Our major is one that many people will never understand (sometimes including us) no matter how hard they try. Then there are the people who think that all we are is the meathead “gym rat” type. I mean--we are that type for the most part--but some people don’t think that there is actual science in Exercise Science (come on, people). Here is a list of 10 things that are 100 percent true if you are an Exercise Science major:

1) Sliding Filament Theory will never go away

I think that in almost every single class in undergrad, the professor asked us about the sliding filament theory. Action potential sent, ACh released, depolarization, action potential propagates along the sarcolemma and down T-tubules, Ca+ is released, binding sites are exposed, and then actin and myosin bind. Blah blah blah. We all learn it a million times and get so incredibly tired of hearing it. It literally never goes away. I think I’ll have nightmares with the Sliding Filament Theory for the rest of my life.

2) VO2 max testing is pretty much the closest you can get to death

Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with VO2 max testing. I love actually knowing what my VO2 max is on the bike and the treadmill--But I’m not a fan of the whole “dying while putting in max effort for 10+ minutes” thing. I think I’ve actually seen my life flash before my eyes while doing one of these tests.

3) Wingate-30 is almost as fun as VO2 max (aka not much fun at all)

This was the very first lab that our Ex. Phys class had. I figured I’d volunteer because it didn’t seem that bad. I mean--who can’t bike fast for 30 seconds? The answer = me (and probably all of you). Once the resistance kicks in, you basically feel like you biked into a brick wall and can no longer go on. But of course, you have to keep going or else the test doesn’t count!

4) Lab Reports are life

If you can’t bang out a 10-page lab report the night before its due, this major probably isn’t for you. Lab reports are comparable to Hell, but we manage to get them done somehow. Friends ask if you want to go out, and all you can say is “sorry, lab report due tomorrow.” But that’s normal for us. We complain all the time about them because they are just awful and take so much time.

5) Bad form at the gym makes you cringe

Seeing people’s knees cave in during a squat, or back round on a deadlift hurts my poor little heart so much. It takes everything in me to not be “that guy” (well, girl) and correct them. I guess this isn’t always a bad thing though, because we are capable of performing correctly and teaching others proper form.

6) Programming is not easy at all

People think that making a program for a group or team is so easy. Upper body day and lower body day--that’s that! wrong. It is such an in-depth thought process to program for a team. I’m currently doing an internship at Princeton University with strength and conditioning, and I have to program for men’s basketball. 1) I’m not a man, so I don’t know what weights they should be doing. 2) I haven’t played basketball since like 7^th grade. Those are just two things that make it difficult to program. Other things include where the team is in its training year (in season, off season, preseason), injuries, volume of the lift, length of the lift, and how many people you have. It takes hours sometimes to program just for one day, and most times coaches have to program for two or three days! It isn’t easy at all to program for an individual or team, so when you see or get a program, appreciate the time it took to make it for you!

7) We’re almost all known as meat heads

Sorry, we love exercise! It’s kinda in the name of the major, ya’ know. Some of our classes involve exercise, and then we go and exercise after class! And many of us are athletes, so we exercise at practice too! It becomes a never ending cycle of exercise. But we love it because it keeps us healthy and in shape, and also keeps us sane.

8) Learning bones, muscles, and systems are the easiest part of being in our major

For many people, this is a huge challenge--but we’ve mastered the art of labeling the human body. We can label all eight tiny bones in the wrist, and all the bones in our feet. We know what the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, medialis, and intermedius make up, and we know what they all do. We can tell you the pathway of blood through the heart and body, and we can label the lungs. Learning bones, muscles, and systems is one of the first things we do, so go ahead and ask us questions.

9) Exercise science jokes never get old

We’ve got some pretty good jokes that you’d really only understand if you’re a health science major, and they never get old.

10) We have the best major our there

I know I’ve made it seem like our major is some Hell. Don’t get me wrong--sometimes it is--but we honestly have the best major out there. Our friends say “I don’t know how you do it writing all those lab reports and taking those impossible exams,” but we wouldn’t change it for the world.