ASEPNewsletter
Vol
3 No 7
July
1999
ISSN
1097-9743
The ASEPNewsletter
is devoted to informative articles and news items 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 to respond directly via the ASEP
Public Forum.
Copyright ©1999 American Society of Exercise Physiologists.
All Rights Reserved.
August
1999
Editorial
Policy/Call for Papers
Table
of Contents
To
All ASEP members:
"HAVE
A HAPPY AND SAFE 4TH OF JULY"
ASEP
Advertisements
Director
of Wellness Center
Guthrie
Healthcare System
-NEWS-
ASEP had
an "Exhibit Booth" at the recent ACSM meeting in Seattle,
WA. Your President, Dr. Robert Robergs of the University of New
Mexico and others were (Drs. Weir, Simpson, Diboll, and Boone) attended
the booth to answer questions and hand out ASEP brochures and information.
Everyone felt that the booth helped in getting out the word about the Society
and the upcoming October meeting in Albuquerque, NM.
President's
Report
Dr.
Robert Robergs has just recently submitted his "President's Report"
that addresses:
1999 Annual
Meeting
JEPonline
Letters
to Other Organizations
Committee
Functions
Scope
of Practice
ACSM
ACSM National
Meeting and ASEP Booth
Letters
to Prominent Exercise Physiologists
To read
the complete report, click on June,
1999.
Student
Chapters
Several
ASEP members who are college teachers indicated at the ASEP Exhibit Booth
that they were interested in starting a Student Chapter at their institution
during the upcoming months of the 1999-2000 academic year. This is
great news! If you are interested in starting a chapter, contact
either
Dr. Robergs at 505-277-1196
or the ASEP National Office (218-723-6297). Note that the ByLaws
and Constitution are on the Internet (refer to the ASEP homepage).
JEPonline
Be
sure to click on the July
issue of JEPonline.
ASEP's exercise physiology journal! There are several research articles
for your enjoyment.
The
"first-ever" exercise physiology electronic journal!!!!
The
journal is registered with several data bases, including Dr.MEDMarket's
Health Services Index (via the Medical Resources Index Category), the Association
of Research Libraries (ARL) Web site, the NewJour (that post online journals),
and the Ulrich' International Periodicals Directory. The latter directory
is the world's leading periodicals directory since 1932, and is used by
libraries, publishers, researchers, and subscription agencies.
ASEP's
electronic journals exist for exercise physiologists. Each article
can be printed and used in your work or as part of your classroom assignments.
As an author of an article in ASEPNewsletter,
JEPonline,
or PEPonline,
you can list the work in your Resume' and other important documents.
Guess what? You can published in either of the three ASEP documents
without paying page charges. It is free. Why? Because ASEP
meets the costs of publishing your work. What about copyright? All three
e-journals are listed with the Library of Congress via their own ISSN numbers
(International Standard Serial Number).
ASEP
Membership
We
are an organization of "284" 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
Promise of the ASEP Organization
Tommy
Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP
Organizations
are complex, confusing, and multifaceted. They are a challenge to
those who find themselves in the middle of the organizing, much less to
those completely outside of the process. Few have the capacity to
instantly understand everything about a particular organization and the
assumptions that drive it. Hence, no wonder it is a challenge to
figure out whether membership in a particular organization is the right
thing to do. This is, however, the focus of this brief article on
the promise of the ASEP organization.
The
ASEP Challenge
The
American Society of Exercise Physiologists (ASEP) exist for its members.
The focus of the organization is to professionalize exercise physiology
and, in so doing, it helps the public sector and others understand exercise
physiologists and what they do. This task is as much a challenge,
if not more so, than understanding what organizations do. The challenge
facing the ASEP members is impressive. At first sight, the inertia
of the contemporary view of exercise physiology is significant because
it embraces such a narrowly focused perspective. This one-sided insight
that distorts what the public knows about exercise physiology must be changed.
ASEP
is a beginning in the right direction. It is not a "quick fix" organization
with a one-step plan. There is no simple recipe for tackling the
contradictions and mis-management of exercise physiology across the past
40 years. We can gain comfort in knowing that ASEP provides
the all-important flexibility to create new images and insights.
It is the springboard for the breakthrough thinking necessary to gain control
over what we do and our contribution to the public sector.
