How to Become an Exercise Physiologist?

An exercise physiologist will have a complex set of personality traits that will help you get hired to excel in this nurturing career. You'll be:

• Compassionate: Candidates in this role routinely work with patients who are in pain from an accident or injury. Therefore, you must be sympathetic, kind, and caring to their needs while you provide the necessary treatments and exercise programs so they can recover.
• Good at Decision-Making: As a practising exercise physiologist, you must be able to make sound decisions that affect the health and well-being of your patients.
• Detail-Oriented: People who work in this field keep extensive patient records. Therefore, you must be detail-oriented to ensure you maintain accurate information about each patient's condition and progress.
• Interpersonal: Exercise physiologists work very closely with others. It's essential that you possess strong interpersonal skills so you can manage difficult situations. You'll also need to communicate your findings and treatment plans with others, including physicians, patients, and family members.

If you want to become an exercise physiologist, plan to earn at least a Bachelor's Degree. the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) provides a database listing by province of the CSEP recommended course maps of a slew of post-secondary institutions, so you can be sure of taking the recommended courses for each core competency of the CSEP certifications. You can also pick a related field such as:

• Biology.
• Anatomy.
• Kinesiology.
• Exercise Science.
• Nutrition.
• Physiotherapy.

The hiring staff at more and more healthcare facilities require their exercise physiologists to hold a Master's Degree. Universities typically offer a combination of study tracks that prepare their exercise physiology students for both clinical and research careers. You'll get additional training in areas like:

• Physical and occupational therapy.
• Cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation.
• Diabetes and cancer prevention.
• Rehabilitation.
• Obesity prevention and treatment.