Professionalization
of Exercise Physiologyonline
An international electronic
journal for exercise physiologists
ISSN 1099-5862
Vol 2 No 11 November 1999


The Beginning of Wisdom

Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP

Professor and Chair, Department of Exercise Physiology, College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, MN


“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.” – Chinese proverb

There are many situations where different names are used for the same thing.  In health, fitness, rehabilitation, and athletics, there are a dozen different names for doing essentially the same job.  Aerobic instructor, personal trainer, strength and conditioning specialist, exercise specialist, health and fitness instructor, program director, fitness instructor, physical educator, coach, health consultant, exercise scientist, physiologist, exercise physiologist are just a few of the common names an exercise physiologist might be identified with.

Being called by the wrong name is a problem.  Imagine a medical doctor called a chiropractor, dietitian, dentist, researcher, holistic healer – you get the picture.  A wrong name is not only unpleasant and incorrect, but misleading.  It can cause major problems, some of which may not be easily corrected.

In an industry such as ours, the general reader doesn’t know us by the correct name.  Even exercise physiologists aren’t in agreement.  There is considerable confusion whether we exercise scientists, exercise physiologists, or physiologists?  There is so much misinformation within the academic settings that students don’t even know what to refer to themselves as.  For example, I have heard the following, I was an exercise scientist but now I am an exercise physiologist because I have the master’s degree!  According to others, no one is an exercise physiologist unless that person has the PhD degree.

Just a few years ago, I got into a brief conversation with a young man who had just completed his master’s degree from an institution other than the one I work in.  He did not consider himself an exercise physiologist.  However, when I reminded him that he had graduated from my institution with an academic degree in exercise physiology, he wasn’t sure what to say.  In-between his 4 years at St. Scholastica and following his master’s program, his view of what defined an exercise physiologist had changed.

This situation isn’t unique.  In fact, it is fairly common.  Most undergraduates don’t attend colleges where the undergraduate degree is an academic major in either exercise science or exercise physiology.  Their major is one of the common dozen, from human performance to kinesiology, with a concentration in exercise science.  Hence, it is easier to understand that these students know they aren’t exercise physiologists even though they might very likely identify themselves by such a title.

The students are not to blame for the confusion.  In short, they are caught up in a big mess that isn't likely to change until ASEP executes its national certification of exercise physiologists (EPC) October 2000.  Who is to blame?  Maybe, no is to blame.  There really isn't an exercise physiology history outside of research considerations.  The situation is symptomatic of a poorly organized group of semi-professionals.  In particular, the problem stems from the lack of leadership within the academic settings across the United States.

No matter how successful exercise physiologists have been in the college and/or university settings, there is no excuse for not recognizing the problems faced by the emerging profession.  There isn’t any reason why the academic PhDs could not have avoided much of what our students are faced with at graduation.  The students' economic possibilities would be much better than are, and the likelihood of more achievable results along the lines of doing business would be more satisfying.

This outcome of professional neglect is not acceptable.  Part of taking responsibility for the entrenched notion that no one without a PhD degree can called him or herself an exercise physiologists is to communicate where possible the fact that it isn’t true.  College teachers and institutions where an academic major in exercise physiology is reality is a service to the profession and the graduates.  In such instances, the title, or the name, by which a person identifies him or herself is rightfully an exercise physiologist.  To argue that it isn’t so is wrong.  It saps the energy from the young college graduate and deprives the person of his/her rightful title.

Doctorate level exercise physiologists must wake up and smell the roses.  As Andre Gide, a French novelist, once said,  “One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very short time.”  Yet, this is exactly the strategic planning needed at the college level.  At the expense of their colleagues failing to understand, the correct name has to be used.  It is imperative.  Instead of an academic program graduating, for example, exercise specialist, why not graduate exercise physiologists?  Are exercise specialists teaching the academic courses? Or, Are exercise physiologists teaching the generally accepted core of courses usually taken by exercise physiologists?  Surely, one wouldn’t expect the dentist to do the medical doctors academic rounds and vice versa.  Why is this an accepted understanding in other fields of study, but so poorly understood in exercise physiology?

To be able to connect with a name, given the right set of courses, is next to understanding who you are and what you do.  Since the name, exercise physiology, hasn’t been, until relatively recently, associated with an undergraduate education, it has therefore been easy for college teachers to manage the issue by saying “no” to everything and every person without the PhD degree.  Even then, however, such thinking is full of holes because of the diversity in academic offerings at the doctorate level.  Who is say otherwise whether a particular doctorate program is truly an exercise physiology collection of course work?  What is the difference between exercise science and exercise physiology at the doctorate level hasn’t even been evaluated, much less challenged.

This is not just words.  A good many people, even within sports medicine, are beginning to understand the seriousness of the exercise physiologist's position or the lack of it in the public sector.  Exercise physiologists cannot continue to look the other way.  The very least they can do is stop aggravating the problem by not accepting the reality of those who profess to narrow the title to doctorate only.  Where an academic degree in exercise physiology is offered, then those students should have the right to the title, and they should bear the responsibility of the title without having to argue one way or another.

The situation itself must change.  Nurses graduate either with a two-year degree or a four-year degree and they are called nurses.  They are hired as a nurse.  This is responsible education and business.  Why aren’t more exercise science - exercise physiology programs at the undergraduate level doing the same?  The pressure is real.  Students are confused, and they are having a tough time of it.  The answer is not the encouragement to get the master’s degree or the PhD degree or tp plan for post-doctorate work; all to keep the person in school.  Why?  While it is more complex than this, part of the reason is the lack of respect for the diversity of names of individuals who profess to do the same types of  professional work.

Surely, exercise physiologists with doctorate degrees, those responsible for teaching our young people across the United States, can put their research down for a moment and look at the issue of "title" straight on.  Today, there are special circumstances that need special handling and sound advice.  ASEP, by way of Dr. Dale Wagner of Vanguard University in California and his committee members, have put together an impressive “Accreditation Proposal” that lays the foundation for professionalizing exercise physiology.  It is built upon sound objectives that can be met through different course work.  It isn’t too complex.  It is, however, reality and it is manageable.

Contact Dr. Wagner or Dr. Robergs, the ASEP President, for a copy of the proposal.  Now is the time to embrace change, to invest in our students, and “manage” the profession from within the academic setting.  The advantages of concentrating on what is exercise physiology will benefit everyone involved.  Years from now, exercise physiologists can remind themselves, “that was then, this is now”.


Copyright ©1999 American Society of Exercise Physiologists. All Rights Reserved.


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