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At Utah Career College, every Health & Exercise Science course and every class session emphasizes personal instruction and hands-on training. Instructors are well-known in the Salt Lake City area fitness and wellness community, and offer students rich and rewarding educational experiences. The following courses are offered at UCC campuses in Layton, Orem and West Jordan, where students work in on-site fitness labs as well as in area gyms and health clubs.
In addition to the technical courses described below, our Bachelor’s in Health and Exercise Science degree and Associate in Exercise Science degree programs require business and general education courses, offered on-campus and online.
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Health and Exercise Science Course Descriptions
HS100 Alternative Health - 2 Credits
This course provides a practical overview of nontraditional health and wellness approaches. Topics include Chinese medicine, herbs, yoga, homeopathy, and mind-body wellness. Students also learn to obtain and present information pertaining to alternative health and wellness.
HS101 Intro. to Health & Exercise Science - 3 Credits
This course provides an overview of areas of study in the health and exercise science field. Students in this course explore the development of a healthy lifestyle and investigate career options available in the field.
HS115 General Nutrition - 4 Credits
This course builds a basic understanding of nutrition as it relates to general health. Topics include basic nutrition facts, dietary guidelines for a healthy diet, and dieting trends. Students in this course also explore how nutrients are absorbed and used by the human body.
HS121 CPR/First Aid/EKG - 3 Credits
In this course, students learn and practice basic life support techniques. Students also learn how to prevent the spread of pathogens through universal precautions. The course also incorporates basic electrocardiography principles.
HS145 Kinesiology - 5 Credits
Prerequisite: MA110. This course covers basic biomechanics, physical characteristics of muscles, joint motion, origin and insertion points, and gait analysis. Anatomical landmarks and basic principles of physics are used to analyze human motion.
HS155 Exercise Physiology - 4 Credits
Prerequisites: MA110, NS101. This course explores the chemical and physiological processes involved in the bodily response to exercise. Topics include energy transfer, adaptations to functional capacity, and physiological support systems. Students also explore how various environmental factors can affect human performance.
HS205 Fitness Assessment & Program Design - 5 Credits
Prerequisite: HS121. In this course students learn and practice various health and fitness assessment techniques. Students study the normal values and protocols associated with fitness assessment. This course also covers basic exercise program design principles that are necessary for developing fitness programs.
HS225 Program Design for Special Populations - 3 Credits
Prerequisite: HS205. This course explores fitness assessment protocols and exercise program design variables as they relate to individuals with health concerns. Students also explore exercise as it relates to changes in the human body throughout the lifespan.
HS230 Health & Fitness Industry Strategies - 4 Credits
This course covers the strategies needed to be successful in the health and fitness industry. Some of the topics covered include selling the industry and your services, where to market, insurance and liability, ethics and confidentiality, and motivation of yourself and clients.
HS270 Introduction to Group Fitness - 4 Credits
Prerequisite: HS205. Students in this course apply fitness concepts to a group format setting. Students design and learn to instruct basic formats of group fitness classes. Timing, tempo, format, cuing, and pacing for instructing a group fitness course are practiced.
HS280 Certification Development - 4 Credits
Prerequisites: All core courses. This course explores various certification options for professionals in the health and fitness industry. Students may choose to examine and prepare for certifications including but not limited to ACSM, AFFA, NASM, and NSCA.
HS299 Externship - 8 Credits
Prerequisites: All core 100/200 level courses, current CPR certification. Each student must complete a 240-hour clinical externship. The externship is a mutual arrangement between the student, externship coordinator, and the externship site. The site provides office facilities and staff time to help the extern apply the education received in the classroom. The site staff evaluates the student's performance during this period and submits the evaluation to the school.
HS310 Sport Specific & Team Training - 4 Credits
Prerequisites: HS205. Students learn how to apply physiological principles to the training and conditioning of participants of specific sports. Students design a training program to meet the needs of athletes and the positions they play within their sports. Traditional training styles are incorporated with periodization, agility, and polymeric type training. Students also explore strategies for training teams as a whole.
