ASEPNewsletter
Vol
3 No 10
October, 1999
ISSN
1097-9743
The
ASEPNewsletter
is devoted to informative articles and news itmes about exercise physiology.
It is a monthly magazine of news, opinions, exercise physiology professionals,
and events that shape exercise physiology. While it contains views and
opinions of the Editor
who
oversees the ASEP Internet Websites, visitors can have a voice as well.
We welcome interested practitioners, researchers, and academicians to e-mail
the Publisher their thoughts and ideas or respond directly online via the
ASEP
Public Forum.
November
1999
AGENDA
-ABSTRACTS-ASEP
2nd National Meeting in Albuquerque, NM
As
indicated last in the ASEPNewsletter
last
month, the Indiana Association of Exercise
Physiologists Board of Directors voted to affiliate with ASEP.
The ASEP National Office has received the "Memorandum
of Understanding" (otherwise known as the "Agreement") from the President
of the IAEP.
Members of the Board
of the West Virginia Association of Exercise Physiologists are in
discussion with the ASEP Board of Directors to consider affiliation and
support of state licensure.
President's
Report
1999 Annual
Meeting: research abstracts
JEPonline
looks great for October!
Teleconference
between ASEP and ACSM
Letter
sent to ACSM
Intiatives
with other organizations
To
read the complete report, click on July
Report, 1999.
Student
Chapters
Interested
in starting a Student Chapter at your institution, then contact
Dr.
Robert Robergs at 505-277-1196 or the ASEP National Office (218-723-6297).
The Student Chapter ByLaws
and Constitution
are on the Internet.
Journal
of Exercise Physiologyonline
The
"first-ever" exercise physiology electronic journal, Be sure to click
on the October
1999 issue of JEPonline.ASEP's
exercise physiology journal. There are four
research articles plus selected abstracts
of presentations in the upcoming meeting in Albuquerque, NM.
ASEP
Membership
We
are an organization of "297" membersand
still climbing. To become a member, print the
Membership Application and forward it to the ASEP
National Office, or call an ASEP representative at (218) 723-6297.
Visit additional web sites for more information, click on the ASEP Table
of Contents. Current
weather at the ASEP National Office, Duluth, MN.
Guest
editorial
The
ASEPNewsletter
is seeking guest editorials -- brief commentaries on a wide variety
of issues. Everyone involved in: health, fitness, rehabilitation, sports,
including medical, business, management, psychology, teachers, and students
-- is welcome to share insights, concerns, points and counterpoints on
any issue that impinges upon the exercise physiology profession.
To
contribute a guest editorial, send, FAX (218) 723-6472), or e-mail
(tboone2@css.edu) an essay and a brief biography. Send your contribution
to: ASEP National Office, c/o Dr. Tommy Boone, Department of
Exercise Physiology, College of St. Scholastica, 1200 Kenwood Ave, Duluth,
MN 55811.
2nd
Annual Meeting of ASEP (October
14-16, 1999)
Conference
Facility
Wyndham
Hotel
Location
Albuquerque,
NM
Robert
A. Robergs, Ph.D.,FASEP
Conference
Organizer
President
- ASEP
Director
– Center For Exercise And Applied Human Physiology
Johnson
Center, B143
The
University Of New Mexico
Albuquerque,
NM 87131-1258
Phone:
(secretary): (505) 277-2658, FAX: (505) 277-9742.
Hosts
Exercise
Science Program
University
of New Mexico Student Chapter of ASEP
The
University of New Mexico
ASEP
Public Forumfor Exercise Physiologists.
Professionalization
Check
out the
Professionalization
of Exercise Physiologyonlinejournal.
What
are your thoughts about the articles?
AGREE?
DISAGREE?
Interestingweb
sites
Have
you run across an interesting exercise physiology site? If you have
and would like it to be posted, please let me know via my email.
Question?
How many flexibility exercises are necessary for an athlete (or
anyone for that matter), regardless of the sport? Please forward your response
to the 
address.
