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Isaac McCombs

Ms. Tibbitts

Language arts 12

8 March 2019

Career research

The career I chose is a exercise physiologist, and I would specialize in biomechanics. I

was interested in choosing this career because it seemed really interesting, you have to be

creative and know your stuff, also it would give you an opportunity to help people get to their

highest potential.

Exercise physiologists analyze patients’ health/fitness to help improve or maintain good

health. You also can help patients with medical problems like diabetes, or heart disease they use

stress tests and other evaluation tools to determine the state of the patient’s fitness (cardio,

metabolism..) and create and design a fitness plan that will help maintain or improve their

fitness, cardio, flexibility, strength and endurance to help meet the patient's goals or needs.

“Explorehealthcareers.org” Exercise physiologists also have the ability to work with

professionals and amateurs. As a exercise physiologist you also have the wide variety of

opportunities to work such in a hospital , Athletic training programs at colleges, and universities.

It is typically a indoor and controlled environment, It’s a positive environment where you can be

your own boss or work for a more experienced expert in the field.

Being interested in this field has a big advantage because of its wide versatility and the

outlook of it in the future, it is predicted ​13 percent from 2016 to 2026. And ​it is an ever growing
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industry that will constantly be changing and expanding. The average pay in Utah is ​$59,795

according to “​A Day In The Life of Exercise Physiologists.​” but your pay still changes due to

your experience and your job opportunities. It is a tiring job though, you have to be willing to put

in long hours to be able to understand and use the data that you collect. By using the data you

collect you can ​develop an exercise program to improve participant strength, flexibility,

endurance, or circulatory functioning, to the participants needs or wants. and make it

individualized.

When you have the data you can give or make suggestions about specifying equipment

such as treadmill, exercise bicycle, or any athletic equipment. After some training you can retest

the participant to see the the change of data. Then you can evaluate the progress or identify

needed program changes. You also provide clinical oversight of exercise for participants at all

risk levels. It takes a lot of education to become an exercise physiologists, typically you would

need at least a bachelor's degree in exercise physiology, exercise science, kinesiology, or a

related field. With a bachelor's degree you can get a good job but, Master's degree programs also

are available if you want to be able to get a higher pay or work with more high clientele.

I was able to interview an exercise physiologist his name is Dave Howard, He runs a

company called Plan 7 cycling. He trains athletes specifically for biking. He runs many stress

tests throughout the day and analyses the data to determine their vo2 max, FTP, and so much

more. “It takes a lot of time and you have to get to know your clients work ethic and know what

they want.” it is also a lot of constant learning and being on top of things because it is forever

changing 24/7.
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He also cofounded NICA the national interscholastic cycling association. It is a mountain

bike race series, it consists of all high schoolers but there is no bench it includes everyone. There

were people's first time riding a bike and people who are world champs there was that wide of a

scale. There is no environment like NICA races, everyone is friends and get along. He tries to

bring that energy into his work environment.

This job looks exciting because of the wide variety of opportunities and options to do.

Being able to be apart of people’s lives for the better and help them be able to achieve their

goals.

Working as an exercise physiologist you have to be very knowledgeable in the anatomy

of the body and the kinematics of the human body. I would like to specialize as a biomechanist.

Specializing in this would be really interesting, and would give me many opportunities on what I

can do as a career. And would give a interesting look and a different perspective on the exercise

physiology world.

As a biomechanist you would​ study movement in living things. They study both biology

and physical mechanics to understand human movement better, and to learn more about ways

humans can move with less chance of being injured. ​biomechanist must combine the anatomical

and physiological knowledge that a medical doctor would possess with an understanding of the

physics of movement that an engineer focuses on. ​You would help athletes with improving their

techniques, to help increase their max power and their overall efficiency. As stated in

“​Biomechanics and energetics of uphill cycling.”

