I used to find science subjects, such as biology and chemistry, interesting in high school but kind of useless at the same time, because I could not really relate the information to something in my everyday life. However, ACPE and my degree have given me a new perspective and now I can relate the information to human movement and how our bodies work to produce muscle contractions, energy and how the body chemically breaks down or makes substances from the food we consume. I now understand the connection between movement, chemistry, biology and anatomy, and how there are so many different components that contribute to survival, human movement and motor skills.
It is difficult talking about one specific day as a health science student, since it really depends on where you are in the degree, but in one semester you could learn about the different systems within the body, prescribing and coaching exercises, and testing athletes & the general population. As a health science student, I do a lot of science units (obviously haha) but considering my major is fitness, I also do a lot of fitness and coaching units to gain the knowledge of how to prescribe exercise to athletes and the general population. The combination of fitness and coaching units with the science units provides information that for me, go hand in hand with each other. By second year a link can be seen between the units and how they build on each other. This means the pieces to the puzzle are starting to match and a bigger picture is starting to come together.
I have gone from working with bones to dissecting hearts and brains in anatomy, looking at cells and how things work at a deeper level in biology, and training in the gym and making training programs in the fitness and coaching units. Combining science with fitness is what makes this a great degree for me! My degree provides the combination of understanding how the body produces movement and at the same time the knowledge to prescribe exercise and movement. The best part is, hands down, that I, as a student get practical learning, which means that I basically have the opportunity to dissect, do small experiments, and try different exercises and tests in class. This has given me an understanding how my future clients might feel doing certain exercises, programs, or tests, and therefore I can understand my clients better. As you can see, there are a lot of intriguing things happening in the life of a health science student, and I absolutely do not regret changing degrees to the degree I am currently doing.