To
illustrate this point, before ASEP existed, exercise physiologists did
not have a Code of Ethics. Collectively, by default, they organized
themselves under the "sports medicine" umbrella. Trapped by association,
exercise physiologists failed to identify their own goals and objectives
as well as a blueprint for professional development. The resultant
lack of thinking about academic program integrity, job structures, and
organizational specificity left exercise physiologists with little professional
strength and endurance. The inability to organize and unleash their
creativity did little to avoid the routinized daily (yearly) patterns of
thinking. The end result is that the bureaucratized sports medicine
professional articulated and shaped the basic conceptions of what exercise
physiology is all about.
Purpose
of an Organization
Organizations,
sports medicine or otherwise, are designed and operated in accordance
with specific intentions. They are created to achieve efficient
and predictable results. In other words, organizations exist to carry
out the objectives of the members "in power." They use the organization
as a tool or instrument to invent or develop their agenda. Hence,
the organization itself isn't the problem but rather the individuals in
charge of the organization. If we find that an organization isn't
working on behalf of its members, then the problem is that the organization
is working on behalf of those who are in control.
Those
who are "in power" walk a delicate line between getting what they want
and providing what is important for everyone else. Leaders
of distinction always plan organizational procedures to protect and lookout
for the members. The basic thrust of others is to operate as
precisely as possible in restricting activity in certain directions while
encouraging it in others. Needless to say, the neglect to "reengineer"
exercise physiology within the context of sports medicine resulted in a
shift in interest from the older-style of managing professionals to the
more efficient way of doing work. Now, it is recognized that the
exercise physiologist is the best person to perform the job of defining,
educating, and monitoring exercise physiology performance.
The
ASEP Organization
Exercise
physiologists are professionals with complex needs that must be satisfied
if they are to perform effectively in the public sector. The idea
of integrating the needs of the individual exercise physiologist and an
organization designed by and executed by exercise physiologists isn't new.
However, the actual development of such an organization with the administrative
structure and leadership style to ensure that exercise physiologists can
exercise their capacity for self-control and creativity are new.
Simply stated, it was not done until ASEP was founded in 1997. Now,
the promise of ASEP is that its existence is only as important as the professional
health and well being of its members.
The
promise of ASEP is to shape the future of exercise physiology work to increase
job satisfaction. The members' major focus of attention is on national
certification, state licensure, and academic credibility (accreditation).
This focus is integrated with the member's attention to a variety of professional
issues that capture, illustrate, and define the exercise physiologist.
The latter emphasis is clearly as challenging as the former, and is equally
necessary. That is, while establishing national credibility
is ultimately important, there is still the long-road to reengineering
the outcomes of the academics programs within the public sector.
The pursuit of both builds on the principle that professionalism requires
the achievement of self-regulation and the ability to make a living.
The
Ideal Profession
All
this has important implications for the professionalization of exercise
physiology. For example, if the characteristics of the ideal profession
are:
intellectual;
specialized
body of knowledge and research;
professional
education;
peer accountability;
socially
necessary; and
motivated
by altruism,
--then
the occupational group of exercise physiologists is clearly on its way
to becoming a profession. Exercise physiologists are committed to
benefiting the public. The question is the "direction" in performing
their professional work.
If
exercise physiology is defined as clinical exercise physiology, then other
career opportunities will not develop. From the start, the ASEP Board
of Directors recognized that this one school of thought is narrow.
Therefore, ASEP was built around the single important idea that academically
prepared exercise physiologists are educated to deal with different kinds
of public health, fitness, rehabilitation, and sport training issues.
The focus of attention is first on the undergraduate, who graduates as
an exercise physiologist and, second, on the "good fit" of the professional
into a variety of stable and interconnected job opportunities with increased
economic, technological, and sociopolitical dimensions.
This
kind of professional strategy has been outlined in a recent PEPonline
article entitled, "Defining
the Exercise Physiologist." The point being, "What hope does
an organization bring to its members if the vision for work is too narrowly
focused, and is often times performed by non-exercise physiologists --
such as in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation where nurses and physical therapists
(with less academic training) frequently supervise the exercise physiologist?"
The answer is very little! But, should an organization bring to the
table a variety of job opportunities with core values and beliefs that
shape patterns of professional development, then there is hope!
Reason
for Hope
ASEP
is the window of opportunity for exercise physiologists throughout the
United States. It is built on the idea that the exercise physiologist
has a right to the interrelated subsystems of health care strategies.
