Courses – School of Health and Wellness

Nathan Stokes Course Offerings, Exercise Specialist, Exercise, Nutrition, and Health Promotion, Personal Trainer Certification, Personal Trainer Degree, Personal Trainer Diploma, School of Health & Wellness

PT100 Lifestyle and Health – 4.5 Credit Hours
This course provides an introduction to the basic concepts for physical fitness and wellness. Students will gain knowledge on the latest findings in exercise physiology and sports medicine, along with the tools for self-assessment and guidelines for developing physical fitness. In the area of wellness, a student will learn current trends and information on today’s most important health related topics and issues, with self-tests and guidelines for achieving wellness.

PT102 Leisure Programming – 4.5 Credit Hours
This course provides an introduction to the basic concepts for leisure programming. Students will gain knowledge in the areas of direct services delivery, program planning, and program management. The course will focus on issues related to customer service and benefits, such as providing leisure experiences, assessing customer needs, evaluating program impact, promoting positive customer and leader interactions, analyzing and implementing policies, and supervising staff.

PT105 The Business of Personal Training – 4.5 Credit Hours
The course is an introduction to the fundamental concepts and principles of business in the personal training field. An overview to the functions of a personal training business will include an evaluation of personal training as a profession, personal training as a business, management, finance, accounting, marketing, legal and professional responsibilities of personal training.

PT106 Kinesiology – 4.5 Credit Hours
In this course students will learn the mechanical concepts and principles that underlie human movement and the basic structure and function of the musculoskeletal system. Discussions will systematically focus on the bones, muscles and joints for the upper extremity, lower extremity, and the spinal column, pelvis and thorax. This course will assist the students understanding of the musculoskeletal system as a machine capable of generating and transmitting forces, while exploring the concept that musculoskeletal imbalance results in pathomechanics for injury and disease. Practical application of basic concepts will be made to practical problems in public health and wellness.

PT110 Biomechanics – 4.5 Credit Hours
This course will act as a guide and reference for the anatomy and biomechanical movements of the human skeleton, and muscles. Special attention will be spent on the identification terms related to these systems. In addition students will learn the description of motion including patterns and speed of movement sequencing by the body segments and how anthropometrics factor in with impacts on kinetic analysis.

PT120 Exercise Physiology – 4.5 Credit Hours
This course provides the fundamentals for the study of exercise physiology. It thoroughly examines both the immediate responses to, and the long-term benefits of exercise. In addition students will view exercise physiology in the clinical setting and professional issues pertaining to career opportunities.

PT140 Personal Training – 4.5 Credit Hours
This course provides the core concepts in personal training and fitness instruction. A student will develop the knowledge, skills and motivation to enhance the physical fitness and well-being of individuals or groups. Areas of concentration will be Fitness Instruction, Physical Fitness Assessment, Physical Conditioning and Designing a Conditioning Program.

PT170 Sports Law and Ethics – 4.5 Credit Hours
This course includes a basic introduction to concepts and issues dealing with legal concerns in recreation and sports in contemporary society. Students will review legal issues pertaining to contracts, premises liability, discrimination, Title IX eligibility, equal opportunity, labor relations and federal funding through an examination of case law, statutes and regulations pertinent to sports management.

PT200 Exercise Testing and Prescription – 4.5 Credit Hours
Developed to help students master the essential measurement and evaluation content, principles and concepts to become an effective evaluator, this text provides the practical skills and materials students will need for measurement and evaluation whether they work in teaching or exercise science.

PT205 Conducting and Reading Research in Health and Human Performance – 4.5 Credit Hours
Designed for the first course in research methods, this text shows students how to conduct and read research, design research tools, and evaluate results in health, kinesiology, exercise science, recreation, dance, and all other areas of human performance–providing comprehensive coverage of both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

PT299 Personal Trainer Externship – 4.5 Credit Hours
Students will be assigned to a training facility, clinic or other physical fitness setting and will be trained for duties that are vital in today’s fitness field. This course will train the student to develop fundamental skills for tasks such as exercise physiology, nutrition, diet, weight maintenance, athletic training, business operation, first aid, sports medicine and proficiency in physical health software functions. Prerequisite: Must have a 2.0 cGPA in all completed core courses.

