1. Over the last four years, I have developed a passion for exercising. The love of exercise I now have is my most cherished accomplishment. In high school I played multiple sports and was constantly consumed with practice. Here at Union over the past four years, I have been able to focus on myself at the gym. I have had more time to find out what I like to do and what works for me. I am very proud of how much I’ve grown, since coming to college in my love for exercise. Though I have only increased my running speed by about half a mile per hour, I genuinely enjoy running. This is something I never thought was possible. I am very happy when I enter the gym. At school, I have found the other benefits in exercise. I use it to clear my mind, take a break from my homework and spend some time alone. I cannot pin it down to one day at the gym or one moment in my head, but looking back over how I viewed exercise when I entered Union to how I view it now, I am very happy that I have developed a noticeable joy. I hope this desire to get to the gym everyday is something I take with me for the rest of my life!
2. I think exercise physiology can serve as a paradigm for understanding biology because it encompasses a variety of topics. In doing the readings for this class, I have already reviewed a lot of the material covered in previous molecular and cellular biology courses. One aspect of exercise physiology is the chemical process-taking place within the body that makes exercise possible. Another topic covered in exercise physiology could be evolution. It is important to understand animal fitness and why organisms have developed the way they have. An organism’s structure, physiology, is an important aspect of it fitness and therefore how predominantly they evolve. I think exercise physiology can also serve as a paradigm for biology because it focuses on something relatable. I think exercise is easy to conceptualize. Everyone has exercised at some point in their life and understands how that makes the body feel therefore it is an interesting topic of study. Using exercise physiology as a model for biology I think helps students to better understand complicated concepts.
3. One upper-level course I recently finished was Evolutionary Biology. In this class we focused on means of evolution as well as fitness in organisms. From this class I hope to contribute knowledge of animal structure and how that may contribute to their fitness. One case study we focused on was the evolution and breeding of horses. We learned that humans have artificially selected for horses that can run faster. Through studies they have determined that horses with longer legs and larger hearts are able to run at greater speeds. We learned that these greater running mechanisms can also have negative aspects on the rest of the body. Another upper-level course I took was Orthopedic Biomechanics. In this class we focused on bone and joint structure. From this class I hope to contribute my knowledge of human bone structure and how different joints may be affected during different durations or types of exercise.

1. One of my favorite athletic moments was during the spring of my senior year of high school. A lot of my friends and I decided to play rugby that spring even though none of us had ever played it before and it would probably be the last time all of us would be on the same sports team together. It was the first time rugby had been offered as a sport at our school so it would be pretty cool to be a part of the inaugural season. It’s basically football without the pads, and it was pretty damn fun. Running through people and tackling without pads and a helmet seemed odd at first, but we eventually got the hang of it. Overall we had a pretty good inaugural season going 4-1. But to me that spring was more than just playing rugby, it was about being on the same competitive field as your friends one last time.
2. Understanding exercise physiology is important to know since it affects our day to day lives. It’s crucial to understand how the body responds to varying situations such as during a workout, running, or even at different climates and what it does in order to maintain homeostasis. It’s also critical to know how different parts of the body work together in order to keep ourselves functioning properly. That is why exercise physiology is paramount in order to understand biology.
3. I think a lot of the concepts from behavioral neuroscience and evolutionary biology could be useful for exercise physiology. Understanding how the nervous system responds to varying stimuli throughout the body should be useful for understanding how the body maintains homeostasis. Also understanding how/why certain traits are more beneficial than others could also help contribute to exercise physiology.

My favorite athletic accomplishment came recently this past fall.  I had joined the rugby team here at Union, and I was able to step up and be a core contributor to the team after playing for a year at Fordham University.  In our first match at Vassar, I carried the ball into contact and was brought down after a gain of a few yards.  When I stood up I felt my quad screaming in pain, but I was still able to stand and run effectively enough.  I managed to block out the pain in my leg enough to finish playing the rest of the game.  After the match was over, however, I had to be assisted to walk over to the bus, and was unable to walk when I got back to school.  I had a difficult time for the next few weeks, but I was able to play in our next match since we got a two week break.  By the end of the season my quad had completely healed, but I found out that I had torn my quad during my initial injury.  I was surprised that I had been able to play the rest of the game, and realized that the reason I was able to was probably due to the adrenaline during the game.  While I didn’t do anything that scored points, I felt that this was an impressive display of my body’s resiliency, and it was something that I never really thought my body was capable of until then.