HS320 Sport & Exercise Psychology - 4 Credits
Prerequisite: SS111. This course examines the important role that psychology plays in starting or adhering to an exercise program or a training regimen. Students learn to identify a client’s needs through an ongoing process of behavioral observation. The course incorporates concepts as they apply to children, athletes, and traditional adult exercisers.
HS330 Nutrition for Fitness & Sport - 4 Credits
Prerequisite: HS115. Students explore the relationship of metabolism and nutrients to weight loss, sport performance, and overall health. Each student also applies these concepts through metabolic testing.
HS340 Resistance Training Methods - 3 Credits
Prerequisite: HS205. This course reviews the muscles in the human body and examines resistance-training activities for each. Training modalities include body weights, free weights, fixed plane machines, fit balls, tubing, and more. Students learn modifications for working with both advanced and restricted-level clients. Functional training concepts are incorporated.
HS350 Injury Prevention & Management - 4 Credits
Prerequisite: HS121. Students apply first aid skills and injury prevention strategies to working with athletes and recreational exercisers. Prevention strategies include assessing client complaints, modifying training to address complaints, and making referrals to appropriate physicians as needed. Students also learn taping and bracing techniques to accommodate clients’ needs.
HS360 Advanced Exercise Physiology - 4 Credits
Prerequisite: HS155. This course expands upon concepts learned in previous physiology courses. Students examine in detail the cellular processes and physiology of individual body systems. This information is then applied to the body as a whole and each body system’s contribution to rest and exercise.
HS370 Motor Learning & Development - 3 Credits
Prerequisite: HS155. This course explores developmental changes in movement patterns and abilities throughout the lifespan. This course also explores how to improve learning and development at different stages during the lifespan.
HS410 Concepts in Corporate Wellness - 3 Credits
Prerequisites: MG150. Students in this course learn how to design, implement, and evaluate a cost-effective fitness and wellness plan for a worksite. Students also learn to use marketing strategies to convince employers and employees of the benefits of the plan.
HS420 Clinical Exercise Programming - 4 Credits
Prerequisite: HS360. This course examines exercise parameters as they relate to physical therapy, heart and lung institutes, cardiac labs, chiropractic settings, and more. These parameters give students the tools needed to work with a client’s health care team in determining fitness needs. Students also learn exercise programming for high-risk clients needing specific modifications.
HS430 Management for Fitness Professionals - 4 Credits
Prerequisites: HS230, MG120. This course examines management and employment issues specific to the fitness industry. Students learn how to hire employees, retain and motivate employees, write valid and enforceable contracts for patrons, and write non-compete agreements for current employees. Students also learn how to increase the the chances of success of fitness-related businesses by implementing programs and products that keep facilities on the cutting edge of fitness.
HS450 Research in Health and Exercise - 4 Credits
Prerequisites: CM121, NS450. Students in this course learn the strategies and techniques used to review and evaluate current research in health, fitness, and exercise. The course emphasizes that claims made in health and fitness need to be based on conclusive research from peer-reviewed studies. After analyzing selected current research in the field, students apply appropriate research methods to their own studies.
HS470 Advanced Group Fitness - 4 Credits
Prerequisite: HS270. Students in this course practice instructing group fitness courses with complex choreography, high tempos, and varying participant levels. The course addresses advanced cuing skills such as modifying a participant’s posture, teaching from any position in the room, and incorporating visual cues. Students also learn to coordinate a group fitness program by scheduling courses and class formats. This course prepares students to sit for various group fitness certifications and teaches the practical skills necessary to be successful running a group fitness program.
HS490 Community Involvement - 5 Credits
Must be taken in student’s final quarter. Students in this course work as a team to implement a health or fitness program within the community. The team evaluates the community’s current needs and then designs and implements a health related program. Students apply skills learned in management, marketing, nutrition, worksite wellness, and fitness implementation to run a successful program. At the end of this course, students gain increased confidence in their abilities as qualified fitness professionals.
To find out which courses are available at which times, see the current course schedule on our students site.
Health & Exercise Science: College courses that lead to jobs
Health and Exercise Science college courses at UCC prepare graduates for rewarding career opportunities in the health, fitness and recreation industries. We never lose sight of that focus, and placement rates from our program are excellent. Contact our Admissions Office for specific information.