Overarching definitions
Analyse: Break information into parts to explore understanding and relationships (comparing, organise, deconstruct, interrogate, find)
Apply: Use information in another familiar situation (implement, carry out, use, execute) Best practice: On the basis of all available evidence the practice can be expected to produce the most favourable outcome
Client: Individuals, groups, teams or organisations who use the services of an exercise science professional
Describe: Give a detailed account of in words
Evaluate: Justify a decision or course of action (check, hypothesise, critique, experiment, judge)
Exercise: A specific type of physical activity that is repetitive and planned with the objective of improving or maintaining physical activity. Exercise includes various exercise modalities such as endurance, anaerobic, flexibility, resistance, balance and agility exercise, which can be performed over a range of intensities, frequencies and durations within a variety of environments
Exercise science: The science of exercise for health, fitness and sports performance
Identify: Establish or indicate what something is
Integrate: Combine (one thing) with another to form a whole
Physical activity: A general term for any body movement performed with skeletal muscles that results in an increase in energy expenditure
Sport: Physical activity capable of achieving a result and requiring physical exertion and/or physical skill, and which, by its nature and organisation, is competitive
Understand: Explain ideas or concepts (interpret, summarise, paraphrase, classify, explain)
Definitions within study areas
For the readers’ convenience, the following part of the glossary has been divided into study areas; consequently, some entries are repeated.
Biomechanics
Analysing: Describing the characteristics of human movement from qualitative and quantitative perspectives
Biomechanical services: The design, conduct and reporting of biomechanical analysis in research, scientific support (e.g. elite sport), education and consultancy
Biomechanics: The study of biological systems from an anatomical and a mechanical perspective
Mechanics: A branch of physics that, in the exercise and sport context, is involved with the anatomical and dynamic aspects of human movement and the surfaces and equipment involved
Movement asymmetry: Imbalances in bilateral muscle strength Physical effects of human interaction with equipment and the environment: Interactions with various types and conditions of sport surfaces and environmental conditions
Technique: The pattern and sequence of movements required to produce the prescribed action efficiently, or an efficient and competitive action, or the desired action efficiently
Exercise delivery
Apparently healthy client: Clients who are considered on the basis of their health status to be at low risk of adverse events during exercise. Includes children, adolescents, older adults, pregnant women (including women from early pregnancy to late-stage post-partum), and clients requiring weight management
Data: Recording information/measurements on heart rate, blood pressure, workload, risk status and training or activity history
Exercise delivery: The implementation of an exercise program for individuals or groups, with a particular emphasis on the practical aspects of leadership of exercise sessions. Mode of delivery may be face-to-face or distance
Exercise load: Components of exercise prescription that, for a given type and mode of exercise, contribute to the exercise ‘dose’; includes intensity, frequency, duration, work-to- rest ratio, recovery time and movement rate
Prescribing: Designing an exercise program
Safety measures: May include modifying or ceasing exercise, application of first aid, or referral to another medical or health professional
Exercise physiology
Acute exercise: A single bout of activity that involves static and/or dynamic muscle activation at any given intensity from rest to maximal exercise and back to rest
Chronic exercise: Repeated bouts of acute exercise, either structured or unstructured; exercise training
Individual: A person of any age or sex, at any level of physical, functional or health status
Physiological system: A system that contributes to the functioning of the human body. In exercise science, the systems of interest are the nervous, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, renal, digestive, immune, reproductive and integumentary systems
Exercise prescription
Current exercising guidelines: Exercising guidelines published by reputable authoritative sources, such as those provided by the American College of Sports Medicine and Exercise & Sports Science Australia
Exercise environments: A broad range of settings that may be land or water based, commercial or private, supervised or unsupervised, and involve extremes of climate
Physical function and capacity: Measures of cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal and neuromuscular abilities
Health, exercise and sport assessment
Assessment: Health, exercise, physical activity and sport-related assessment
Fitness: Attributes and capabilities that relate to the capacity to perform exercise or sport and are associated with a low risk of premature development of hypokinetic diseases
Health and fitness evaluation: A process that includes pre-exercise screening and risk appraisal; measurement of components that contribute to physical fitness, including cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and fitness, flexibility and body composition; analysis and interpretation of the test results; and provision of feedback to the participant and other relevant personnel (e.g. other health professionals)
Medical supervision: Supervision of a test by a registered medical practitioner or physician
Sport-related assessment: Tests that assess attributes and capacities relevant to the ability to perform specific or general activities in sporting contexts; includes analysis and interpretation of test results and the provision of feedback to the participant and other relevant personnel (e.g. coach)
Health, exercise and sport psychology
Adoption: Participation in, or the initiation of, exercise or physical activity
Adherence: The continued fidelity to participation in and maintenance of exercise or physical activity
Ecological: Encompassing an integrated understanding of the complex array of intrapersonal, interpersonal, cultural, biological and environmental influences on behaviour
Human physiology
Physiological system: A system that contributes to the functioning of the human body. In exercise science, the systems of interest are the nervous, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, renal, digestive, immune, reproductive and integumentary systems
Motor control and learning
Motor control: A sub-discipline of human movement concerned with understanding the processes that underlie the acquisition, performance and retention of motor skills
Motor learning/skill acquisition: Changes in motor control that occur as a consequence of practice (or adaptation); focuses on how skills are learnt and the changes in performance, retention and control mechanisms that accompany skill acquisition
Nutrition
General nutrition advice: Advice that considers the client’s age and gender, but is general in nature, not prescriptive; in accordance with current evidence-based guidelines for Australians
Physical activity and health
Health system: A system for the delivery of health services; includes private and public systems, and state and federal systems
Intervention: Any program or policy intended to increase physical activity or decrease sedentary behaviour
Physically active: Describes the proportion of the population that meets the Australian Physical Activity Guidelines
Insufficiently active: Describes the proportion of the population that does not meet the Australian Physical Activity Guidelines
Population: May refer to the whole population or a defined subpopulation (e.g. older adults)
Primary prevention: Seeks to limit disease by controlling causes and risk factors. Efforts can be directed at the whole population, with the aim of reducing average risk; or target people (subgroups) at higher risk
Secondary prevention: Seeks to reduce the more serious consequences of disease through early diagnosis and treatment, most typically via screening programs
Tertiary prevention: Seeks to reduce the progress or complications of established disease (e.g. rehabilitation programs)
Principles of screening: The presumptive identification of unrecognised disease or defects by means of tests, examinations or other procedures that can be applied rapidly. A screening test is not intended to be diagnostic
Sedentary behaviour: Activities that have a low energy requirement Professional practice
Practicum: Work conducted by a student at a work site (often external to the university) as part of the professional practice curriculum
Professional practice: Includes all aspects of curriculum related to work-based learning, including engagement in the practicum
Research methods and statistics
Databases: Any bibliographic database of scientific and biomedical information (e.g. Medline, Scopus, CINAHL, Embase, SPORTDiscus)
Information retrieval: Searching for documents, for information within documents, and for metadata about documents, as well as searching relational databases and the internet
Research design:
Turning a research question and hypothesis into a testing project
Statistical calculations:
Data and its distribution; also includes descriptive, comparative and relationship statistics
Reference:
Exercise Science Standards – Australia (accessed Sept 2016)
Other useful glossary resources (accessed Sept 2016):