Making a Professional
Commitment
Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP,
EPC
Professor and Chair
Director, Exercise Physiology
Laboratories
Department
of Exercise Physiolgoy
College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN 55811
For three decades,
I have devoted myself to exercise physiology. I’ve always been fascinated
by those before me, especially the likes of Mike Pollock. How is
it that some exercise physiologists become leaders and others become followers?
What causes certain exercise physiologists to push hard and move the profession
forward? These are interesting questions. This article is in
part a quest to understand why exercise physiologists have joined (and
even haven't join ASEP) in pursuit of leading other exercise physiologists.
When I got my first exercise
physiology job at Wake Forest University, Mike Pollock just left the university
for a different academic position. He was replaced by Paul Ribisl.
I worked with Paul for eight years. In some small way, I helped develop
the exercise science program at Wake Forest. I started the Gross
Anatomy Laboratory with cadavers from Bowman Gray School of Medicine in
Winston-Salem, NC. Those were both exciting and challenging years.
Overall, my experience at Wake Forest was an inspiring one. I learned
a lot from Paul and Henry Miller; a cardiologist of Bowman Gray.
I still have tremendous respect for their dedication to the exercise science
program and, in particular, the Wake Forest Cardiac Rehabilitation Program.
When I left Wake Forest to
assume the Graduate Coordinator position at the University of Southern
Mississippi (USM), part of my responsibility was to create new courses
to upgrade the exercise physiology doctorate program. As that was
being done, we hired three PhD exercise physiologists to oversee the programs.
As some colleagues from the Southeast Chapter of ACSM will remember, the
USM graduate students and faculty presented a lot of research at the annual
Southeast ACSM meetings during the mid to late 80s. I believed then
and still do that really good PhD prepared exercise physiologists graduated
from USM with extraordinary potential for leadership. Many of them
have become academic professors of exercise physiology at different institutions
across the United States. They have, as you might imagine, influenced
exercise physiology in their own unique and professional way. However,
it is fair to say that there hasn’t been a burning conviction of many I
taught at USM to join ASEP. All organizations need members and ASEP
is no exception. Why these young professionals still have a
commitment to other organizations is an important question. I don’t
pretend to know the answer.
One of my sincere wishes
for you, if you are not already, is that you will become a dedicated ASEP
member. Perhaps through the reading of the PEPonline articles – you
will come to understand the goals and objectives of ASEP. I sincerely
hope that this article provides you the information to make the right decision.
All of us want to belong to a really good professional organization.
What keeps us from achieving our goals needs to be understood, but unfortunately
there are no organized efforts (outside of ASEP) to help us with the decision.
I believe there is a battle
going on within all exercise physiologists, that is, to join ASEP or continue
in silence with other more traditional organizations. The bottom
line is that we are responsible for what exercise physiology becomes and,
therefore, we are also responsible for the public sector’s understanding
in which we find ourselves. We have to stop procrastinating, hesitating,
and failing to follow through. Even now, I continue to wait for the
articles different exercise physiologists from USM have said they are going
to send me to publish in PEPonline. The truth is they are busy, perhaps,
too busy to write and, yet we make time for those things we care about
and believe it.
Isn’t it obvious that most
of the articles in PEPonline are written by me? At this point, I
might as well believe that no one is interested in the topic of “professionalism”.
I could even ask the question, “What is wrong with me?” Why
am I the only exercise physiologists writing on professionalism?
Why? What is it for? Perhaps, I should stop. These are
all natural feelings when you are the only person writing about professionalism.
Everyone else is busy publishing research data. I am writing what
is true, yet I want it to be different. Why can’t exercise physiologists
recognize the need for change and have the willingness to transform themselves?
Do they need to walk on a bed of hot coals to find the power within to
change? Again, I don’t have the answers, except that I do believe
we have the choice at any point in time to change and to break away.
Exercise physiologists need
to take advantage of what is at their fingertips. With increased
membership, we can access full advantage of our resources for greater success.
Now is the time to make it happen. Anything is possible if we are
willing to work for it. To personalize it, anything is possible
when a person is determined to create the results that person desires.
One way to get the power to control your future is derived from the national
certification examination that is presently being finalized by the ASEP
Board of Certification. With specialized knowledge and certification,
anything imaginable is within your reach. Knowledge is power and
certification results from specialized knowledge, so certification is power.
