A study of the current guidelines and recommendations of exercise testing and prescription as outlined by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The basics of testing in the laboratory and in the field are discussed with emphasis on evidence-guided application of testing and program design.
Meeting Times, Location, & Course Delivery Details
Contact Information
These textbooks are recommended.
Textbook
Name: Fitness Professional's Handbook
Edition: 8th
ISBN: 9781718217829
Author: Barbara A. Bushman
Publisher: Howley, E.T. & Thompson, D.L. (2024) Human Kinetics
Textbook
Name: ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing & Prescription
Edition:12th
ISBN: 9781975219208
Author: ACSM ,OZEMEK CEMAL
Publisher: Wolters Kluwer
- Define Health, Fitness, and Performance
- Determine how to initiate contact with participant and determine health history and preliminary testing procedures of the individual (prescreening)
- Differentiate the diverse metabolic systems at work during physical activity and how to test for each one of them
- Determine the basic functional anatomy and biomechanics
- Learn how to test for cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness, body composition, and flexibility
- Determine how the theories of behavior change can influence participation in exercise programs
- Learn the various considerations of exercise testing and programming for individuals with diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease
- Study the various differences between children, elderly, and female responses and adaptations to exercise training
- Determine the best exercise prescriptions for lower back, performance enhancement, weight management, cardiorespiratory fitness
Tentative Schedule
Subject to change during the semester. Adequate notice of changes will be given.
Tentative Course Schedule
Date Material Covered
8/25 Syllabus/Introduction
Chapter 1: Health, Fitness, Performance
8/27 Chapter 2: Health Risk Appraisal
9/1 Lab 1: Orientation to Lab Instruments, Procedures, and Responsibilities
Lab 2: Risk Factor Evaluation, Medical History, Informed Consent
9/3 Chapter 4: Exercise Physiology
9/8 Chapter 6: Energy Costs of Physical Activity
9/10 Lab 3: Metabolic Calculation
9/15 Chapter 7: Assessment of Cardiorespiratory Fitness
9/17 Lab 4: Heart Rate & Blood Pressure Techniques
9/22 Lab 5: Cardio Fitness Lab
9/24 Lab 5: Cardio Fitness Lab
9/29 Chapter 11: Exercise Prescription for Cardiorespiratory Fitness
10/1 Chapter 8: Assessment of Body Composition
Lab 6: Body Comp Lab
10/6 Chapter 12: Exercise Prescription for Weight Management
10/8 Chapter 9: Assessment of Muscular Fitness
10/13 Lab 7: Muscular Fitness Lab
10/15 Lab 7: Muscular Fitness Lab
10/20 Chapter 13: Exercise Prescription for Muscular Fitness
10/22 Chapter 10: Assessment of Flexibility and Low-Back Function
10/27 Lab 8: Flexibility Lab
10/29 Chapter 14: Exercise Prescription for Flexibility & Low-Back Function
11/3 Chapter 15: Training for Performance
11/5 Chapter 16: Exercises for Children and Youth
11/10 Chapter 17: Exercise for Older Adults
11/12 Chapter 18: Exercise & Women’s Health
11/17 Chapter 19: Exercise & Heart Disease
11/19 Chapter 20: Exercise & Obesity
11/24 Chapter 23: Behavior Change
11/26 Thanksgiving
12/1 Chapter 23: Behavior Change
Lab 9: Assessing Participant Goals and Gaining Commitment
12/3 Chapter 25: Injury Prevention and Treatment
12/8 Chapter 25: Injury Prevention and Treatment
12/15 Final 10:15am-12:15pm
The Professor has the authority to edit and change the schedule and syllabus at any point in the semester and will notify the class when changes have been made.
Last Day to Drop is October 27th, 2026.
The grading scale will be as follows:
Performance Evaluation (Examinations, Assignments)
Grading Procedures
- Quizzes are worth 15 points each
- Lab Assignments 1-9 are worth 15 points each.
- Therefore, the grading for the course will be as follows:
Quizzes 250 points
Lab Assignments 135 points1
TOTAL 385 points
A = 93-100%
A- = 90-92
B+ = 86-89%
B = 83-85%
B- = 80-82%
C+ = 76-79%
C = 73-75%
C- = 70-72%
D+ =66-69%
D = 60-65%
F = 0-59%
Grading
Percentage grades will only be rounded to the nearest whole number and the cutoff is 0.5% which is the widely accepted procedure for rounding numbers. For example, a grade of 89.5% will be rounded to 90% (letter grade of an A) and a grade of an 89.4% will be rounded to 89% (letter grade of a B). Only three significant digits will be used in grade calculations. For example, a grade of 89.45% will be round to 89%.