A biomechanist community is a great community to be apart of. There are many

opportunities to work places that you would never get the chance to work at. According to “​U.S.
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Bureau of Labor Statistic.” ​The growth rate for the biomechanist field is around 7% growth

through 2016-2026. This is about average growth rate for many jobs. But many people expect

this number to go up due to the rapid improvements in technology. ​Most biomechanists work in

research facilities run by universities or private companies. Some biomechanists work for

companies that manufacture athletic products to help them design better running shoes or sports

equipment. Others work as consultants for competitive athletes to help them perfect their

techniques through the application of precisely calculated improvements based on scientific

evidence about movement.

Being a biomechanist is difficult, because biomechanics is a specialization within

kinesiology, many undergraduates that are interested in being apart of this field of study must

first earn a kinesiology degree with additional classes in math and physics. Once you have

finished all of those extra classes you then would apply to a graduate kinesiology program

specializing in biomechanics. Another rout that is usual for a biomechanist is to complete a their

first degree in either engineering or medical anatomy, followed by a postgraduate degree in the

other subject. Those who stop after earning a master's degree can work in a biomechanics

research laboratory as a lab technician or a research assistant. Only those who go on to earn a

Ph.D. can work as professional biomechanists.

Many of the tests that a biomechanist would run would be stress tests on how the human

body interacts with the object that they are using. You use many different electrical tools that

help you understand how they interact with the object. A biomechanist has many tools, such as

Pressure Distribution Measurements, to see how the the client would distribute his or her weight
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on the Seattle or pedals. Or a motion monitor, this helps record their movement in 3D and

establish a baseline for their form.

An example of how a biomechanist can majorly affect the athlete and his performance is

Chris Froome in the Tour De France this year. He has always ran different parts from other

racers. Throughout the opening stages, he was running different parts specifically made from

Italy. He was struggling a little bit in places such as, a long steep climb where he normally would

exell. After noticing the difference in his performance and his riding style, his coach took him to

their biomechanist to run some tests. And through the testing the biomechanist noticed the

difference in his performance because of the little changes that the new parts made to his

kinesiology. In the article “Pedal Force Asymmetries and Performance during a 20-Km Cycling

Time Trial.” ​Kinesiology​, vol. 48, no. 2” It states the “little differences in length and geometry

made a big difference.” The biomechanist changed it up and started to see the improvements the

next few days.

Through looking at all of this information about Biomechanists, and exercise physiology

it makes me really excited to pursue this career. It is a challenging career to choose because of

the education that you have to receive, and the constant change in information and technology,

that will constantly change your job. But I want to do it because of the information and the

opportunities that it will give me to help people achieve their dreams.

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Works Cited

“CollegeGrad.” ​Jobs, Career, Salary and Education Information - CollegeGrad.com​,

collegegrad.com/careers/exercise-physiologists.

Exercise Physiologist.” ​ExploreHealthCareers.org,​

explorehealthcareers.org/career/sports-medicine/exercise-physiologist/.

“A Day In The Life of Exercise Physiologists.” ​OwlGuru.com - Find A Career and College That

Suits You,​ 8 Dec. 2015, www.owlguru.com/day-in-life-of-exercise-physiologists/.

“Summary.” ​U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,​ U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13 Apr. 2018,

www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/exercise-physiologists.htm.

Bini, Rodrigo R., et al. “Pedal Force Asymmetries and Performance during a 20-Km Cycling

Time Trial.” ​Kinesiology​, vol. 48, no. 2, Dec. 2016, pp. 193–199. ​EBSCOhost,​

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=120421875&site=ehost-live.

“Summary.” ​U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,​ U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13 Apr. 2018,

www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/exercise-physiologists.htm.

Fonda, Borut, and Nejc Šarabon. “Biomechanics and Energetics of Uphill Cycling: A Review.”

Kinesiology​, vol. 44, no. 1, June 2012, pp. 5–17. ​EBSCOhost,​

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=78555672&site=ehost-live.

“Exercise Ventilatory Kinematics in Endurance Trained and Untrained Men and Women.”

NeuroImage, Academic Press, 17 June 2011,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s1569904811002229

Faria, I E. “Applied Physiology of Cycling.” ​Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports.,​

U.S. National Library of Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6390601.

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