LBCC Associate Professor of Kinesiology Matthew Barbier said, “The kinesiology field is growing, many more students are becoming interested in this field. It has close relations with medicine and health, so this gives students a variety of options to choose what they want to concentrate on when it comes to the kinesiology and sports industry.”
Students who major in the kinesiology field have to take several science classes which have relations with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Many challenging science classes like; anatomy, physiology, physics, human biology, chemistry and more.
Kinesiology involves study of the human body’s movement and muscle function. Some of the main specialized areas of learning in kinesiology include exercise physiology, anatomy of the human body, public health, motor learning, neuroscience and physical activity.
Students who major in kinesiology can get a degree in the field by receiving an AA-T, which means they can transfer to a four-year university. In addition, students can focus on a specific field in kinesiology.
If you think about it, kinesiology is in our everyday lives as a lifestyle for things like, fitness, exercising, playing sports, dance, and more.
Many people love sports and kinesiology is a major where you can teach people sports, play sports, and do physical workouts and such. Kinesiology is most popular in conversational topics for example, sports teams, physical training, fitness, weight loss and weight gaining.
LBCC Department Head of Kinesiology Professor and Head Coach of Baseball, Casey Crook mentioned the importance of staying fit and exercising daily.
“Exercising helps humans stay fit and in shape. In order to keep your heart healthy you’re supposed to do cardiovascular activities. The better shape you’re in the more you are able to fight off any infections or viruses. It keeps your immune system working well,” said Crook.
According to the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association, five to seven hours of cardiovascular conditioning a week, or 45 minutes to an hour a day if you’re used to working out and doing fitness activities as suggested.
However, LBCC offers a multitude of different classes in order for students to earn their degree in the kinesiology field.
There’s a range of classes for students interested in kinesiology. There are lecture classes which consist of first aid and safety and the introduction to kinesiology course.
There are also fitness classes which can include: weight training, yoga, stretch and relaxation.
Lastly, there’s general sports classes just to name a few; basketball, baseball, soccer, swimming and tennis.
Crook said, “There are five components to fitness: cardiorespiratory, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility and body composition.”
There are fitness classes offered at LBCC that emphasize each one of the components. Using the facilities on campus is a lot cheaper than joining a local fitness gym.
Crook mentioned that it has been shown in studies that students who are physically active perform better in their academic classes.
LBCC now has a program called DESTINO which offers boot camp for students to get prepared to take any science based classes in which they need during the fall or spring semesters.
It will provide student support services such as a dedicated STEM counselor, STEM-focused career panels and University field trips and a Northern California University tour.
It is more than just kinesiology classes at LBCC, students will be able to learn a job under professionals, they are able to enhance employment opportunities in the field of personal training and athletic coaching.