BooneThink

The importance of leadership is obvious (or it should be) that every healthcare professional has a professional organization. It is therefore true with exercise physiologists, too. Envision how physical therapists would feel if they did not have the American Physical Therapy Association. Who would hold physical therapists accountable? Likewise, who is responsible for holding the exercise physiologist accountable? Is it the American College of Sports Medicine? Of course. What about the National Strength and Conditioning Association? No, it isn’t. Okay, is it the National Federation of Professional Trainers? Again, none is the professional organization of exercise physiologists. ACSM is a sports medicine organization with interest in sports medicine, exercise science, and health and fitness. NSCA is a strength and conditioning organization. Every healthcare profession of any integrity has its own professional organization.

The leadership of the ACSM organization should disengage completely from having anything to say or do about exercise physiology. Yet, unfortunately, they are engaged in the accreditation of academic programs that only hurt and delay the eventual acceptance of exercise physiologists in their own context. The idea of opening up health and fitness to personal trainers (some without a college education) is highly questionable thinking. Envision the mis-application of fitness training techniques and the use of steps entirely unproven, as well as other inappropriate communications and, yes, imagine the encouragement of the ever-degrading influence of sports supplements on the quality and character of sports training. Envision thousands of young children and others suffering with the effects of inactivity, some unable to move safely yet encourage inappropriately to exercise either using the wrong equipment or doing so too fast without an appreciation of ethical and legal implications.

Unlike most of the membership of fitness organizations with weekend or online certifications, envision the world’s problems that result from inactivity and sedentary existence with no professional exercise physiologist. Envision people in the public sector in need of counseling and information specific mind-body issues being treated by high school graduates, or even a college graduates with a degree in sociology or even sports sciences, simply because there are no exercise physiologists. But, maybe those who use a personal trainer deserve what happens to them. And maybe they deserve to hear the mis-information (such as it is your fault that you had a heart attach. You deserve it. After all, if you were smart, you would have chosen the right kind of person to work with you. Smart people do just that)! Envision the incredible power of greed that associates with organizations. Contemplate that the leadership of various organizations understand all too well the money that comes from certifications.

Envision more partnerships among organizations and a lot more of whatever is good for the directors and those who blindly support the agendas. Envision our students thinking they are exercise physiologists as they join generic organizations, “I pledge allegiance to the leadership of this organization and to the politics for which they stand.” Envision exercise physiologists as they are systematically stripped of their right to join and support organizations of their choice. Think for a moment about the fact that the right to dissent is already gone. Furthermore, note that the idea of restricting free speech and choice is not alien among organizations who disagree strongly with their competitors. And, yet the idea of personal freedoms being restricted within the academy appears to have fallen on deaf ears. This kind of power must be challenged and changed. The right to protest to think differently as a college teacher is everyone’s right. No one should be threatened and no one has the right to threaten others. Benjamin Franklin said it best, “He who would give up essential liberty for a little safety deserves neither liberty nor safety.”

Now envision how all of this has come to be: Envision a Department of Exercise Science that has deceived its customers. Students all across the United States have come to think that a concentration in exercise physiology with a major in exercise science yields an exercise physiologist. It is systematic and it is wrong. The mis-information sets up the students for failure. But, in short, why would the departments do such a thing? Actually, it is rather simple. First, the department chairs do stand to benefit from the students’ interest in the science courses due to the economics of student-hour generated credit they are charged with monitoring. Today, frankly, hardly any department or university setting is exempt from the question, “How much money is the department bringing in to the university budget to pay for the expenses of the department?” Ethics, a quality education, and creative thinking are no longer fundamental to getting things done. Everything is about the profit motive. Second, professors benefit by not having to think about students. This allows then more time to do other things, particularly research activities.

The consequence of a misinformed student body stems from lack of real leadership. Students deserve to be led by ethical leaders. They want and expect leadership. But, unfortunately, many unknowingly they are being led appropriate. In other words, without leadership, students fail to realize that they are not being led correctly. Many want to be an exercise physiologist that they are willing to major in exercise science! It is very sad, indeed, that the department chair and/or exercise physiology faculty either do not care or they do not know the difference between exercise science and exercise physiology. It is also a sad definition of the academy when the professor’s desires (or goals) take precedent over the needs of the students. Why this concern has not been addressed is probably related to the thinking that underpins “not rocking the boat.” Interestingly, in his exciting video, “Power of Vision,” Joel Barker concludes that: “dreams without action are but an illusion, and action without dreams is just passing the time. But action that is guided by dreams can change the world.” Is it possible that academic research without being student-driven (or profession-driven) is but an illusion (i.e., just the passing of time). But, academic research that is guided by the needs of students and the profession can (and will) change the student, the profession, and the world.

This raises the question, “What is the role of the department in helping students to get involved in the profession of exercise physiology? Given the need for students to find a job or to commit to solving problems within the profession, is it appropriate to straddle them with research and failed certifications? Shouldn’t the department as well as the academic institution be proactive in the direction of change in exercise physiology? Should exercise physiologists be interested in diversification, in healthcare, in wellness and rehabilitation to decrease the risk associated with athletics to increase the profitability of exercise physiologists? Well, it is certain that the generic approach to educating students is a failed logic. This is why accredited exercise physiology programs of study, along with entrepreneur thinking, will place exercise physiologists ahead of competitors, and ahead of university research programs designed to build the professor’s resume at the expense of quality teaching. This is why the importance of leadership must be developed and nurtured in exercise physiology. And, this is why the ASEP leadership is doing everything it can to build a sustained infrastructure for professional development of exercise physiology.