Physiology Within Sport

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

SPORT AND EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY HANDBOOK

(ASSIGNMENT EVIDENCE)

MODULE: SPORT AND EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY

COURSE: BND SPORT AND EXERCISE SCIENCES (YEAR 1)

TUTOR: JULIE PLANT

STUDENT NUMBER: FCS251761

STUDENT NAME: Letitia Price

THE INITIAL RESPONSES OF THE BODY TO EXERCISE

1. DESCRIBE THE INITIAL CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES TO EXERCISE

The initial responses to exercise are:

The heart rate increases.
Anticipatory heart rise occurs.
Increase in carbon dioxide in the body.
Increase of lactic acid in the body.
Body temperature increases.
Stroke volume increases.

2. EXPLAIN THESE CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES, SUGGESTING WHY THEY OCCUR

The cardiovascular system increases the rate of the heart to provide the muscles adequate amounts of nutrients and oxygen, as without these two components they could not function, the heart rate is the amount of time the heart beats or contracts to produce blood flow.

Also the increased heart rate increases the removal of waste products because the blood pressure has been increased; the blood pressure is the speed of which blood is passing through vessels.

Before any activity your anticipatory rise increases because when your brain thinks about exercising it stimulates the sympathetic nervous system which releases adrenalin, average persons anticipatory heart rate would be 10-15 more heart beats than their resting heart rate.

The increase of carbon dioxide and lactic acid is because as we inhale more oxygen we are also producing more carbon dioxide therefore there will be more carbon dioxide levels in our blood stream.

The increase of lactic acid is because during the first 10 seconds of an activity our bodies cannot adapt quickly enough to use oxygen to provide enough energy; therefore our bloodstream provides lactic acid into the muscles however this can cause serious fatigue.

The increase of carbon dioxide and lactic acid is detected by cells called chemoreceptor’s these detect changes in chemical environment, therefore this can inform the brain so it can transfer a message to the body to adapt accordingly.

When chemoreceptor’s are active this can stimulate the sympathetic nervous system this increases the adrenalin this then increases the heart rate. Normally an athlete’s heart rate can increase up to three times within a minute of starting exercise.

Bodily temperature increases because as the blood pressure increases this enables the muscles to contract more creating more heat, and because of this bodily temperature increase it increases the speed of the conduction of nerve impulses across the heart.

Stroke volume is the outcome from Cardiac outcome, a stroke volume can be around 70-90 millilitres, however it can depend on how fit you are, the fitter you are the larger stroke volume you have, generally males have a larger stroke volume than females as their hearts are naturally stronger and muscular.

3. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, RESEARCH, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE INITIAL CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES TO EXERCISE

Everyone’s cardio vascular response to exercise is very different for an example if you analyse a top athlete’s initial response to exercise you would find it would differ to someone who is obese. This is because an athletes heart rate initially in the first minute of exercise increase by double their resting heart rate, this is because it is used to being training and is preparing the body for exercise. However for an obese person their initial responses to exercise would be their body temperature would increase massively this is due to their body fat trapping the heat within their muscles therefore their muscles require more energy to function correctly as they are having to contract under much more heat. An obese person’s stroke volume would be very little, therefore their heart is unable to supply their body quick enough with oxygen resulting in quicker fatigue.

We had a small group carry out an aerobic exercise whereby they had to run on a treadmill for 1 minute, 2 minutes and 3 minutes with a 30 second interval between each run we used these results to view a persons heart rate and blood pressure after the exercise and we had found for every person their heart rate increased by approximately ½ at least, this displays an instant response to exercise because from viewing the aerobic response graph you can clearly see that the heart rate increased rapidly at the second minute, this is because all of the components in cardio vascular system are preparing themselves for an intense work out therefore they have to supply the body quickly.

4. DESCRIBE THE INITIAL RESPIRATORY RESPONSES TO EXERCISE

The initial responses to Respiratory are:

Pulmonary ventilation per a minute would increase; this is the amount of air we breathe in and out per minute.
Tidal volume increases, this is the volume or amount of air breathed in and out during one breath
Intercostal muscle contractions increase.

