Health & Physical Education (HPE)

This course is intended to explore general physiological concepts as they apply to physical fitness, nutrition, stress and overall wellness throughout life. All students will be afforded an opportunity to assess and generate a personal health-fitness profile, identifying strengths and weaknesses associated with physical fitness, nutrition, weight management and stress management. Behavior modification will be emphasized in this course as students learn to set realistic and achievable goals as they plan for safe methods of improving general wellness.

Designed to help students realize the importance of healthy diet and exercise behaviors in permanent weight control. Behavior modification techniques are used to help students achieve a healthy lifestyle that will result in either a gradual reduction in body weight, and/or the maintenance of a healthy body weight along with good nutrition practices.

This course focuses on increasing students present fitness levels through functional fitness. Participation in this course may lead to increased energy, mental clarity, and health as a part of one's lifestyle. It will also teach students to recognize proper form and technique. This course may also provide opportunities for students to increase their cardiovascular conditioning, flexibility and/or develop strength and muscular endurance. Students will develop a basic understanding of the components of group exercise and will acquire the skills to recognize a safe and effective exercise class. Students will have an opportunity to observe and critique a certified exercise instructor to gain a greater understanding of the role of that individual in successful group exercise.

Strength and Tone is a challenging course designed to build muscular strength and endurance using light-weights, medicine balls, and resistance bands. This total body class will help sculpt and tone your muscles, help you build lean muscle and boost your metabolism, all while you have a fun time doing it.

This course is designed to give a basic understanding of the effects of resistance training on the human body. The course will include a combination of lectures, demonstrations, and physical activity. The student will understand the fundamentals of lifting, be able to operate all resistance equipment and develop resistance training protocols.

Emphasis of this course is on the development of individual skills and methods necessary to understand the body mechanics involved in optimal physical fitness. Programs discussed will include training for leisure sports, rehabilitation, muscular tone, endurance, flexibility, and weight loss.

Abs and Lower Body will target your core using both cardiovascular and muscle building exercises. This class will incorporate the use of a variety of equipment including steps, bands, and BOSUs (Balance Trainers). You will be challenged with functional moves including squats, lunges and planks using your own body weight to give you a strong and fit core.

Pilates will challenge abdominal and core muscles to help improve strength, endurance, flexibility, posture, and physical function. The course is designed to provide the history of Pilates, its theory and benefits, and afford an opportunity for entire body conditioning with a non-impact approach.

Boot Camp is a high intensity interval training patterned after military style training using sports drills and calisthenics to develop cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, endurance and flexibility. Workouts will include core conditioning, circuit training, kick boxing and other sports drills, and obstacle courses. Students will be exercising as individuals, with a partner and in groups. While modifications will be demonstrated, this non-contact course is targeted toward intermediate and advanced levels of fitness.

This course is an introductory course in the fundamentals of pickleball including serving, volleying, groundstrokes, the lob, dink, and smash. Students will learn rules and court strategy for playing the game. Emphasis will be on total fitness and recreational skills for leisure and lifetime activities.

Tai Chi was a form of internal Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training and health benefits. Tai Chi today has become a modified exercise using all the techniques to attain healing qualities rather that combative awareness. The slow and fluid movements practiced in Tai Chi improve the body alignment, posture, strength, flexibility, coordination, balance, and stamina. Tai Chi provides practitioners with an overall toning and strengthening of specific muscles.

This 6,000-year-old, ancient practice will teach the student the true meaning of union by combining physical, mental and spiritual states of wellness. The course is designed to provide the history of yoga, its theory and benefits, and afford the student an opportunity to experience this art firsthand.

This is a survey class that provides an introduction to the methods used in the up and coming field of Yoga Therapy. The objective is to assess and help balance the body to move more fluidly and recover from injury and disease. We frequently have over-used a muscle, had a minor accident or perhaps an outpatient surgery and have heard that yoga would be good for us (from a doctor or a friend) or perhaps want to continue or begin a yoga practice to keep us centered in our world. We will investigate postural and Range of Motion through movement and understand how to modify poses with props to make them generally accessible to everybody in every body. We will investigate the role of fascia and learn how to manipulate it. We also will look at Ayurveda, the Yogic science of the body, as a means to analyze and gain insight into our body's rhythms. This class will cover basic bone and muscle anatomy as it applies to yoga postures (asana) and instruct in the proper use of props to modify many yoga poses.

This class will focus on five of the eight limbs of Yoga that were defined by Patanjali more that 5000 years ago in India. The ancient physical and philosophical practice of yoga is a system that can help manage stress and improve our overall wellness in a high-paced world. We will explore how we breathe and practice various breathing techniques (pranamayas) that can be used to affect mood and physiology. We will also study the various practices of meditation as a means of becoming more grounded and centered, finding a calm state that we can carry with us into our day. Many classes will include a series of postures (Asana) as a warm up followed by Pranayama (mindful breathing) practice and then ending each session in a form of meditation.

This class presents an approach to learning the game of basketball that will take the learner from basic play to intermediate level. Methodology of presentations consists of lectures, demonstrations, and drills with supervision and feedback provided by the instructor. The student will receive an introduction to each skill, knowledge of how to teach and correct, as well as, information about various types of offensive and defensive systems, strategies, individual and team development.

An introduction to sports medicine, including the basic concepts and techniques in the prevention, evaluation, treatment and rehabilitation of athletic injuries. The broad spectrum of knowledge necessary to perform these tasks is examined. A lab is intertwined in the educational process of the class, entailing but not limited to taping, on-field care, bracing, splinting, etc.