Exercise Physiology in #New Zealand is still an emerging profession even though people around the world have been utilising these skills for over 20 years.
Having recently been to two different conferences on differing ends of the exercise professional spectrum, I think we need to create more awareness around what we are doing and the benefits we can provide.
The first was the annual FitEx conference, where the latest in #fitness and #exercise in the personal trainer world is shared with a huge number of people in rapid fire sessions over 2 days. What a great conference and the enthusiasm of the participants really carried you through the intense amount of information being presented.
The passion for exercise and the way it can positively influence our community was evident with the talk from Richard Beddie, the CEO of #ExerciseNZ who is on a mission to reduce the physical inactivity of our country.
Which apparently is 13th worst in the world (with countries like Syria, Pakistan and Afghanisation at the top of the list who we can't blame for not wanting to go outside) and the worst in the western world. 50% of our adults are not getting 30 minutes of activity a day, think about that for a second, 30mins out of the whole day!
Lets not get started on the number 1 excuse why we don't exercise either!! I came away from this conference excited for the future of exercise in New Zealand and hopeful that the more exercise promotion is happening then the more #exercisephysiology may be recognised to support the more vulnerable people into a safe and effective exercise program.
The second conference I have recently attended was the Sport and Exercise Science NZ conference held at the Massey University campus in Palmerston North. A great chance for me to get back to where I started my education and catch up with a few of my old lecturers.
This conference was more about the latest research that the current scientists are working on. Again it is done in a rapid concession of presentations one after the other on a wide range of topics. All of it being very interesting but I wonder how much of these results ever make it in into practical application.
All the studies are based on apparently healthy people and the results are then presumed to be able to transferred to the medical client that the original hypothesis is designed for. I had half a thought to suggest to just come to NextStep and we would have a large group of individuals ready to participate.
I also ran into the team from the Adams high performance centre, Waikato uni and they almost tempted me into doing my Masters through them which is probably a good idea, except now I will be using the time excuse! #Physiology and the science behind it is growing as more scientists come through with exercise physiology a normal part of the curriculum in most post graduate degrees of exercise science.
Exercise Physiology has a huge potential to help with our current health crisis and it is my hope that in the next year the professions carries on its growth and gets closer to becoming a recognised allied health professional.
More Information:
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