5. EXPLAIN THESE RESPIRATORY RESPONSES, SUGGESTING WHY THEY OCCUR.

When we begin exercise our pulmonary ventilation per a minute increases due to the frequency of breaths per a minute is increased and also the tidal volume increases, this then requires the body’s pulmonary ventilation to increase, because as our muscles require more and more oxygen the need to breathe it in and out is essential.

Due to the tidal volume increase this would increase the amount of air we need to breathe out; this is the body’s response at first to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide within the body. To calculate Pulmonary Ventilation the equation is:

VE = Frequency x Tidal Volume

At rest it is estimated that the frequency of the breathing rate is around 12 breaths per a minute and the average tidal volume is 0.5l however this does heavily depend on age, gender and size of the person.

So to calculate the pulmonary ventilation it would look like so:

VE = 12 X 0.5

= 6 litres

As exercise is begun the body requires more oxygen to be entering the body for it to be used in the aid of producing energy, at the start of exercise this increased oxygen demand occurs by breathing at an increased rate and inhaling more air and exhaling more air during each breath.

When breathing we require our intercostal muscles to contract, they are located between the ribs, they assist within inhaling and exhaling this is because they assist within the expansion of the ribs to allow the lungs to either become larger to allow more air in or either becomes smaller to ensure the largest amount of air is exhaled. During the initial stages of exercise the intercostal muscles contraction rate would automatically increase vigorously, this is because the muscles have to react quick enough to the demand of the lungs are forcing upon them to expand and deflate the ribs structure.

6. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE INITIAL RESPIRATORY RESPONSES TO EXERCISE.

For this topic a group of candidates carried out an experiment using a vital capacity bag to calculate the amount of breaths an individual carried out in a minute at rest, and then during activity and then after activity and the table looked like so:

From looking at this table it is evident that the breathing rate increased rapidly during exercise, by 37 breaths however after activity the breathing rate decreased down to 28 breaths, this is displaying that the body is not requiring as much oxygen, and this is also an indication that this client had high fitness levels, because their body only required 28 breaths and the air they were inhaling was enough to recover from the exercise.

From looking at the tidal volume, this also increased as expected by 0.48 L this is an indication that the athlete required large amounts of oxygen per each breath, this also explains why the breath rate was particularly low, because the amount of air being inhaled and exhaled was 0.92l, therefore the body’s initial response after the exercise was to inhale as much air as possible to reduce the breathing rate, because then this way the more air going into the body the more air there is that can be utilised.

7. DESCRIBE THE INITIAL NEUROMUSCULAR RESPONSES TO EXERCISE

The initial neuromuscular responses to exercise are:

Nerve impulses from the brain and muscles increase.
Muscle contractions increase
Action potential increases
Increase in Acetylcholine diffusion.
Increase in the excitatory post-synaptic action potential.
An increase in the enzyme cholinesterase occurs.

8. EXPLAIN THESE NEUROMUSCULAR RESPONSES. ALSO SUGGEST WHY THEY OCCUR

When our bodies require us to produce movement our brains have to provide our muscles with the signals to carry out the movement, this type of communication between the brain and the muscle is known as nerve impulses, these nerve pulses are electrical currents that travel from the central nervous system also known as the CNS through nerves and then to the desired muscle tissues, which the final result produces movement. Therefore initially when we begin exercise there are more muscles involved which require nerve impulses from the brain to create the movement, and these have to be sent within split seconds, this is why the nerve impulses coming from the brain increase, because not only do they have to send the normal resting nerve impulses but they also have to send nerve impulses to the desired organs or parts of the body which now have had an increase demand of contractions. For example the hearts contractions initially in exercise increase by up to 10-20 beats per a minute therefore to carry out this increased heart contractions more nerve impulses are needed to be sent.

