to improve their risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
- Differentiate the biochemical and metabolic influences of various food sources at rest and during exercise.
- Compare and contrast monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides.
- Describe glycogen metabolism, explaining the effects of hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, and glucosuria.
- Describe the metabolism of carbohydrates at rest and during exercise.
- Compare saturated, unsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
- Describe lipid catabolism and anabolism.
- Define high-density lipoproteins (HDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), lipoprotein A (Lp(a)), very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), and chylomicron (CM), and discuss their influence on heart disease..
- Describe the roles of vitamins and minerals for performing exercise.
- Discuss hypervitaminosis.
- Describe anorexia nervosa and bulimia.
- Discuss the significance of Recommended Daily Allowance (RDAs).
- Describe the immediate (phosphogenic), short-term (anaerobic, glycolytic), and long-term (aerobic) respiration pathways used during exercise.
- Explain the concept of the metabolic mill.
- Define maximal oxygen consumption.
- Describe the metabolic dynamics of oxygen debt.
- Define respiratory quotient (RQ) and its implications in exercise prescription.
- Define basal metabolic rate (BMR), and differentiate BMR in males and females.
- Describe how physical activity, dietary-induced thermogenesis, climate, body mass, pregnancy, and lactation affect energy expenditure.
- Describe different classification systems used to rate the intensity of exercise.
- Explain the relationship between VO2 max and metabolic equivalent of task (METs).
- Explain the relationship between VO2max and anaerobic threshold.
- Describe the buffering of lactate below and above anaerobic threshold (AT) in fast and slow twitch muscle fibers.
- Describe the importance of the specific adaptation to imposed demand (SAID) principle with regard to training anaerobic threshold (AT).
- Compare the energy expenditure when walking, jogging, and swimming.
- Produce and define the various components of the formula for power output.
- Describe the specificity-generality concept with respect to energy capacities.
- Describe field tests for the evaluation of the immediate (phosphogenic), short-term (anaerobic, glycolytic), and long-term (aerobic) energy systems pathways used during exercise.
- Compare creatine phosphate (CP), adenosinetriphosphate (ATP), and glycogen utilization in trained and untrained athletes during maximal exercise.
- Describe and differentiate between VO2 max and peak VO2.
- Describe how age, heredity, state and type of training, gender, and body composition affect maximal aerobic power in various exercises.
- Analyze cardiopulmonary adaptations to exercise and their influence on modifying exercise prescription plans.
- Describe the process of inspiration and expiration at rest and during exercise, and explain how they can be influenced by cardiopulmonary conditioning.
- Describe the physiological consequences of the Valsalva maneuver.
- Describe how compliance, airway resistance, and perfusion/ventilation ratios affect the effectiveness of ventilation.
- Differentiate between the following volumes: tidal (TV), inspiratory reserve (IRV), expiratory reserve (ERV), residual volume (RV), forced vital capacity (FVC), alveolar ventilation (AV), dead air space, forced expiratory volume (FEV), and maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV).
- Describe how FVC and FEV1% can be used to predict obstructive or restrictive lung disease.
- Describe the effects of asthma on lung performance.
- Describe neural, humoral, and chemical control of respiration at rest and during exercise.
- Describe the physiology of the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) and its implications to exercise prescription.
- Identify and describe the function of the external and internal structures of the heart.
- Compare and contrast pulmonary circulation and systemic circulation.
- Compare the structure and function of arteries, capillaries, and veins.
- Define varicose veins, phlebitis, hypertension, arteriosclerosis, and atherosclerosis.
- Describe and differentiate systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and explain how they are affected by exercise.
- Describe the heart's blood supply and myocardial metabolism.
- Compare and contrast ischemia, angina, and infarction.
- Define and state the implications of the rate pressure product (RPP).
- Describe the electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), and relate these waves to events occurring in the heart.
- State the origin of heart sounds.
- Explain the intrinsic, extrinsic, chronotropic, and inotropic control of the heart rate.
- Discuss how peripheral resistance is influenced by various forms of exercise.
- Define and describe methods to determine cardiac output, cardiac rate, and stroke volume.
- Describe how Fick's equation at maximal exercise defines a person's functional aerobic capacity [VO2max].
- Compare cardiac output at rest and at exercise in untrained and trained athletes.
- Describe oxygen extraction and consumption at rest and during exercise.
- Compare cardiovascular adjustments during arm and leg exercise.
- Compare functional and pathological cardiac hypertrophy.
- Analyze skeletomuscular adaptations to exercise and their influence on modifying exercise prescription plans.
- Define and describe the various components of the muscular system and their functions.
- Define agonist, antagonist, and synergist, and give an example of each for a specific movement.
- Describe the subcellular structure of skeletal muscle fiber and how it participates in the sliding filament mechanism of contraction.
- Differentiate between fast and slow twitch muscle fibers.
- Differentiate isotonic (eccentric and concentric) and isometric contractions, and describe their use in exercise prescription.
- Define atrophy and hypertrophy.
- Explain how myasthenia gravis and muscular dystrophy affect muscle function.
- Determine how the nervous and endocrine systems are affected by exercise.
- Classify the nervous system into central and peripheral divisions, and subdivide the peripheral system into somatic, autonomic, sympathetic, and parasympathetic systems.
- Compare conduction in myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers.
- Compare and contrast type A and gamma efferent nerve fibers.
- Describe neuromuscular fatigue.
- Describe the importance of neural training for effective resistance exercise.
- Differentiate between myogenic and neurogenic disorders.
- Define proprioceptors and compare the roles of muscle spindles, Golgi tendon organs, and Pacinian corpuscles.
- Compare and contrast the function of the nervous system and endocrine system.
- Locate each of the endocrine glands, name the hormone(s) released from each, identify their target tissues, and describe their action in trained and untrained individuals.