I have always been interested in the way the human body works.  It’s one of the reasons that has driven me towards my interest in orthopedics and becoming a doctor.  I was unable to major in Bioengineering here as a transfer, so I enjoy taking classes that have a focus in the subject.  Exercise physiology interests me, because I feel like I will gain a better understanding of the way in which the human body works and handles physical strain.  I am hoping to learn more about joint and overall body health as a result of exercise, and how it plays a role in the long-term life of our bodies.  I also am hoping to learn about the biological and biochemical processes that occur in order for our bodies to function as they do.

I plan on using my background in Biochemistry to help me to understand the mechanisms that occur for our bodies to function effectively.  I have some basic knowledge of action potentials and the chemical processes that allow us to move.  I also have an in-depth understanding of the hormone pathways involved in regulating steroid hormones, and I believe that will give me a good base from which to discuss steroid usage in sports.  I am hoping to connect my Biochemistry major to allow myself and others to understand how the body works most effectively on a molecular level.

My most cherished athletic moment was switching over from skiing to snowboarding. My entire life I was a skier and then in my senior year of high school I decided I wanted to switch to snowboarding. I figured it couldn’t be that hard, they both involve the same concept: to get down the mountain. Once I did my first run I realized that the muscle groups and coordination for skiing and snowboarding are completely different. I had to switch from relying mainly on the glutes and hips to now involving your hamstrings and calves to turn onto your heels or toes. I was terrified and didn’t think I would be able to make the switch, but after many failed attempts, I made it down the mountain without falling. I knew that I had pushed myself into trying something new and now I have the ability to ski or snowboard which is an activity that I love to do!

I think exercise physiology is a great foundation for other biological sciences. Exercise is not only vital for daily life because movement is how we can be productive, but it is also a form of stress that can lead as an example for other biological processes. When the body starts to exercise, the nervous system starts to put the body into a state of stress and every system is activated in some way. The way our muscles, heart, bones, hormones, etc. respond to this stress is different for each animal and also for each individual. Learning the physiology of our body’s response system to exercise will help us understand how these systems interact with one another and how we can learn to maximize these processes for top performance. Starting with exercise physiology, studying this will then lead to other fields of biology including how exercise response changes over time, how it changes when things are imbalance, and how it can change across animal kingdoms.

I think taking human A&P 1 and 2 will definitely help to understand exercise physiology because once you know the body parts and systems, it will make more sense to now learn how they interact under exercise. I also think taking microbiology will help to understand what happens when we get sick. Having an infection of some sort will have an impact on the levels of lymphocytes and cytokines in your blood which will obviously affect our ability to perform. Also taking life science physics helps with an understanding of the mechanics of flexion and extension, and why if one muscle is weak it can impact the entire process of walking or picking something up.

1. My most cherished athletic accomplishment was being able to play softball at the collegiate level. It taught me very early on in my college career how to balance school work, jobs, and a sport all at once. It was also very challenging because I never did weight training before I came to college. Lifting heavier weights each week and pushing my body to lengths I never thought possible was very rewarding for me. I believe it also helped me greatly on the field.
2. Understanding how the body reacts to stimulus such as exercise and how much you are able to push yourself in an energetic state can give insight to what your body is made up of. A sprinter and a marathon runner can yield much different body types, and those anatomical and chemical differences can explain a lot about the make-up of people, but also different animals as well. A sprinter may have the same muscle fibers as say a rabbit, where as a couch potato may share commonalities with a sloth. It would be interesting to see what muscle fibers we are mostly comprised of. During the scavenger hunt, I found an article that discussed some exercises to see if you were mostly composed of fast-twitch or slow-oxidative fibers. A blurb of it is attached.
3. Last term I took Animal Physiology and I feel that a lot of the same topics may overlap. Also taking classes such as orthopedic biomechanics and advanced mechanics may help me understand what is happening physically to joints, etc. where I struggle learning things that happen at the cellular level. 