Also when these increased signals are sent, initially any muscular contractions would also be on the incline because at rest or relaxation all muscles still need to contract otherwise the body would just collapse or “flop”, therefore slight signals are sent to these muscles to remained contracted, however as soon as exercise begins the brain sends increased amount of nerve impulses to contract the muscles at a quicker rate, this is why it is said that weight resistant training can be more beneficial to loose weight, because as the muscle contractions are quicker they require more and more energy.

The signal sent from the CNS to the muscles is what’s called an “Action Potential”, as the signal is sent to the motor neurones the motor neurones signal a contraction to the muscle fibres. The Action Potential increases because the signals sent from the brain to the CNS are an increased amount of signals therefore the CNS has to provide more Action Potentials to assure that the motor neurones signal quickly enough to the muscle fibres to produce the desired movements.

Acetylcholine diffusion occurs across the gap between the nerve and the muscle, this produces an electrical signal which is known as the Excitatory post-synaptic action potential, as initial exercise begins the diffusion of Acetylcholine is going to increase because as the muscle requires to contract more to produce more movement this requires more electrical signals to be sent to the muscles to produce this contraction, therefore Acetylcholine needs to diffuse more quickly to ensure that the Excitatory post-synaptic action potential occurs, otherwise if this signal is not big enough the muscle tissues will fail to contract sufficiently.

In result of the increased Acetylcholine production, there is an enzyme known as Cholinesterase, this type of enzyme has the characteristics to break down the Acetylcholine, this is essential that Acetylcholine is broken down because it allows the muscle to be ready to receive the next signal. Therefore in the first stages of exercise because there are increased amounts of signals to produce rapid muscle contractions there is increased amounts of Acetylcholine production therefore the enzyme Cholinesterase has to be increased in order to break down the Acetylcholine quick enough to be ready to produce the next muscle signal.

9. USING GRAPHS, TABLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE NEUROMUSCULAR RESPONSES TO EXERCISE

From reviewing these diagrams, like most parts of our parts, neurones contain cells and these cells have different parts to them. The nucleus part of the neurone takes on any genetic information to signal how the cell should function, so if an athlete was about to carry out a bicep curl the brain would send signals of a muscle contract, the nucleus would then digest this information and inform the rest of the cell how to react to carry out the contraction. The mitochondria part of the cell allows the transformation of oxygen, glucose or sugars into energy, which is especially important when carrying out exercise because initially when you begin exercise all muscle contractions are increased exceptionally, therefore the neurones have to have the energy to produce the demand of contractions. The nucleus is also surrounded by an outer membrane this membrane acts as a filter to allow substances to flow either in and out of the neurone this allows the neurone to communicate with surrounding neurones, so during a contraction as enzymes are released to assist in contraction this substances may enter each individuals neurone nucleus therefore alerting it to contract quicker.

The axon part of the neurone extend from the cell body, they allow information to be carried away from the cell body towards other neurones, so during a muscle contraction the muscle maybe receiving the message from a neurone several feet away, this is why they can vary greatly within size. Axons have a myelin sheath; this myelin is a fatty substance which insulates the axon which speeds the process of communication much quicker because the electrical signal can be carried quicker. This is why athletes must never completely get rid of any fat consumption because they require the fatty substances to increase the rate of communication between their axons.

Towards the end of Axon’s are synaptic end bulbs these consist of vesicles which store neurotransmitters, special chemicals that are released during communication between neurones, so during a muscle contraction Synaptic end bulb would release the Acetylcholine which assists within the transmitting of the signal, and the Bulb would also produce the enzyme Cholinesterase which breaks down the Acetylcholine, so during contraction the Synaptic end Bulbs release of chemicals would be on an increase due to the demand of chemicals required during a muscle contraction.

The Dendrites part of the neurone bring messages from other neurones into the cell body by releasing chemicals known as neurotransmitters from the Synaptic end bulb, special receptors are located on the end of the Dendrites and are designed to receive certain neurotransmitters, and if enough of these are received the message is cent to the cell body of the neurone. Due to this process much smaller contractions which require high amounts of skill are much harder to master this is because they require little messages sent rather than say if you wanted to contract the quadriceps there are many more dendrites which can locate large amounts of neurotransmitters.