With this in mind, aren’t
all certifications the same? No, there are a lot of certifications
available for as little as a check to purchase them. Today, however,
we need certification that means something. One based on academic
courses in college; a specialized knowledge and information that can only
be acquired when attending college courses in exercise physiology.
The truth of the matter is that, while a few of the dozens of available
certifications for health and fitness practitioners are pretty good, too
many result in more confusion about qualifications and credibility.
We don’t need more or even better written certification exams; instead,
we need “one” exam that empowers the exercise physiologist with the ability
to catalyze possibilities. That certification is the “Exercise Physiologist
Certified (EPC)” exam. It will communicate to the public sector the
picture of professionalism and credibility.
Those who will soon become
ASEP certified will begin to change exercise physiology throughout their
community. They will have a voice matched by a vision that will communicate
their professionalism. Instead of having to rely on non-exercise
physiology certifications, they will now have their own certification.
Think about it. Isn’t that moment going to be special? You
bet it will be, especially because “x” number of exercise physiologists
did not deal themselves out of the decision-making process of taking control
over their future. Instead, they opted the calculated risk of winning
by doing for exercise physiologists. No more certifications and hand-delivered
knowledge to non-exercise physiologists will be tolerated. Now is
the time to take pride in our academic programs, and to move forward with
confidence to make our dream a reality. No more false beliefs.
What is important today,
and what has been amazingly misunderstood for decades, is our commitment
to the undergraduate and master prepared exercise physiologists.
In one way or another, we must get across the theme of “exercise
physiologists for exercise physiologists.” That is what we
must dream of and work day and night until everything comes full circle,
and we become our dreams. It is inescapable fact that we can make
a difference. We have already made a significant difference in those
who share the dream. Many of the members, although not as outspoken
as I am, have the same passion and beliefs as I do. With passion,
there is power. With belief comes the “real thing”. With passion
and belief in themselves, ASEP members will succeed in organizing themselves
around the necessary resources to support the values that have shaped their
thinking. In short, why will they succeed? Because others have
succeeded and if they can then exercise physiologists can! If biomechanists
and sport psychologists can start their own professional organizations,
then exercise physiologists can, too. Building from the experience
and success of others isn’t a new idea. It is a simple process.
Our belief in what we can
do is the key to the transition from the public sector’s view of us as
technicians to our view as professionals. We must, individually and
collectively, believe that we are the very best health and fitness, cardiopulmonary
rehabilitation, and athletic professionals on the face of the earth.
Understanding this point is the key to achieving the action and the difference
between what we are today and our state of mind to control and direct our
future. It’s a fact that we are (or can be) in control and, ultimately,
we must be because success isn’t a matter of luck. Success is a result
of visualization, writing, dreaming, living, and believing the opinions
and convictions of the ASEP members. Their feelings are the magic
that opens doors and builds confidence. In essence, they are saying
that “I am an exercise physiologist and, because I am an exercise
physiology, I have the right to my own professional organization.
The fact that ASEP is an organization of exercise physiologists for exercise
physiologists, then, as an exercise physiologist, it is silly if I don’t
belong to it.”
Exercise physiologists have
the right to their own professional society, even should they make mistakes
in the development of the organization. Do the members understand
this point? Of course and, therefore, they are willing to take responsibility.
They understand the commitment, the revolution that is taking place, and
the improvements in academic programs needed to professionalize exercise
physiology. They understand the need for reengineering the field,
especially the need for the “right” type of thinking because “as we think,
so we are.” ASEP is about helping all exercise physiologists to
“act like they want to be and to expect that they will soon be like they
act.”
Chances are you might be
thinking about becoming an ASEP member. Take a second and think about
it. Isn’t this a good time to stand up for your colleagues?
Imagine what a force exercise physiologists could have on professionalism
if every single exercise physiologist, bachelor through PhD, shared the
same vision. It is a truly new way of looking at things when exercise
physiologists create their own destiny. Congratulations is due to
every ASEP member. Their determination, perseverance, and action
on behalf of all exercise physiologists should be appreciated and recognized.
The ASEP President, Dr. Robert Robergs, didn’t need to join ASEP but he
did. He could have followed the path of least resistance and, very
likely, would have realized substantial rewards for doing so.
Instead, he chose to “seize the moment” and take the ASEP vision to heart.
He is a “take charge” professional, and all ASEP members should be very
grateful for his hard work. May you consider the work, passion, and
purpose of ASEP and, therefore, dedicate yourself not only to becoming
a member but an active member who is willing to share the ASEP vision with
everyone in speaking distance.
