Exercise Physiology is Pseudo-science

Just Run Baby

There is very little funding for performance based research and to be honest with you it is not all that interesting. Most people that do this type or research do it as an aside, almost as a hobby Mike joyner for example, to there regular research. It makes up only a very small % of the research.

Generally if one wants to do performance oriented research one should get their graduate degree and apply to one of the military performance labs (USARIEM most notably).

You say that exercise physiology is pseudoscience.....yet you call engineering 'real science', clearly you are in no position to lecture on the matter of what is science and what isn't. Also I am currently undergrad Exercise and Sport Science (Our name for exercise physiology). In actual fact, I would have made the cut into engineering or physics. In fact, if I included physics or engineering in my university preferences I would have been guaranteed entry to both on grounds of academic merit (extremely high tertiary entry rank) however I chose to study exercise and sport science. The field of exercise physiology is often misrepresented. It is not only 'how to cure cancer with exercise', that is merely a single application of it. Instead, exercise physiology is the study of how the body and its systems respond to exercise on a cellular level, from hormonal regulation to neuronal cell motor control. It is as much of a science as pharmaceutical science (however instead of investigating how the body responds to pharmaceuticals it is how the body responds to exercise). Furthermore, at my university (Currently ranked 3rd in the world for Human Movement Studies - the area that exercise physiology falls under) the exercise physiology subjects are among the hardest courses at the institution, with a failure rate as high as 40% (equivalent to quantum physics and advanced level engineering courses). Now go on, tell me again how exercise physiology is a pseudoscience.

I'm halfway through the USATF Level II coaching training. The stink of pseudo-science is quite high. Numerous conclusions (takeaways really) are expressed as "in general X can be seen as potential influence in the long or short-term development of Y in most subjects." What? How is this supposed to make us better coaches?

The relative and conditional tone of it all is maddening.

Yeah, it's pseudoscience, but I'm kind of glad about that because it means that we aren't devoting serious resources to studying how to make people run faster. I love running, but I'd really rather have our best and brightest scientists trying to cure ALS or something like that.

None of this means anything regarding the value of the data and research that comes out of the field as an average. Undergrad being 'hard' or having high failure rates is meaningless.

What matters is the quality of the peer-reviewed published research. It is repeatable? Is it meaningful? Is the data analysis robust? Are the conclusions drawn reasonable?

Exercise science generally doesn't do the best job at this. Engineering and physics have much higher rates of repeatability in their research for a variety of reasons.

fine with pseudoscience wrote:

Yeah, it's pseudoscience, but I'm kind of glad about that because it means that we aren't devoting serious resources to studying how to make people run faster. I love running, but I'd really rather have our best and brightest scientists trying to cure ALS or something like that.

I took a Neuromuscular Physiology course as part of my Ex and Sport Science undergrad coursework (taught by one of our EXSS professors). Implementing an exercise protocol with the elderly helps to not only reform but strengthen the electrical bridges in the brain. I learned all kinds of unique treatment methods for diseases in my coursework that my Biology/Chemistry /Biochemclassmates had no exposure to. I went to grad school and work in research now. Having an EXSS background is actually an advantage in the current science world. I have a unique perspective and have been able to ask questions and see things from a different and more holistic view. I'm seeing more and more professor taking an interest in exercise and nutritional interventions to target diseases. The traditional ways simply aren't working, so scientists are starting to branch out and seek alternatives.