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The way neurones communicate, for an example say an athlete was trying to lift a weight to carry out a bicep curl, a sensory receptor would detect the force being applied along with the signal from the brain to signal that a force is being applied and it needs to be lifted, this is why the mechanical force of the athlete trying to lift the weight needs to be converted into an electrical force which the neurones can translate, this Action Potential is carried along the axon of the sensory receptor neurone towards a neuron within your spinal chord. The ...

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10. DESCRIBE AND/OR EXPLAIN THE ROLE AND STRUCTURE OF ATP

Adenosine Triphosphate is used to create contractions within our muscles, otherwise without these contractions exercise could not be carried out. The ATP s a protein called the Adenosine with three hence the tri, Phosphates attached to Adenosine. ATP is a source of energy which can be used for muscle contractions, it will assist in the nerve impulses, Active transport and building molecules and tissues, this is why the ATP is stored in Myosin heads so they can be released to sites where they are demanded.

The ATP molecule also has a sugar molecule at the end of it known as Ribose this is primarily to provide extra energy for the molecule instantly. For the ATP to release energy chemical bonds need to be broken off between the phosphates to create the molecule Adenosine diphosphate (di meaning two) by the breakage of the phosphate energy is released which can be used to contract the muscles.

ATP is not largely stored in skeletal muscles this is because it is such a large molecule, therefore energy that is needed continuously such as running ADP has to be quickly resynthesised, so that the bonds can be broken again, because always in the initial stages of exercise our muscles will want ATP to be supplied as it is the quickest source of energy, however during a long endurance walk, the ATP production is needed less therefore the body would use a different energy system.

11. DESCRIBE AND/OR EXPLAIN THE EQUATION: ATP → ADP + ENERGY

This equation effectively means that Adenosine Triphosphate changes their molecule structure by breaking the bonds between the phosphate molecules which are held together by oxygen’s, and with the breaking of those bonds creates a mass amount of energy, the phosphate being released can now create what is the result of the reaction from breaking the bond known as the ADP molecule which now only has two phosphates. The reason for the breaking of the bond causing so much energy is because the oxygen’s holding the phosphorus’s bonds are all negatively charged, and the electrons desire to be with the protons, the negative charges repel each other so therefore these confined negatively charges want to escape therefore the potential energy is very high, this is why ATP is such a strong energy source. So by removing just one of these phosphorus groups the molecule becomes much happier, and when the bond is cut the energy sufficient able to be released can be up to 7000 calories per molecule, equivalent to the energy in a peanut.

12. DESCRIBE AND/OR EXPLAIN THE ATP-CP SYSTEM

The ATP-CP is also known as the Creatine Phosphate system, this system produces ATP when oxygen is not available, and therefore this system is the anaerobic system. The Phosphocreatine consists of phosphate and a Creatine molecule, which is made when the enzyme Creatine Kinase catalyses the Creatine to Phosphocreatine by consuming adenosine Triphosphate and generating adenosine diphosphate. As the bond between the phosphate and Creatine is broken energy is rapidly released this energy is then used to recreate the bond between ADP and phosphate. The PC stores are only ever used when rapid high intensity exercise is carried out such as sprinting or jumping however the stores can only last for duration of about 10 seconds. The CP stores are located within the Sarcoplasm of the muscle.

13. DESCRIBE AND/OR EXPLAIN THE LACTIC ACID SYSTEM

After our PC stores have been depleted the Lactic Acid system is then used to supply energy, it resynthesises ATP from the breakdown of glucose, this glucose is stored within the muscles and liver as the substance Glycogen, however before this glycogen can used to assist in providing energy to provide ATP, it must be converted back to glucose, this is known as the Glycolysis, this is why the Lactic system is known as the Anaerobic Glycolysis because of the absence of oxygen.

Throughout a series of reactions the glucose molecule can be broken down into two individual molecules, known as Pyruvic acid, which is quickly gets converted to Lactic acid because there is no oxygen to support the molecule.