Examinations/Quizzes
- All exams may be completed on Blackboard and will be comprised of multiple-choice, matching, short answer, or
short essay, or a combination of the mentioned.
- In the rare case of an approved make-up exam, long essay questions and/or oral examination could also be the
test form utilized by the professor.
- Once the exams have been graded and returned to the student, any appeal of any test item must be made
within one week by the student for it to be considered by the professor.
- Use of electronic devices during Exams (cell phones, computer, google glass, headphones, 8 track tapes, CD-
ROMs, etc…) is not allowed and will result in an 0 (zero) for the assignment
Instructor Course Policies
ATTENDANCE POLICY
- Attendance for this course is mandatory and frequent absences will be factored into the student’s final grade. 10 points for each unexcused absence will be factored into the student's final grade.
- Excused absences include: 1) activities in which the student serves as an official representative of the College (e.g., musical performance, athletic contests, field trips)l; 2) Personal illness, with documentation by the College nurse or a physician, if possible; 3) Family or personal emergencies; and 4) When severe weather makes travel to campus dangerous.
- Other than figures and tables, the lectures will not be available on Blackboard. If you are absent it is your responsibility to get the notes from a classmate.
- The professor’s lecture notes will not be made available to the student, regardless of the reason for the student’s absence.
- Audio/video recordings of lectures will not be permitted except in special situations approved by the professor.
- The use of cellphones or headphones in class will not be permitted without instructor permission. Using a cellphone or headphones during class may be considered an absence. The instructor reserves the right to ask the student to leave in the event they become a distraction.
- If you are unable to attend class, it is your responsibility to find a way to make up the lab we do during the course of the class period.
Academic misconduct statement:
You are expected to adhere to the highest academic standards of behavior and personal conduct in this course and all other courses. Students who engage in academic misconduct are subject to College disciplinary procedures.
Forms of academic dishonesty:
1) Cheating: Using unauthorized notes or study aids, allowing another party to do one’s work/exam and
turning in that work/exam as one’s own; submitting the same or similar work in more than one course without permission from the course instructors; deception in which a student misrepresents that he/she has mastered information on an academic exercise that he/she has not mastered; giving or receiving aid unauthorized by the instructor on assignments or examinations.
2) Aid of academic dishonesty: Intentionally facilitating any act of academic dishonesty. Tampering with
grades or taking part in obtaining or distributing any part of a scheduled test.
3) Fabrication: Falsification or creation of data, research or resources, or altering a graded work without
the prior consent of the course instructor.
4) Plagiarism: Portrayal of another’s work or ideas as one’s own. Examples include unacknowledged
quotation and/or paraphrase of someone else’s words, ideas, or data as one’s own in work submitted
for credit. Failure to identify information or essays from the Internet and submitting them as one’s own
work also constitutes plagiarism.
5) Lying: Deliberate falsification with the intent to deceive in written or verbal form as it applies to an
academic submission.
6) Bribery: Providing, offering or taking rewards in exchange for a grade, an assignment, or the aid of
academic dishonesty.
7) Threat: An attempt to intimidate a student, staff or faculty member for the purpose of receiving an
unearned grade or in an effort to prevent reporting of an Honor Code violation.
Other Forms of Academic Misconduct:
- Failure to follow published departmental guidelines, professor‘s syllabi, and other posted academic policies in place for the orderly and efficient instruction of classes, including laboratories, and use of academic resources or equipment.
- Unauthorized possession of examinations, reserved library materials, laboratory materials or other course related materials.
- Failure to follow the instructor or proctor‘s test-taking instructions, including but not limited to not setting aside notes, books or study guides while the test is in progress, failing to sit in designated locations and/or leaving the classroom/ test site without permission during a test.
- Prevention of the convening, continuation or orderly conduct of any class, lab or class activity. Engaging in conduct that interferes with or disrupts university teaching, research or class activities such as making loud and distracting noises, repeatedly answering cell phones/text messaging or allowing pagers to beep, exhibiting erratic or irrational behavior, persisting in speaking without being recognized, repeatedly leaving and entering the classroom or test site without authorization, and making physical threats or verbal insults to the faculty member, or other students and staff.