In short, exercise physiology is on the cutting edge of understanding the
importance of regular exercise and the role mind-body strategies play in
securing more meaningful cost-effective ways of maintaining good health
and fitness. The task of ASEP members is to bring together variable
career options into a closer alignment under the management for and by
exercise physiologists. Inertial pressures from other organizations
with established ideas and mindsets are handled through ASEP's engagement
in timely and efficient recruitment of new members. The collaborative
relations between the old and the new ASEP members inspire and create new
patterns of thinking. The end result is shared interests, shared
meaning, shared beliefs, and shared understanding in organizing and sponsoring
creative ways of thinking and acting; all designed to influence the future
of exercise physiology. Hence, the transition from a discipline to
a profession (i.e., the future of exercise physiology) is dependent upon
the necessity for change. Naturally, recognizing the need to change
from the sports medicine model to the reengineered and empowering model
of "exercise physiologists first" requires a new mindset. Although
the challenge is the transformation itself, the process is underway with
ASEP's transforming visions, images, beliefs, and shared thinking.
The
ASEP organization is more than just another organization. It carries
important aspects of expectation. As the members think and do, their
ideas and visions become reality. The shared sense of reality of the ASEP
members reinforces their desire, conviction, and legitimacy in the public
eye. This living, evolving, and self-organizing reality gives shape
to the profession of exercise physiology. In time, it will be common
place for graduates from exercise physiology accredited programs to market
themselves as other professional graduates have for decades.
A snapshot of future jobs in exercise physiology with greater specificity
includes:
athletics
and sports training;
academia
and research;
community
health, fitness, and wellness;
clinical
and medical rehabilitation;
government
and military;
business
and consultant;
private
practice;
sports
nutrition; and
internationally.
The
ASEP Beliefs
In
contrast with the view that only the PhD exercise physiologist can use
the title "exercise physiologist" -- a common goal of ASEP accreditation
is to provide the academically prepared undergraduate, at graduation, the
distinction h/she deserves with an academic degree in exercise physiology.
Such a coalition of academically supported programs of study offers a strategy
for advanced training prior to graduation. The title "exercise physiologist"
is built into the academic structures, roles, attitudes, and objectives
of the academic programs. Conflict as to who is an exercise physiologist
will gradually disappear as a consensus in thinking is realized.
Career advancement will be possible, and the sense of powerlessness to
manage one's career will gradually decrease.
Besides
shaping the profession, its realities, body of knowledge, and information
used by the public sector, exercise physiologists will continue the quest
for autonomy from other organizations' influence tempered with professional
networking and coalition building. ASEP's success will lead
to more success, which will help transform still others to join the organization.
Common to this viewpoint is the promise that ASEP is collectively working
on behalf of exercise physiologists. There are no hidden dimensions
or agendas. The members' needs are built into ASEP. The critical
thinking and awareness that penetrates the inertia and debate between sports
medicine and exercise physiology come from the need to create new ideas,
feel new feelings, and to act as professional exercise physiologists.
This, of course, is possible because of the collective support of the membership.
New understandings of a situation or the assumption of an established condition
engage new actions. These actions are reflected in transformations like
ASEP and the transition from one organization to another. The basic
idea is that small changes catalyze major changes. Eventually a critical
mass effect is realized. Working together rather than in isolation,
a major force is created. The secret of the force lies in the "teamwork"
shared by the members. This idea has a long history, and has important
implications. It means that organizations survive by their own efforts.
Members provide the power and the strategy for promoting success.
Our
purpose in creating ASEP is to gain insight on how to satisfy the interests
of all exercise physiologists. There is no mistake that building
an organization is an incredible task. It is time-consuming and full
of imposing threats. In fact, a case could be made to have not created
ASEP. Unfortunately, the growth of exercise physiology, as an emerging
profession, would be stopped and new forms of what we will become would
not have been realized. The present form is less than ideal.
It is demeaning, and other professionals would no doubt continue to dominate
and exploit the college-prepared exercise physiologist. These problems
must be corrected, particularly when issues of liability and the threat
of disappearance exist. This is vividly illustrated by the fact that
the students' perception of "return" after graduation fails to measure
up to the tuition costs and work that went into getting the degree.
The severity of this problem has been exacerbated by the diverse numbers
of certifications available to anyone who wishes to sit for the exams.
The
bitter irony is that many of these problems could have been corrected years
ago had exercise physiologists developed their own professional organization.