The dominant enzyme responsible to create the anaerobic breakdown of the glucose is the PFK known as Phosphofructikinase which can be activated by reduced levels of Phosphocreatine and high levels of calcium, then the energy released from the breakdown of each molecule of glucose is used to create two separate molecules of ATP.

Phosphofructikinase Glucose

GLYCOLYSIS

Glucose

Energy 2 ATP

Pyruvic Acid No Oxygen Lactic
Acid

This system however can only provide energy for high intensity activities lasting up to 3 minutes; however it does peak at 1 minute, so say for example the 400 meter race.

14. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE INITIAL ENERGY SYSTEM RESPONSES TO EXERCISE

The best practical experience to compare the energy systems to is Circuit training, this is because each activity uses each energy system at some point of the session, and this is because there are short intervals where the ATP system can resynthesise, therefore each activity depends on the duration and intensity.

A group of students carried out a circuit containing Skipping, Press Ups, Interval Sprints, Basketball Free throws and stomach crunches, each lasting 1 minute with a 1 minute interval between each activity, reviewing this circuit you can analyse each activity to calculate which energy system would be predominant.

From reviewing the graph above it is evident that throughout exercise the energy systems overlap, so for example with the skipping in the circuit at initially you will not be using any oxygen as a form of energy because there is enough ATP stores to supply the demand quickly enough, however as the demand for energy increases because the skipping becomes more intense the lactic acid system would predominantly take over this is because eventually the PC stores will deplete and the exercise is to intense to rely on oxygen as a predominant energy source therefore the exercise become anaerobic and therefore the lactic acid can produce ATP very quickly because there are no oxygen present. Throughout the first 30-40 seconds of the skipping the energy system predominant would be the lactic acid system, however towards the end of this activity as oxygen is increasing within the body because gradually the individual would slow down due to fatigue, therefore the body has chance to obtain enough oxygen, as you can see on the graph at about one minute the aerobic energy system would just begin to take over.

After the skipping during the 1 minute interval the body would resynthesise any ATP stores, and also due to the heavily relied on lactic acid energy system the heart would increasingly be pumping to reduce the levels of lactic acid within the muscles.

This response would be the same for each activity due to the length of time the activity lasts for, even with the basketball free throws even though there is a slight rest period between each throw, the ATP here has more chance to recycle, therefore the Lactic Acid system may not be in such heavy use due to the short period it takes to throw the basketball, and the length of time between each throw.

THE RESPONSES OF THE BODY TO STEADY- STATE EXERCISE

15. DESCRIBE WHAT THE TERM ‘STEADY-STATE EXERCISE’ MEANS

Scientist have discovered that after a long period of exercising say for up to 20 minutes of continuous exercise or body reaches a point whereby the amount of lactic acid being removed is occurring at the same rate as lactic acid production, for an example you could be continuously jogging for 20 minutes on a treadmill on level 10, at around 15-15 minutes different areas of your body will ‘level off’

Cardio vascular:

Heart rate plateaux
Increase in stroke volume
Blood pressure levels off
Body temperature regulates.

Respiratory

Tidal volume levels off
Breathing rate levels off
Oxygen diffusion occurs more readily.

Neuromuscular

Increased pliability of muscles
Increased speed of neural transmissions.

Energy

Aerobic ATP production.

16. DESCRIBE THE CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES TO STEADY-STATE EXERCISE

The following responses occur to steady-state exercise:

Heart rate plateaux’s
Venous return increase this is the amount of blood going back to the heart after being transported around the body.
Stretched cardiac muscle
Increased volume of blood within the heart.
Constriction increases, this is where certain blood vessels decrease in size to prevent unwanted large amounts of blood flow, so more can be supplied to the harder working muscles in use.
Dilation increases this is where the blood vessels increase within size to cope with the high volume of blood flowing through them.
Increased blood pressure

17. EXPLAIN STARLING’S LAW

Starling came up with the theory that, if there is an increase of blood flow through the heart, then there must be a greater amount of blood within the heart therefore given that the heart is a muscle, with this increased amount of blood within the walls of the cardiac muscle the blood is causing the heart walls to stretch to cope with the demand of the new volume of blood within the heart.

