Where do I go with … physical education?

Career World, Oct, 2004 by Anne Flounders

You know how going to gym class or playing a sport or even just taking a good, long walk can make you feel? You can really let loose, move your body, and forget about outside stuff that stresses you out, Imagine doing that for a living!

You don't need to be a great athlete. If you like fitness, helping people, and the science of the human body, you might consider joining the millions of health-and-fitness professionals whose work is not so much a job as a way of life they love.

DANCE INSTRUCTOR

"Everybody can dance." That's Shanti Wargo's belief, and it infuses her students with confidence and enthusiasm. Wargo is a dance instructor and choreographer whose specialty is hip-hop. "The more classes you take, the easier it is to learn the choreography. I tell [students] to keep moving--a lot of hiphop dance is intuitive."

Dance instructors teach students to communicate through the art of dance and help students avoid injury through proper training and form.

Music and movement have always been part of Wargo's life. She started dancing at age 5. At 15, she joined SparKids, the dance troupe of the Los Angeles Sparks, a Women's National Basketball Association team. Wargo later worked as a choreographer with the group. She earned a bachelor's degree in dance from Columbia University, where she took courses in anatomy and kinesiology (the science of movement). She was surprised at how the science of the body enters into her daily teaching. "It's important to know your body in order to stay in shape and be healthy," Wargo says. She keeps herself healthy by practicing yoga, drinking lots of water, and keeping her knees iced to ease any swelling.

Now a full-time dance instructor, Wargo is constantly seeking out the latest hip-hop tunes and trying new choreography that will be fun and challenging for her students. As busy as she is, Wargo notes that "one of the pros to being a dance teacher and choreographer is the flexibility in my schedule. I am independent in terms of [when,] what, and how I want to teach."

When asked about her job, Wargo gives a big smile and explains, "I don't consider choreographing and teaching dance a job, but rather a lifestyle. Dance is essential--a staple--in my life. It's an art form [and] a means of relieving stress, and it's fun!"

EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGIST

On the way to a junior high school dance, Jim LaFountain was jumped by some older kids who broke his nose. After that unnerving experience, LaFountain's dad bought him a set of weights and enrolled him in a boxing dam so he could learn how to defend himself. His weight and fitness training had very positive results, and LaFountain hasn't stopped working out since. He is now an exercise physiologist in Utica, N.Y. "If you're fit, you have a little more stamina, fed more confident," he says. "[Your body] is one of the things in life you have control over. If you can pay attention to it, generally you do much better than if you neglect it."

Exercise physiologists help people achieve better health and control of their bodies through physical activity. They combine two areas of expertise: exercise and the science of the human body. They often work in schools, hospitals, or rehabilitation centers. They use a variety of tests to understand a person's body composition and stress level. "It's our job to take everything into consideration," such as diseases, physical limitations, or weight issues, explains Michael Lapolla, an exercise physiologist at the Wellness Center of Saratoga, in New York. "We look at the big picture and develop a long-term exercise and wellness plan--one that somebody will stick to, not one that will provide a quick fix for weight loss."

LaFountain has many roles as an exercise physiologist. He's the youth bureau director of Oneida County, N.Y., where he runs one of the state's largest summer recreation programs for kids. He writes a fitness column for his local newspaper and is the wellness director of the Utica City School District. Kids' health is LaFountain's primary area of interest--and worry.

"I'm most concerned with those 80 percent of kids who don't exercise enough," says LaFountain. "Physically gifted students almost always will succeed in PE classes, sports, and recreational activities. Those who are less gifted are the ones left behind to become the health risks of tomorrow." LaFountain develops appealing fitness programs for kids in schools and in the community, such as school-based wellness centers as an alternative to traditional team sport-based physical education programs.

Michael Lapolla specializes in working with cardiac patients--people who have heart disease and may have had heart surgery or heart attacks. "The clients I work with are at higher risk for having some sort of complication during exercise," he explains. Using monitors that measure heart activity and consulting with physicians, Lapolla helps cardiac patients return to a functional level of fitness--being able, for example, to walk on a treadmill without getting winded and with a lower risk of complications.