ABSTRACT
E xercise can be simply defined as “the performance of any physical activity for the purpose of conditioning the body, improving health, or maintaining fitness, or as a means of therapy for correcting a defor-
mity or restoring the organs and bodily functions to a state of health” (Mosby, 2006). Science is “a systematic attempt to establish theories to explain observed phenomena and the knowledge obtained through these efforts” (Mosby, 2006). Simply stated, exercise science is concerned with how and why the human body responds to physical activity. The principles of exercise science are sometimes applied to nonhuman animals, such as racehorses, show horses, and racing dogs, and animal models are valuable in research; nonetheless, the primary application of exercise science knowledge is to benefit human health, exercise, or sports performance. From this generic description, it is clear that exercise science is a very diverse field of study that encompasses many areas of inquiry. For example, the simple act of walking can be viewed from many different perspectives. An anatomist can describe the muscles involved in walking. An exercise physiologist may study how the systems of the body respond to the stress of walking, and a biomechanist can apply the laws of physics to examine the efficiency of each stride. An exercise psychologist may be interested in what motivates the subject to walk, and a sports nutritionist can describe how the food that we eat is used to supply the energy for the walk. An exercise epidemiologist can determine the relationship between walking regularly and the risk of developing such diseases as coronary heart disease (CHD) or cancer. This exemplifies the integration of the various areas within exercise science. Although they often stand alone as individual courses within the exercise science curriculum, these various
areas of study make up an integrated picture of the complexity of physical activity.