PT300 Behavioral Change – 4.5 Credit Hours
Behavioral Change will teach you the key tools to promoting behavior change and creating a foundation for a healthy lifestyle. You will learn how to help clients of all backgrounds recognize counterproductive behaviors and coach them to discover new methods to move more, eat better and make healthier decisions for themselves and their families.

PT305 Nutrition Physiology – 4.5 Credit Hours
This class has been designed to educate students about the importance of nutrition to their overall health and wellness. The course goals include mastery of the physiology related to human digestion, as well as an understanding of both macro and micro nutrients and their importance in human health. This class will then help students tackle the questions of how to gain weight, lose weight and prevent chronic diseases by examining scientific research and scientific reasoning.

PT310 Leadership in Health and Wellness – 4.5 Credit Hours
This course explores the essential elements of management and leadership as they apply to the health and wellness field. It explores how trust, power and relationship management form the basis of leadership excellence and provides tips to rising leaders on how to understand their own leadership styles to boost organizational performance.

PT325 Principles of Epidemiology – 4.5 Credit Hours
Introduction to the relationship between the human body and disease, both communicable and non-communicable. Includes historical aspects of various diseases, etiology, prevention and control, prevalence, symptoms, and treatment.

PT340 Principles of Exercise Rehabilitation – 4.5 Credit Hours
A study of the knowledge and skills required to design and implement exercise, reconditioning and rehabilitation programs for athletes and athletic injuries.  Students will learn about the basic principles of rehabilitation of common athletic injuries. They will learn specific rehabilitation techniques that will increase range of motion, increase strength and return functional ability. Students will be able to evaluate the status of an injury and develop the appropriate rehabilitation.

PT350 Research and Communication – 4.5 Credit Hours
Students will learn: how to frame questions that can guide collection of data; how to measure knowledge, attitudes, and behavior; how to systematically evaluate or compare communication strategies; how to effectively use data in making decisions about programs; and how to read and understand literature on health communication.

PT400 Health Risk Assessment and Appraisal – 4.5 Credit Hours
This course is designed to provide the student with the theoretical background and practical experience necessary for the safe and scientific evaluation of physical fitness, particularly as it relates to health and disease and the development of programs for remediation, maintenance and enhancement of motor and health-related qualities.

PT405 Directing Wellness Programs – 4.5 Credit Hours
This course addresses the general administrative and daily operational skills required to direct a wellness program in corporate, institutional, and community settings. Emphasis is placed on the collaborative and professional skills that are needed to manage wellness programs.

PT410 Principles of Strength and Conditioning – 4.5 Credit Hours
Students will gain knowledge to train athletes for the primary goal of improving athletic performance. They conduct sport-specific testing sessions, design and implement safe and effective strength training and conditioning programs and provide guidance regarding nutrition and injury prevention. Recognizing when to refer athletes to other professionals when appropriate.

PT415 Interventions for Wellness – 4.5 Credit Hours
This course addresses the skills and resources needed to implement and facilitate specific interventions within a comprehensive wellness program. The development and delivery of programs including tobacco management, weight control, nutrition, physical activity, workplace safety, disease prevention, and other applicable interventions will be addressed.

PT420 Medical Exercise Specialist – 4.5 Credit Hours
Medical Exercise Specialist is designed for advanced health and fitness professionals providing in-depth preventive and post-rehabilitative fitness programming for individuals who are at risk for, or are recovering from, a variety of cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic, and musculoskeletal diseases and disorders, as well as apparently healthy clients in special population groups, including older adults, youth, and prenatal and postpartum women. Prerequisites: Must have a 2.0 cGPA in all completed core courses.

Discover more about our School of Health & Wellness with related blog posts on our website!

Ready to get started? Apply now!