Chapter 1

Why Study Exercise

Physiology?

Key Concepts

• hypothesis• hunch• physiology of

exercise

• principle• professional• theory

Review Questions

What are the major conclusions of the 1996 Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health?1. All people regardless of age or gender benefit from

regular physical activity.

2. Significant health benefits can be obtained by including a moderate amount of physical activity on most days of the week.

3. Additional health benefits can be gained through greater amounts of physical activity.

4. Physical activity reduces the risk of premature death and certain diseases, and promotes mental health.

What are the major conclusions of the 1996 Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health? (cont.)5. More than 60 percent of American adults do not

regularly exercise, and 25 percent are not active at all.6. Nearly half of American youth 12-21 years of age are

not vigorously active on a regular basis, and activity declines during adolescence.

7. Daily enrollment in physical education classes declined among high school students from 42 percent in 1991 to 25 percent in 1995.

8. Interventions to promote physical activity in schools, work sites, and health care settings are being evaluated.

According to the study by Grund et al., which is better, endurance training or resistance training in terms of health promotion?

Endurance training.

Why? The endurance-trained men in the studyreceived greater overall aerobic benefits.

1. State the problem2. Develop a hypothesis3. Determine an experimental method

to test the hypothesis4. Observe the results5. Draw conclusions

What are the five main steps of the scientific method?

In what four ways are professional exercise physiologists better than lay coaches and trainers?

1. Can better predict results2. Can better control the

conditioning/training process3. Can get better results per unit of time

spent4. Can understand the cause-and-effect

relationships

Useful Websites

The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sportswww.fitness.gov

National Association for Health and Fitnesswww.physicalfitness.org

American College of Sports Medicinewww.acsm.org

National Strength and Conditioning Associationwww.nsca-lift.org

American Society of Exercise Physiologistswww.asep.org

The Scientific Methodhttp://phyun5.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/node5.html