You may think of your school physical education teacher or your high school volleyball coach when you think of exercise science careers, but the field of exercise science goes much farther than that. With increasing rates of obesity and its associated health problems, exercise scientists may be involved in therapy, research or the development of programs to help alleviate sedentary lifestyles.
Exercise Researcher
When you see commercials with major athletes exercising while hooked up to tubes and machines, what you're witnessing is exercise research. Researchers usually work at universities, hospitals or private, specialized sports centers performing exercise testing on athletes and the general public to discover how exercise affects different aspects of health. Some researchers test the human's response to supplements or foods during exercise at the molecular or cellular level, while others simply study the effectiveness of different motivational techniques. In most cases, researchers have achieved a terminal level of education, meaning that they have a Ph.D., an Ed.D., or another postgraduate degree.
Rehabilitation Specialist
When people suffer heart attacks, strokes or cancer, most doctors prescribe exercise and physical therapy as a part of rehabilitation. Individuals with an undergraduate degree in exercise science can choose to specialize in exercise rehabilitation. Usually this means spending hundreds of hours in a clinical setting before pursuing a specialized certification, like the American Council on Exercise's Advanced Health and Fitness Specialist Certification or the American College of Sports Medicine's Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist or Certified Cancer Exercise Trainer.
Club Manager
Individuals interested in combining business sense with exercise science may want to own or manage a fitness center, club or gym. In most cases, a degree that combines exercise science and business is suggested. You could do this by pursuing a business degree with a minor in exercise science, or an exercise science degree with a minor in business. Some schools even offer special sports management tracks designed to prepare students for post-graduation management positions. In most cases, students will want to begin working as a lower-level manager, a personal trainer or a club sales representative to learn the ins and outs of fitness management before progressing to a facility manager position.
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