For this reason (and more), ASEP provides a useful counterweight to much
of the traditional inertia (which has for the most part been ignored by
PhD exercise physiologists). The counterweight is a more focused
perspective to discern various paths for future strategic development.
By being open to the ASEP agenda, exercise physiologists should be more
sensitive to the different dimensions of the emerging profession.
Politics and its influence, different frames of thought about professionalism,
and a synthesis of insights should help elevate the importance of ASEP.
Another important point is that, for those who don't understand why ASEP
exists; reading a situation is always a two-way street. Hence, while
many ASEP members are members of different sports medicine organizations,
the issue is not that sports medicine is bad. Sports medicine obviously
has its place, and a significant one at that. However, in trying
to discern the meaning of exercise physiology, it is clearly apparent that
exercise physiologists have a right to their own professional organization.
The same is true for the sports biomechanist, the sports pyschologist,
and the sport manager.
In
sum, ASEP members find themselves living in a period of unprecedented history.
Those who choose to do so, can belong to and embrace a new paradigm in
exercise physiology. This shift in thinking is enormous. It
is exactly the understanding that is needed to move exercise physiology
into the next century. With ASEP, exercise physiologists can learn
to develop their own theories and create relevant professional and research
strategies. They can learn to recognize and value their own strengths.
They can set the agenda for critical, reflective thinking and application
as the backdrop to managing ideas, concepts, and ideas generated from diverse
perspectives and exercise physiology research. Lastly, the promise
of the ASEP membership is to continue to organize and manage the future
of exercise physiology. The organization promises to make the transition
from the old model to the new as best as possible, and to meet the challenges
of the new reality.
What
do you think about the ASEP promise?
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 (current
weather)
Inquiries
-
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 and the
University
of New Mexico Student Chapter of ASEP
The
University of New Mexico
ASEP
Public Forum for Exercise Physiologists.
Check
out the comments regarding HOPE!
Professionalization
Check
out the article in the Professionalization
of Exercise Physiologyonlinejournal.
 "Strategic
Intent: The ASEP Vision"
by
Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH
What
are your thoughts about the article?
Interesting
Web 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.
"Instructions
to Authors" in the Health Sciences is an excellent web site that provides
instructions to authors for over 2,000 journals in the health sciences.
All links are "primary sources." Raymon
H. Mulford Library/Medical College of Ohio
EXCELLENT
TEXTBOOK by Robert A. Robergs and Scott O. Roberts. "Exercise
Physiology: Exercise, Performance, and Clinical Applications" The
McGraw-Hill Companies
HMS
Beagle, the Internet Community for Biological and Medical Researchers
http://www.sportlink.com/fitness
MedNets:
Physiology, Note that the ASEP Journal of Exercise Physiologyonline
is listed with other important physiology-oriented journals
Changing
Your Future
Tommy
Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP
Editor,
ASEPNewsletter
"The
greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings,
by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects
of their lives." --William James, eminent American psychologist
WE ALL
HAVE DREAMS. What will it take to change your life? Have you
thought about it? I'll never forget the day it hit me that I couldn't
continue as Chair of the Department of Exercise Physiology at St. Scholastica
without doing something to help my students at graduation. I felt
very uneasy, alone, and frustrated that we didn't have an organization
to turn to for help. As I studied the Internet and organizations
that had developed specific goals and objectives, images and emotions flowed
over me. I realized that we could have our own professional organization,
and so I made a decision to write the Charter for the American Society
of Exercise Physiologists (ASEP) and post it on the Internet. Today,
I have the privilege of sharing my dream with other exercise physiologists;
collectively we are turning our dreams into reality.
Taking
Action
For
too many of us wait for someone else to make a difference. Ultimately,
across time, the problems that concern us get worse. Think for a
moment. Do you want the hopes and dreams of our students pushed to the
side? What kind of teachers would we be if we didn't care for our
students during and beyond college? The bottom line, I realized that
it was wrong and unthinkable to not change the future! We must seize
every opportunity to take action, and to believe that it's our decisions
that influence the future. You and I both know that certain decisions
brought you to this point in your life, and simply by making decisions
today about the future of exercise physiologists we can create it.
Making
a Commitment
While
some exercise physiologists are interested in changing the future, they
are not committed to it. There are a lot of reasons for their lack
of commitment. A major reason, it seems, is that they are too busy
building their careers, doing research, publishing, and serving on committees.