ASEPNewsletter
EDITORIAL
POLICY and CALL FOR PAPERS
The
ASEPNewsletter
is
not a refereed newsletter. Newsletters are open-ended so as to present
a diverse set of opinions. The papers in the each issue are concerned
with issues and topics that have a bearing on the professionalization of
exercise physiology. As Editor, I especially welcome articles that
critically address specific features of ASEP and its efforts to develop
exercise physiology. Views that support ASEP's vision, goals, and
objectives as well as views that do not provide valuable lessons for our
readers.
Submitted
papers should be unpublished and non-copyrighted. Submission of a
paper will imply that it contains original unpublished work and is not
submitted for publication elsewhere. The Editor will pursue a policy
of timely and meaningful review of each paper. After the paper is
accepted, the author(s) must provide the paper's final version in an electronic
file on a diskette. The paper should follow the example of published
articles in the ASEPNewsletter.
The text format is flexible (regarding center headings, side flush headings,
and so forth). The reference style should conform to the style presently
used in the JEPonline.
Send
all submissions to the Editor:
ASEP
National Office
c/o
Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP
Department
of Exercise Physiology
The
College of St. Scholastica
1200
Kenwood Ave
Duluth,
MN 55811
Respecting
the Dignity of Others
Tommy
Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP
“Never
cease to pursue the opportunity to seek something different. Don’t
be satisfied with what you’re doing. Always try to seek a way and
a method to improve upon what you’re doing, even if it’s considered contrary
to the traditions of an industry.” Howard Marguleas
As the
21st Century approaches, exercise physiology is undergoing significant
changes. Professionalism is now a topic of concern with significant
advances made in several areas: certification, licensure, and accreditation.
We in ASEP have been part of the birth of exercise physiology as a profession.
What is old and what still exist will remain for some time to come, but
business is not as usual as it once was.
There
is competition now for the exercise physiologist who can choose between
sports medicine and exercise physiology. No longer is there just
sports medicine. No longer can sports medicine ignore exercise physiologists.
Wants and needs, personally and professionally, must be managed, and that
is the goal of ASEP. No longer will there be just certification of
the exercise physiology types-of-positions by sports medicine. By
October 2000, exercise physiologists can be certified by exercise physiologists
as an exercise physiologist.
Most
important of all, these changes increase the chances of exercise physiologists
surviving in the health, fitness, rehabilitative, and sport fields of work.
In a relatively short period of time, there will be a new breed of exercise
physiology leaders. Their vision will lead exercise physiologists
into the future with increased opportunities as professionals. The
vision will set the stage for better communication among all exercise physiologists
and between them and the public.
The
infrastructure is in place. ASEP is dedicated to the involvement
of exercise physiologists, professional improvement, and the satisfaction
of its members and the public sector. None of this is happening overnight,
but it is happening and ASEP is rolling right past the competition.
It cannot be ignored, and increasingly, more exercise physiologists as
students through the PhD degree have grown to understand ASEP’s importance.
It has produced unprecedented opportunities of satisfaction and hope.
Exercise
physiologists from around the world can see what’s happening in the United
States. It’s a very positive influence in pushing forward with increased
communication and teamwork. Coming together as exercise physiologists
from around the world is the extra step in educating the public and in
designing better work conditions within the public sector. Striking
images of new work possibilities are now possible. Bright young college
graduates can expect a better future as they come to understand the necessity
of weaving things that are important to them with the basic needs and concerns
of the public.
Are
you prepared to enter the public sector as an exercise physiologist?
Are you ready to manage your professional interests with greater ease and
success? Would you like to increase your financial value? Are
you willing to find the right graduate school to become all that is possible
within you? If so, read on. What you read may just change your
thinking about exercise physiology.
Management
or Leadership?
Without
wanting to berate sports medicine, the leaders of the organization have
managed exercise physiology. The result is that exercise physiology
has just puttered along as if it ever had a chance to grow within the confines
of sports medicine. Rarely has it occurred, but once in a while,
a leader within sports medicine tried to steer exercise physiology forward
with its own niche of possibilities. Predictably along the way, the
idea was pushed aside.