- Describe diabetes and explain the guidelines for exercise for diabetics.
- Explain how environmental stress affects exercise performance.
- Describe the effect of medium and high altitudes on exercise.
- Define acclimatization.
- Describe the short-term and long-term physiological adjustments to altitude.
- Discuss altitude related medical problems.
- Describe the effects of training at altitude.
- Describe the mechanisms of thermoregulation in response to cold and heat.
- Describe thermoregulation and environmental stress during exercise.
- Discuss complications that arise from excessive heat and cold stress.
- Describe complications that arise when breathing gases at high pressures.
- Administer and analyze various protocols used in clinical settings to evaluate fitness performance.
- Describe the physiological basis of blood pressure, heart rate, and an EKG.
- Describe how the Borg Rate of Perceived Exertion scale (RPE) is used to predict exercising heart rates.
- Demonstrate the proper procedure for administering pre-exercise questionnaires.
- Determine heart rate maximums.
- Determine target heart rates using the Karvonen formula.
- Demonstrate the proper procedure for taking pulse rates at rest and during and following submaximal exercise.
- Determine pulse rates on clients at rest to within ± 5 bpm of the values determined by the instructor.
- Determine pulse rates on clients exercising at stage 2 of the Bruce protocol to within ± 10 bpm of the values determined by the instructor.
- Determine blood pressures at rest within ± 10 mmHg systolic and ± 6 mmHg diastolic of the values determined by the instructor.
- Determine blood pressures with the client exercising at stage 1 of the Bruce protocol to within ± 10 mmHg systolic and ± 6 mmHg diastolic of the values determined by the instructor.
- Demonstrate the procedures for evaluating body composition, including but not limited to body mass index, anthropometric measurements, and skinfold calipers.
- Determine target weights based on body fat analysis.
- Demonstrate the proper procedures used in the lower back evaluations.
- Demonstrate the proper procedures for evaluating flexibility.
- Demonstrate the proper procedures for evaluating muscular strength including, but not limited to grip dynamometers, sit-ups, push-ups, latissimus pull-downs, bench press, leg extensions, leg curls, arm curls, and one repetition maximum bench press.
- Prepare strength training, cardiovascular, and flexibility exercise prescription programs.
- Administer the Wingate cycle ergometer protocol.
- Describe the use of cycle ergometers and treadmill testing to evaluate cardiovascular fitness and VO2max.
- Calculate VO2max, METs, and appropriate workloads using the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) metabolic equations for running, walking, and cycling.
- Determine fitness percentile levels using the Institute for Aerobics Research (IAR) published values.
- Identify and demonstrate the components of professional behaviors as applied in the classroom and lab activities.
- Describe the professional behaviors and attributes of the professional behaviors tool.
- Perform a self-assessment on each behavior of the professional behaviors tool at least one time during this course.
- Demonstrate competence in the professional behaviors identified below:
- professionalism and responsibility
- interpersonal skills and communication skills
- nonverbal communication
- commitment to learning and effective use of time and resources
- use of constructive feedback
- problem-solving and critical thinking
- stress management
Evaluation Criteria/Policies
The grade will be determined using the Delaware Tech grading system:
| 90-100 |
= |
A |
| 80-89 |
= |
B |
| 70-79 |
= |
C |
| 0-69 |
= |
F |
Students should refer to the
Catalog/Student Handbook for information on the Academic Standing Policy, the Academic Integrity Policy, Student Rights and Responsibilities, and other policies relevant to their academic progress.
Final Course Grade
Calculated using the following weighted average
|
Evaluation Measure
|
Percentage of final grade
|
|
Unit Exams (3) equally weighted (summative)
|
40%
|
|
Final Cumulative Written Exam (summative)
|
12%
|
|
Homework (3) (formative)
|
10%
|
|
Professional Behaviors (formative)
|
3%
|
|
Laboratory Competency (3) (summative)
|
24%
|
|
Laboratory Final Cumulative Practical (summative)
|
10%
|
|
Laboratory Skill Sets (3) (formative)
|
1%
|
|
TOTAL
|
100%
|
Program Graduate Competencies (PGCs are the competencies every graduate will develop specific to his or her major)
- Integrate professional behaviors in an ethical, legal, safe, and effective manner within the exercise science delivery system.
- Perform appropriate measurement and assessment techniques to assist in evaluating a client's status for proper exercise prescription plans.
- Prescribe and implement or modify a comprehensive exercise prescription plan based upon pre-exercise screenings or re-evaluation of clients.
- Demonstrate effective written, oral, and nonverbal communication skills with clients, their families, colleagues, health care providers, and the public.
- Participate in the teaching and explaining of exercise science concepts to clients, colleagues and the public.
- Recognize the importance of continued development of knowledge and skills through the practice of reading professional literature and attending continuing education activities.
- Perform clinical practice, as required of an entry-level Certified Exercise Science professional.
Core Curriculum Competencies (CCCs are the competencies every graduate will develop)
- Apply clear and effective communication skills.
- Use critical thinking to solve problems.
- Collaborate to achieve a common goal.
- Demonstrate professional and ethical conduct.
- Use information literacy for effective vocational and/or academic research.
- Apply quantitative reasoning and/or scientific inquiry to solve practical problems.
Students in Need of Accommodations Due to a Disability
We value all individuals and provide an inclusive environment that fosters equity and student success. The College is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Students are encouraged to schedule an appointment with the campus Disabilities Support Counselor to request an accommodation needed due to a disability. The College's policy on accommodations for persons with disabilities can be found in the College's Guide to Requesting Academic Accommodations and/or Auxiliary Aids Students may also access the Guide and contact information for Disabilities Support Counselors through the Student Resources web page under Disabilities Support Services, or visit the campus Advising Center.