Granted, each of these areas of work is important but so are students.
Unfortunately, it seems that some academic exercise physiologists don't
feel the same towards their students as they do towards their personal
and professional development. Maybe they should make a decision,
starting today, to work on behalf of their students. Exercise physiology
teachers are the real power in change; they are the catalyst for turning
our dreams into reality.
Many
exercise physiologists say, "Well, I'd love to make a decision like that,
but I'm not sure that ASEP is the way to go?" They are paralyzed by the
inertia of sports medicine and groupthink. As a result, they continue
with the old model of who we are and what we do. What's important
is that ASEP members are working to help exercise physiologists throughout
the world to "Just Do It"! They are sharing the joy and hope that
surrounds the commitment to make more of themselves through unity.
The power in coming together is strong, informative, and action oriented.
It is a commitment to a new future.
"We
will either find a way, or make one." --Hannibal
Changing
Mindsets
One
of the most bitter and cruel mindsets is who can wear the title "exercise
physiologist"? Why the problem exists is not a surprise, but why
it is supported by some of our smartest personalities in the profession
is hard to understand. Recently, at a major meeting, I was told,
"I'm an exercise physiologist because I have the PhD degree. Anyone
without the PhD is something "else." This kind of thinking is an
outcome of beliefs. Whatever we do, it is out of our beliefs about
what is and what isn't. Beliefs have the power to create positive
states of mind or the power to destroy hope.
Hence,
teachers with the belief that only PhDs are exercise physiologists have
the power to destroy and confuse. Their status and beliefs can (and
do) override the impact and reality of students who graduate with an undergraduate
"degree in exercise physiology." When belief in what you are is important
and a driving force (as, for example, the students who recently graduated
from St. Scholastica with an academic major in exercise physiology), we
realize that the belief of others is such that they openly minimize if
not flatly take away from the privileges and rights pertaining to the academic
degree. They are, in other words, weakening and destroying the will
and drive of the very same students they taught. We need to realize
that, in many instances, our present beliefs about who can wear the title
"exercise physiologist" are damaging and should be revised. With
a feeling of certainty, ASEP has done just that! ASEP members have
agreed upon the following definition of an exercise physiologist.
"The
exercise physiologist is a university (college) educated professional who
has at minimum a bachelor's degree (or emphasis) in exercise physiology
(science)". --ASEP Standards Documents
The key
point is that the title "exercise physiologist" is not limited to just
the PhD college professor or the director of a cardiac rehabilitation program.
Why is this belief important? Because it allows the emerging profession
and students of exercise physiology the same rights as students from nursing,
physical therapy, and occupational therapy programs. Exercise physiology
students deserve respect and support. They should not be made to
feel inferior, helpless, or worthless by assigning them a title less than
"exercise physiologist" if the degree program or academically approved
concentration is in exercise physiology.
Changing
Convictions
When
there is emotional intensity linked to an idea, event, or a belief as in
the case of "Who is an exercise physiologist?" -- it is a conviction.
While conviction has a positive side of driving us to act, there is also
a negative side. For example, a person holding a conviction that
the only exercise physiologist is the PhD exercise physiologist gets angry
if their conviction is questioned. Because of their commitment to
the idea, they are resistant to new thinking. They believe that giving
up their belief would result in giving up their identity. Holding
on to the conviction is important to them, but it is also dangerous especially
if it too rigid. They fail to understand, as the German philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer stated, all truth goes through three steps:
First,
it is ridiculed.
Second,
it is opposed.
Finally,
it is accepted as self-evident.
The idea
that a person with an undergraduate degree has the right to the title "exercise
physiologist" is ridiculed by a good number of PhDs. Others oppose
the idea. Consider the following comments from the ASEP Public Forum
dated May 20, 1998 by Laura J. VanHarn, PhD:
"I
am not the only Exercise Physiologist who strongly believes that a four
year exercise science degree....does not give you the right to call yourself
an Exercise Physiologists. I did not work 2 years to earn my masters
degree, and 6 years to earn my PhD to be reduced to the same title as someone
with an undergraduate degree."
In the
end, though, it will be accepted and self-evident. Change is inevitable.
Developing
New Standards and Attitudes
When
I realized the incredible power we possess to change our future, I began
to notice how others wanted to do the same. What was missing in all
of us, which essentially paralyzed our thinking, was an "organization of
exercise physiologists." An organization is imperative to determine
where to focus one's efforts, how to think, how to feel, and what to do.
