This course examines how muscle physiology and neuromuscular function shape performance and adaptation to training. Students examine how muscles produce force, respond to training, fatigue, recover, and adapt in people with varying exercise backgrounds and fitness levels. Using case studies, movement analysis, and current research, students evaluate performance, injury risk, and strategies for improvement with emphasis on evidence-based exercise prescription and understanding how factors such as age, training history, and lifestyle influence muscular adaptation. Students develop skills to design individualized programs that optimize muscular function, health, performance, and long-term outcomes.   

Course Modules (tentative)

1. Foundations of Muscle Physiology
Introduction to skeletal muscle structure and function, force production, motor unit recruitment, and neuromuscular control — the baseline mechanics of how muscles generate movement.

2. Fatigue and Recovery
Mechanisms of muscle fatigue, measurement approaches (potentially including a grip-force lab), and the physiology of recovery and regeneration after exercise (potentially including a cardiovascular/finger-pulse lab).

3. Training Adaptations
How muscle adapts to different training stimuli — resistance training and endurance/aerobic training — and how those adaptations differ across the lifespan (youth to aging populations) and between sexes.

4. Movement, Injury, and Performance
Movement analysis, identification of injury risk factors, and case studies connecting muscle function to real-world performance and injury scenarios.

5. Applied Exercise Prescription
Evidence-based program design principles, culminating in the semester project and student presentations.

Learning Objectives (tentative)

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• • Explain the physiological mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle force production and neuromuscular control
  • Describe how skeletal muscle adapts to different training stimuli (strength, endurance, and power) across the lifespan
  • Analyze the mechanisms of muscle fatigue and evaluate strategies that support recovery and long-term adaptation
  • Assess how age, sex, training history, and lifestyle factors influence muscular function and adaptability
  • Evaluate movement patterns and case studies to identify injury risk factors and performance limitations
  • Apply principles of evidence-based exercise prescription to design individualized training programs
  • Critically interpret current research in muscle physiology and exercise science

Approach to Teaching

You will work both individually and in teams. We will use various teaching methods, including interactive lectures (potentially including the use of biometric sensors), class discussions, critical analysis of reading material, and student presentations.

The pace and specific activities planned for certain days may change depending on the interest of the students.

Expectations of the Students

• Students should participate during lectures, peer-led oral presentations, discussions, group work and exercises.
• Laptops may be used for note‐taking, fact‐checking, or assignments in the classroom, but only when indicated by the instructor. At all other times laptops and electronic devices should be put away during class time.
• Reading must be done prior to the class session. A considerable part of the class depends on class discussions.
• Students need to be present and participate to receive full credit. The final grade will be affected by unexcused absences and lack of participation. Remember to be in class on time!
• Classroom etiquette includes being respectful of other opinions, listening to others and entering a dialogue in a constructive manner.
• Students are expected to ask relevant questions in regards to the material covered.

Evaluation and Grading 

To be eligible for a passing grade in this class, all of the assigned work must be completed.

Students are expected to turn in all the assignments on the due date. If an assignment is turned in after the due date, the grade of the assignment will be reduced by 10 points (over 100) for each day the submission is late.

Shown below, a tentative overview of the factors influencing the final grade and the proportional importance of each facto :