- Falsification of student transcript or other academic records; or unauthorized access to academic computer records.
- Nondisclosure or misrepresentation in filling out applications or other college records.
- Any action which may be deemed as unprofessional or inappropriate in the professional community of the discipline being studied.
- All work (essays, test answers, homework answers, etc) that you submit in this course must be originally produced by you and not by artificial intelligence. Failure to comply with this policy will result in penalties for academic dishonesty.
Non-academic misconduct:
The university respects the rights of instructors to teach and of students to learn. Maintenance of these rights requires campus conditions that do not impede their exercise. Campus behavior that interferes with these rights will not be tolerated; examples include
1) interfering with the instructor's ability to conduct the class,
2) causing inability of other students to profit from the instructional program, or
3) any interference with the rights of others.
An individual engaging in such disruptive behavior may be subject to disciplinary action. Such incidents will be adjudicated by the Dean of Students under non-academic procedures.
Ongoing behaviors or single behaviors considered distracting (e.g., coming late to class, performing a repetitive act that is annoying, sleeping or reading a newspaper in class, etc.) will be addressed by the faculty member initially either generally or individually. Cases in which such annoying behavior becomes excessive and the student refuses to respond to the faculty member‘s efforts can be referred to the Dean of Students. In the case of serious disruptive behavior in a classroom the instructor may first request compliance from the student and if it is not received, an instructor has the authority to ask the student to leave the classroom. If the student fails to leave after being directed to do so, assistance may be obtained from other college personnel, including Campus Safety. An individual engaging in such disruptive behavior is subject to disciplinary action. Such incidents will be adjudicated by the Dean of Students under non-academic procedures to determine if the student should be allowed to return to the classroom.
Generative Artificial Intelligence:
You are not permitted to use generative AI tools for any work in this course. This includes the use of popular tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, GitHub Co-Pilot, as well as all other tools built on generative AI technologies. Due to the nature of this course, work can only be fairly and accurately evaluated if student writing has NOT been assisted by generative AI. Use of generative AI for assignments in this course will be considered a violation of the College’s academic integrity policies. Assigned reading and corresponding written assignments in this course are designed to develop independent skills and thoughtful perspective through reflective technical writing. Use of AI undermines that work, its purpose, and ultimately any benefit that it could provide towards students’ learning experience. Therefore, the use of any generative AI to help with any assignments will be considered cheating/plagiarism and will be graded and handled accordingly.
Sleeping in Class
Students sleeping in class are a distraction to the professor and to the students in class who have a sincere desire to learn. Therefore, this behavior is deemed to be a form of nonacademic misconduct (see below) and will not be tolerated.
Cellular Phones
Cellular phones are to be turned off during class. A student’s cellular phone ringing is a distraction to the
professor and to the students in class who have a sincere desire to learn. Therefore, failing to comply with this
policy is deemed to be a form of nonacademic misconduct (see below) and will not be tolerated. Cell phones are not allowed to be used during the exams. Use of cell phones during exams will result in an “F” for that exam. . The use of cellphones or headphones in class will not be permitted without instructor permission. Using a cellphone or headphones during class may be considered an absence. The instructor reserves the right to ask the student to leave in the event they become a distraction.
Institutional and Program-Level Policies
All exams will follow the Final Exam Schedule. Students scheduled to take three or more final examinations on one day may request to arrange their examination schedule, so no more than two exams occur on one day.
Requests for early or late exams are considered only under extreme circumstances. Prior to the exam period, the student must file a written request on the Early/Late Exam Form available in the Student One Stop Center, Academic Records, and on the WC portal. The form must be signed by the Instructor and the Academic Dean, approving the alternate exam time. This process must be completed prior to the scheduled exam period.
Undergraduate: FA26 Final Exam Schedule
Out-of-class Work Expectation A minimum of 2 hours of out-of-class student work is expected for each hour of in-class time for traditional face-to-face courses. For online and hybrid courses, the combination of face-to-face time and out-of-class work should be equal to 3 hours per credit hour per week. |
Instructional Course Delivery Definition of Courses |
Academic Integrity Policy The use of generative AI is prohibited except where expressly allowed in assignment instructions. Academic Integrity Policy |
Class Attendance Policy Institutional Class Attendance Policy |