If we want to change our future, we've got to hold ourselves to higher
standards (hence, the reason for our own Code of Ethics), change our beliefs
about what's possible (ASEP Goals and Objectives), and develop a professional
strategy through unity to empower ourselves.
"We
lift ourselves by our thought, we climb upon our vision of ourselves."--Orison
Swett Marden
In short,
changing our future requires a change in the attitudes of all exercise
physiologists (particularly the college professors). Many of us have
spent more than several decades teaching and developing exercise physiology
(science) programs of study (from undergraduate through PhD). Our
motives were predominately professional. We wanted to assist our
students in transcending their past difficulties and limitations in other
fields of study. We wanted to develop the emerging profession of
exercise physiology, and thus help our students as well.
As
agents of change, we did reasonably well without any organizational guidance.
Almost every college or university has an exercise science program, a few
by comparison to the total number of schools that have exercise physiology
programs, and of course most major institutions have doctorate programs
in exercise physiology. As agents of change, it is almost unbelievable
what has happened in just 40 years (a very short period of time compared
to other programs of study). The reality, however, is that change
from what was to what is isn't all that great considering the continued
professional difficulties and self-imposed limitations.
For
our state of mind and satisfaction, closure is important to the significant
efforts of many great men and women. Closure is interpreted as completing
what was started. We have fixed some problems, but many remain.
Now, with our own professional organization we will be able to create possibilities
consistent with our understanding of other professional programs.
Now, more than at any other time in our short history, we need also to
recognize the "unidentified" PhD exercise physiologists who have kept the
dream alive by teaching exercise physiology courses. They, among
the older and more frequently mentioned names (in association with the
Harvard Fatigue Lab), deserve our respect and praise. They kept the
discipline going by continuing to teach exercise physiology concepts and
ideas. They are why we have the opportunity to continue what we are
doing. Who are they? They are the college teachers in kinesiology,
human performance, or exercise and sports science departments all across
the United States who were educated as exercise physiologists. They
kept exercise physiology going.
But,
unfortunately, they failed to realize the importance of having their own
professional organization. Had they realized the mistake from the
beginning, exercise physiology would be where physical therapy and other
professional programs are today. Even now, however, most of these
same college professors still fail to understand that we can't teach a
student to think as an exercise physiologist and then at graduation say,
"I'm sorry but you can't called yourself an exercise physiologist without
a PhD degree." It is a break in logic, and bordering on fraud.
When
was the last time you stopped to think about the titles, exercise science
and exercise physiology. Across the board, for example, the title
"exercise science" can mean that the degree program is in physical education
(i.e., only the title has changed). Students major in exercise science
only to find out that it is a concentration of two or three courses at
most or, perhaps, it is used as an umbrella title for a variety of different
academic offerings with little significant academic concentration in any
one area. The lack of consistency in definition and intent are legally
questionable as is the idea that upon graduation from a college with a
degree in human performance with a concentration in exercise science, the
person is an "exercise scientist." Naturally, since that are no jobs
in the public sector for the so-called exercise scientist, the title "fitness
specialist" or one of several other similar titles is used instead.
When
it comes to what is exercise physiology, many students are beginning to
question what they are told by their college professors. With insult
added to injury at graduation, they have come to realize that the public
sector
doesn't recognize what they do. ASEP members realize this is completely
at odds with most college academic programs and, therefore, should not
be allowed to continue. They understand that college departments
are responsible to the students and their parents.
If
we were to pause for a moment and look at what we are doing, it would be
hard to explain to our Deans and Vice-Presidents (as incredible as it might
sound). Because if you think about it, you have to agree that it is almost
inhuman to pump up students while in school to later expose them to emotional
pain and difficulties in locating a good paying job. My point is
simple. After the lengthy struggle and challenge to complete an academic
major, the student should be able to capture the attention of an employer.
If the student can't locate a job in exercise physiology, then what we
are doing isn't working. If other departments can educate students
for good jobs in the public sector, then exercise physiologists can learn
to do it.
"We
become what we think about." --Earl Nightingale
Dr.
Joe Weir, Chair of the Research Committee, has indicated that his committee
is close to finalizing the steps for student applications for ASEP-supported
research projects. Stay tuned!
ASEPNewsletter
EDITORIAL
POLICY and CALL FOR PAPERS
The
ASEPNewsletteris 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
 
 ASEP
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