Practical Math for Health Fitness Professionals |  | Author: Dennis K. Flood
Publisher: Human Kinetics Publishers
List Price: $28.00
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Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 2084446
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 215
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0873227581
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.0440151
EAN: 9780873227582
ASIN: 0873227581
Publication Date: January 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
This text explains how to perform the metabolic calculations used in exercise physiology. The book is aimed at health professionals and students seeking certification in these fields, and shows simple methods for solving problems in exercise metabolism, pulmonary function and cardiovascular dynamics. It contains many examples and practice problems which should help those with maths phobias to gain an understanding of calculations in exercise physiology. In addition to explaining fundamental maths concepts which are necessary for working in exercise physiology, this book shows how to complete metabolic equations which are included on ACSM certification examinations.
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| Customer Reviews:
Need to learn Met Calcs? Get this book! January 3, 2005
Groovy Vegan (USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As I study for the ACSM HFI exam, "Practical Math for Health Fitness Professionals" is the most valuable resource I've found to date for learning metabolic calculations. (I haven't checked out any met calc software, which I don't think I need, thanks to this book.) Unlike the met calc chapter in "ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription" or in "ACSM's Health & Fitness Certification Review," this book provides extremely thorough explanations of all the math needed for HFI exam (plus some additional exercise physiology math), and is impeccable about leaving on the units (such as mL O2/kg/min or meters/min) as you work through the problem, until you can cancel them out. I find leaving the units with all the numbers, along with using conversion factors (thoroughly explained in the book) crucial to navigating through and following what's going on in complex problems, and increases the chances of obtaining the right answer. I think it's best to learn the problem solving methods with the units intact, and only consider leaving them off later after one understands the conversion factors and concepts.
ACSM-certified exercise physiologist, Dennis K. Flood, is gifted at explaining the math for exercise metabolism, cardiovascular and pulmonary function, and nutrition problems to the layperson. His practical comments throughout the book show that he has a thorough understanding of kinesiology and is not just a math guy. He begins with three chapters of introduction and review which includes basic math, cancellation of units, and conversion factors. Even though I have fairly good math skills, I found those chapters quite valuable for both ramping me up to the skills needed for solving met calcs and in providing information needed for the HFI exam. For example, Flood tells the reader to memorize the conversion factor 26.8 m/mph = 1 mph, and that speeds below 4 mph are walking speeds, while speeds of 4 mph and above are running speeds.
The rest of the book is the nitty gritty on physiological math and metabolic calculations with chapters on: Cardiovascular Dynamics and Calculations, Pulmonary Function Calculations, Resting Energy Expenditure and Bayes Theorem, Energy Cost of Level Walking, Energy Cost of Uphill Walking, Oxygen Consumption During Running, Cycle and Arm Ergometer Metabolic Calculations, Calculations for Bench Stepping, Submaximal Exercise Testing and Related Math, and Nutrition Math. (The Karvonen formula and converting METS to kcal are included in the Resting Energy Expenditure and Bayes Theorem chapter.) Each chapter contains explanations of the concepts within, problems for the reader to work along with Flood, and practice problems at the end of the chapter, which get progressively harder and which have detailed yet easy-to-follow explanations in the answer section. As I work through every math problem related to the ACSM HFI exam, I find the explanations of each problem quite helpful. My only complaint is that in explaining complicated problems, Flood dives in explaining that you do A then B then C, without giving the reader a big-picture overview of what he's trying to accomplish. Here's where "ACSM's Health & Fitness Certification Review" comes in handy, which has a diagram on page 175 showing that one converts from METS to Relative VO2 to Absolute VO2, etc. I think adding that diagram would add to the helpfulness of this book.
Regardless, I think that working through this book's problems with pencil, paper and calculator would help any student learn the math for ACSM certifications, as well as help aspiring exercise physiologists learn the math in their field. In addition, some of this math can benefit exercisers who like to estimate how many kcals they're burning on a treadmill or exercise bike. This book might be hard to track down, but if you're studying for ACSM certifications, it's well worth it.
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