Health and Wellness on Campus: Exercise Physiology

Want to learn how to run faster? Jump higher? Get stronger? We’ve got a class for that.

What happens inside your body when you sprint, ski, lift, or push yourself to your limits? At Holderness, students don’t just learn about exercise science from a textbook—they get the chance to investigate it firsthand.

In Exercise Physiology, students explore how the body produces and uses energy, how training changes performance, and why recovery matters. Along the way, they become researchers, athletes, and sometimes even their own test subjects. Led by longtime science teacher and former U.S. Ski Team coach Pat Casey, the course gives students the knowledge and vocabulary to better understand their bodies—and the science behind getting stronger, faster, and more resilient.

“I love how motivated the students are to learn,” says Pat Casey, who teaches an Exercise Physiology course each fall. “Clearly they’re hanging on to what you’re talking about because they’re personally invested in it.”

That personal investment is a key draw for the class, a semester-long exploration of the body’s energy systems and their role in athletic performance. Students begin by learning the basics of muscle anatomy and physiology and the different energy pathways that power those muscles. They then learn how different training modalities—from intervals to strength training to rest and recovery—affect performance.

In many cases, the students become their own test subjects, hopping on treadmills and exercise bikes to study lactate threshold, VO2 Max, and other fundamentals of exercise science.

Luke Duffield ’26, a student in Pat Casey’s Exercise Physiology class, undergoes a VO2 Max test at Plymouth State University’s Human Performance Center.

For the students, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from the best. Before he became a science teacher and the school’s head Nordic skiing coach, Casey spent four years as a coach on the U.S. Ski Team. As a coach, Casey—who earned his degree in exercise and sports science from the University of Utah—worked as a liaison between the country’s top Nordic athletes and the team’s physiologist. With his science background, he was the perfect person to help carry out—and explain—the exhaustive physiological testing that all of his athletes underwent each year.

In a way, he’s doing much the same thing with his Exercise Physiology class at Holderness. His goal is to educate his students to the point where they can advocate for their own physiological needs in college and beyond.

“Once they get the training principles, I’ve really accomplished one of my goals—which is that they can leave this class and go talk to any trainer or coach or physio or PT and have a language that’s common with those people,” Casey says.

Exercise Physiology is just one example of how Holderness connects classroom learning with students’ passions and interests. Across the curriculum, students are encouraged to ask questions, explore deeply, and apply what they learn in meaningful ways.

Ready to discover what’s possible at Holderness?
Download our Curriculum Guide to explore our courses and programs.

Originally published in Holderness School Today, Fall 2025.