Profession--an occupation requiring detailed knowledge in a course of study, accompanied by advanced education and training involving intellectual skills.

A profession is to be distinguished from a craft or a blue-collar occupation.

It is also to be distinguished from a discipline--an organized, formal body of knowledge.

Criteria for an occupation to be considered a profession:

• Self-governed autonomy
• Social value
• Specialized knowledge
• Representative Organization
• Lifetime Commitment

Is Exercise Science a profession or is it only a discipline?

Consider the following:

Clinical Exercise Physilogist--a person who, under the direction, approval, and supervision of a licensed physician, engages in the practice of exercise physiology.

Exercise Physiology--the formulation, development, and implementation of exercise protocols and programs, administration of graded exercise tests, and providing education regarding such exercise programs and tests, in a cardiorespiratory rehabilitation program to individuals with deficiencies of the cardiovascular system, diabetes, lipid disorders, hypertension, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arthritis, renal disease, organ transplant, peripheral vascular disease, and obesity.

These are definitions from the licensing procedure for Clinical Exercise Physiologist for the state of Louisiana.