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Advancing the exercise profession by setting exercise physiologists' standards for quality assurance in educational preparation, professional credentials, and career advancement. Apply It!: The purpose of this article is to outline the pathway that the exercise profession must follow to establish a professional identity. After reading this article, readers will be reminded of the following: • Continuing education is a mandatory requirement to maintain one's professional certification. • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts Exercise Physiologists to have a 10% expected job growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competitive swimming requires multiple bouts of high-intensity exercise, leading to elevated blood lactate. Active exercise recovery has been shown to lower lactate faster than passive resting recovery but may not always be practical. An alternative treatment, electrical muscle stimulation, may have benefits similar to active recovery in lowering blood lactate but to date is unstudied. Therefore, this study compared submaximal swimming and electrical muscle stimulation in reducing blood lactate after sprint swimming. Thirty competitive swimmers (19 men and 11 women) participated in the study. Each subject completed 3 testing sessions consisting of a warm-up swim, a 200-yard maximal frontcrawl sprint, and 1 of 3 20-minute recovery treatments administered in random order. The recovery treatments consisted of a passive resting recovery, a submaximal swimming recovery, or electrical muscle stimulation. Blood lactate was tested at baseline, after the 200-yard sprint, and after 10 and 20 minutes of recovery. A significant interaction (p < 0.05) between recovery treatment and recovery time was observed. Blood lactate levels for the swimming recovery were significantly lower at 10 minutes (3.50 [+ or -] 1.57 mmol*[L.sup.-1]) and 20 minutes (1.60 [+ or -] 0.57 mmoI.*[L .sup.-1)]] of recovery than either of the other 2 treatments. Electrical muscle stimulation led to a lower mean blood lactate (3.12 [+ or -] 1.41 mmoI*[L.sup.-1]) after 20 minutes of recovery compared with passive rest (4.11 [+ or -] 1.35 mmoI*[L.sup.1]). Submaximal swimming proved to be most effective at lowering blood lactate, but electrical muscle stimulation also reduced blood lactate 20 minutes postexercise significantly better than resting passive recovery. Electricar muscle stimulation shows promise as an alternate recovery treatment for the purpose of lowering blood lactate. KEY WORDS passive recovery, active recovery, H-wave, swimming performance

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of electrical stimulation using the Marc Pro™ Device (MPD) during the recovery period on calf muscle strength and fatigue in two separate studies (n = 43, Mean age = 61.3 yrs; n = 62, Mean age = 61.7 yrs). The subjects performed the calf press exercise twice a week for 10 wks with or without electrical stimulation (M = 4 hr·wk-1) between training sessions. Subjects who received electrical stimulation (n = 54) in both studies attained a significant (P<0.05) increase in calf strength versus subjects who did not receive electrical stimulation (n = 51). Only the exercise plus electrical stimulation group in both studies showed a significant (P = 0.05) reduction in feelings of calf fatigue. The results indicate that using MPD electrical stimulation during recovery enhances the effects of resistance exercise by increasing muscle strength while decreasing the feelings of muscle fatigue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Westcott WL, Chen T, Neric FB, DiNubile N, Bowirrat A, Madigan M, Downs BW, Giordano J, Morse S, LC Chen A, Bajaj A, Kerner M, Braverman E, Reinl G, Blakemore M, Whitehead S, Sacks L, Blum K. The Marc Pro™ Device Improves Muscle Performance and Recovery from Concentric and Eccentric Exercise Induced Muscle Fatigue in Humans: A Pilot Study. JEPonline 2011;14(2):55-67. To date, a product or routine that consistently relieves delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) caused by eccentric exercise has yet to be identified. Our latest research results indicate that a new device called Marc Pro™ (MPD) significantly improves muscle recovery and muscle endurance from combined concentric and eccentric exercise in healthy recreational exercisers. In the first study, 14 subjects (no prior soreness upon study entry) performed strength training activity (leg extension exercise with eccentric emphasis) to produce DOMS in the quadriceps muscles. All participants received one-hour of MPD stimulation on the right leg only following the exercise session whereby each participant served as their own control. One day later, assessment of muscle soreness revealed significantly less discomfort in the right leg (MPD) than in the left leg (no MPD) in all subjects and in responders, respectively ( p < 0.008; p < 0.002 ). The number of repetitions completed with the right leg (MPD) was significantly greater than the number of repetitions completed with the left leg (no MPD) in all subjects and in responders, respectively (p < 0.03; p < 0.008). In the second experiment, 13 subjects (no prior soreness upon study entry) utilized a modestly challenging uphill/downhill hike to produce DOMS in the quadriceps muscles. Following the hike the subjects' right leg received MPD stimulation for 60 minutes, whereas the left leg received no MPD application. Reported soreness was significantly less in the right leg (MPD) than in the left leg (no MPD) in all participants and in responders, respectively (p < 0.0008; p < 0.0002). These results suggest that MPD stimulation results in a significant reduction in DOMS following strenuous unaccustomed eccentric exercise and significantly greater muscle endurance performance, as measured by leg extension repetitions. Investigation of Marc Pro in a larger population is underway and must await confirmation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]