What is Exercise Physiology

Exercise physiology is both a basic and an applied science that describes, explains, and uses the body's responses to acute exercise and its adaptation to chronic training to maximize human physical potential. Exercise physiology attempts to understand how the basic physiological functioning of the human body is modified by short-term and long-term physical activity, as well as inactivity, and the mechanisms responsible. By studying exercise physiology, students should be better able to apply the results from scientific research to maximize health, rehabilitation, and/or athletic performance in a variety of populations.

The exercise physiology faculty in the Department of Health and Exercise Science has expertise in the areas of cardiorespiratory physiology, neuromuscular physiology, bone metabolism and density, body composition, endocrinology, and metabolism. A wide variety of populations have been studied in the department's research laboratories, including sedentary young people, elite athletes, and the elderly. Study participants also vary in a wide range of health statuses and clinical states, including healthy individuals, diabetics, people with osteoporosis, pregnancy, muscle wasting, peripheral arterial disease, etc.