1. My favorite athletic accomplishment is making it to the Division 1 level for ice hockey. Growing up, it was always my dream to play collegiate ice hockey and playing at the highest level makes the realization of my dream all the more special. Playing hockey has always brought me so much joy and kept me healthy and fit. Throughout my childhood, I had to sacrifice many hours for hockey that could have been spent socially with friends and that was very difficult because at times I felt like I was missing out and getting left behind. Making it to the Division 1 level made all of the sacrifices worth it. To get to play the game that I love while also getting an incredible education is the best combination I could ask for. Further, I have learned valuable skills from hockey, such as discipline and effective communication, and these are part of what makes this my favorite athletic accomplishment because I can apply these skills to many different aspects of my life.
2. Exercise physiology can serve as a paradigm for understanding biology because in order to under how the body functions for exercise/in response to exercise, you need an understanding of the biological processes that occur in the body. For example, to understand how a runner most efficiently utilizes their breathing for peak success, you need to understand how respiration works and what biological processes/body systems work together to cause breathing. Further, some people are better suited for different types of exercise/sports so understanding this can serve as a paradigm for understanding selection and evolution of different traits that can contribute to athleticism.
3. I can use many concepts that I have learned from previous upper-level courses to contribute to our exercise physiology discussions. One way that I can contribute is through what I have learned in anatomy/physiology courses that I have taken (and am currently taking). The things I have learned about body systems, body composition, and how the body functions can be an asset in class discussion. To add, I can use concepts I learned in evolutionary biology to help piece together why certain traits that may have an influence on body components that contribute to exercise, such as muscles, have been selected for and how they have evolved throughout time.

1. Explain your favorite or most cherished athletic/exercise accomplishment.
   1. My favorite athletic accomplishment was getting my town’s Player of Year position for women’s soccer my senior year of high school. Every year my town takes all high schools in the area and has coaches discussion who the best player is the county. I won, I got a mini photo and had my photo displayed across the county on the newspaper. It was a major honor, that year we won our sectional title for the 5th year in a row, also my fifth time winning because we won our first sectional title my 8th grade year when I first joined the team. It was a nice way to finish off my senior soccer career at my high school, and was a nice way to get a coach’s attention for college soccer. I was able to tell coaches that I had won that prize and that had helped me gain a spot here on Union College Women’s Soccer Team.
2. Why do you think exercise physiology can serve as a paradigm for understanding biology?
   1. I believe learning exercise physiology is imperative to understanding biology because it involves the animals and most importantly us. We study mice, monkeys and other animals in order to create medicine and figure out how the human body works. Learning this class, helps you understand what animals do to stay at their correct temperature, and normal bodily function. You also learn and understand the general makeup of why animals look the way they do, why birds have hollow bones, why we have so many bones, muscles and tendons. Also, the effects of exercise to our own bodies, understanding that can keep you healthy for longer, as well as your loved ones. This class will help you understand organisms on a fundamental level, and can help other people understand biology as a whole.
3. How can you use what you learned in previous upper-level courses to contribute to our exercise physiology discussions?
   1. In previous terms I have taken, Developmental Biology, Epigenetics, and Neurobiology and I feel that they have all helped build a foundation for this class. Each class spoke on a molecular level of how/why organisms are made the way they are. Now, this class I will learn the next level up, on a larger level of how organisms function. Developmental spoke a lot of how the body plan was set up, and I believe that will help my understanding of where the bones, ligaments and organs are set up and their function. I feel like Development was from fertilization to when the organism was born and this class will continue from when the organism was born to its maturation. I’ll be able to understand why certain animals are so small and what the advantages are to that, and why certain animals are formed differently than us and what are the results of those differences. For example I know that snakes have an extended torso in the body plan, and now I will learn how that extended torso helps or limits it’s mobility.

We will use this forum to expand upon topics discussed in class, exchange ideas, and think more critically about exercise physiology.