The
almost “expert” management of exercise physiology by sports medicine leaders
has kept exercise physiologists from recognizing the need to stand up and
take on the responsibility of professionalism. Sports medicine, after
all, is simply doing its job and doing it very well. The sports medicine
leaders understand the importance of what exercise physiologists do (research),
and they have benefited tremendously from it. Exercise physiologists
have, in other words, helped make sports medicine the valued organization
that it is in the United States.
However,
what is needed in the United States is “leadership”. Undergraduate
students who are majoring in exercise science/physiology need guidance
to help them achieve what they are capable of as healthcare professionals.
They need college professors with a vision for the future, and who are
willing to encourage, mentor, and help establish professionalism.
What
exercise physiologists don’t need anymore is irresponsible management of
exercise physiology through the sports medicine vision. However,
this isn’t going to happen real soon. Sports medicine personalities
feel that they have the right to oversee exercise physiology. They
don’t, of course. In time the view that they have some natural prerogative
of executive position over exercise physiology will disappear. Then,
only then, will effective communication take place between the two organizations.
Fortunately,
the change towards “leadership” in exercise physiology is taking place.
It is taking place with the ASEP committees; members who are working on
behalf of the exercise physiologist. Every ASEP member has the potential
to move exercise physiology forward. In fact, it will take the skills
of all exercise physiologists who, in effect, will thereby become the founders
of their vision and shared profession.
Visionary
leadership by “exercise physiologists for exercise physiologists” is at
the gut level the right thing to do. It is the only thing to do that
makes any sense at all. There is no retooling of exercise physiology
within the sports medicine context. Visionary leaders are those with
a mental image of both the possible and the desirable future of exercise
physiology. It is about a vision of what exercise physiology ought
to be, what it can be, and what it will be. It is about establishing
standards, a trusting relationship, and becoming a first-rate profession
with the respect of the public. There isn’t anything new about this.
Many other professions started with the same first steps. It’s just
that exercise physiologists have far too long avoided taking the risk of
acting on shared ideas and concerns.
Building
the Organization
Now
that the infrastructure is in place, ASEP is building its membership.
Organizations get bigger across time, not all at once. You can’t
go out and pull members in by their shirt collar. Getting the membership
to sustain the vision is, in part, a function of the existing members’
dream and whatever else they believe is important to continual reinforcement
of why the organization is important.
What
is generally obvious is that once an exercise physiologist becomes a member
and gets involved in the ongoing metamorphosis of exercise physiology as
an emerging profession, that person begins to see the vision as a way of
life. That person then becomes a living example to other exercise
physiologists, which encourages them to join and get involved. After
all, ASEP is the only professional organization for exercise physiologists.
As a team of unified professionals, it seems only reasonable to conclude
that all exercise physiologists increase their chances of becoming what
they want to be by joining together, by taking risks, and by having the
freedom to convey their thoughts and beliefs among peers who understand,
trust, respect, and care about them.
So,
once again, what is the motivation for someone to get involved in ASEP.
The answer comes as no surprise. It’s about helping yourself, as
an exercise physiologist, and about helping other exercise physiologists
and, thus the exercise physiology discipline as it moves toward the ranks
of a profession. That is the reason to want to belong to ASEP.
It is not about rocket science. It is not about taking exercise physiologists
from sports medicine. It is about respect and dignity. It is
about treating the exercise physiologist as an exercise physiologist, not
as a physiologist or a physical educator, or even a personal trainer or
an exercise specialist, or a health fitness instructor. It is about
exercise physiology. It is about listening to the concerns of exercise
physiologists. It is about ideas crying for expression. It
is about building an organization with members helping each other.
It is about creating a shared sense of purpose. It is about preparing
students for the future. It is about providing each ASEP member the
opportunity and the responsibility for shared-help in the professionalization
of exercise physiology.
JUST
THINKING...
“You
are what you think.” Dale Carnegie
ASEP
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