He then discovered that if this is true than the larger the cardiac walls, the more blood they can hold, the greater contraction rate and resulting in more blood being pumped out of the heart into the body.

18. EXPLAIN THESE CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES, SUGGESTING WHY THEY OCCUR

After about three minutes of exercise the heart rates response would gradually begin to steady out, it’s what’s called a Plateaux. Initially when you begin exercise the heart rate increases rapidly to almost in a way get ahead of it’s self by creating more blood circulating around the body, because it has to change it’s amount of heart beats rapidly after being at rest, so as the exercise continues the intensity doesn’t decrease it’s just that the heart is able to cope with the demand of blood needed to be supplied around the body much more efficiently because it adapts it’s heart beats. So it is very similar when the heart is at rest, the heart beat is at a steady pace because it recognises that there is a consistency within the rest, and it works the same when exercising at the same intensity for a long period at a time, the heart balances enough heart beats to supply the demand of oxygen and sources needed to be carried around the body, this is why interval training feels so intense because your heart does not manage to plateaux, and therefore the cycle may not be balanced as there may be more deoxygenated blood within the body as there is oxygenated.

The venous return during stead state exercise is increased because the heart recognises that there is an increased demand for oxygen for a long period of time, so to cope with this it pumps more blood out than possibly needed so that when it is returned there is a high amount of blood to load off oxygen to therefore it results in a higher amount of oxygenated blood. This is also why this increased volume of blood has the effect upon the hearts muscular walls. It is commonly known that when there is more blood within the muscles they become more flexible, this is similar to the heart, because the Venous return has been increased the heart walls have to in fact stretch more to enable the increased amount of blood to fit within the walls of the heart, this is why there is also a larger volume of blood within the heart, because as more is required to become oxygenated more is also sent back which is deoxygenated.

On average the cardiac output supplies approximately 5 litres of blood per minute however during exercise there are certain organ and working muscles which receive more blood than others to supply them with the high demands of energy, so therefore during steady-state exercise the body is having to redirect blood flow by increasing the amount of constriction the blood vessels carry out which are leading to organs which do not need such a large blood flow. This would also explain why dilation of blood vessels would increase because they need to increase within size to supply the muscles with the increased volumes of blood supply.

So that blood pressure is not increased Dilation of the blood vessel help to assist within feeding the working muscles that help reduce blood pressure however this is all in vein because the cardiac output has been increased to cope with the demand of blood therefore blood pressure increases anyway.

19. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES TO STEADY-STATE EXERCISE

This graph shows two students who carried out 20 minutes of exercise one carried out rowing whilst the other carried out a 20 minute jog on a treadmill on level 8.

From reviewing the graph it is evident to see with both students that within the first 3 minutes their heart rates increased rapidly and then after the 3 minutes the heart rate begins to plateaux, however with each client there initial heart rate increases rapidly this is where the heart would be pumping excessively to increase the Venous Return, however it then slightly plateaux’s then slightly increases again where it would plateaux for the duration of the exercise.

When we compare the data we collected for the cardiovascular response to steady state exercise, against the graph which suggests how the heart reacts after steady state exercise, they barely differ.

However even though our results prove that steady state exercise causes the heart rate to level off we did not use the same type of exercise, this was because we wanted to review two types of different activity to review whether the heart just levels off with jogging, or whether it levels off for other strenuous types of exercise. Also if you review the results the males heart beats are slightly lower than the females, this suggests that naturally a males heart walls are stronger than females, because initially the male’s did not have to pump very much to cope with the demand of the exercise, however this may be also because he was not working at the same intensity as the female.

20. DESCRIBE THE RESPIRATORY RESPONSES TO STEADY-STATE EXERCISE.

During exercise if the intensity remains consistent throughout the length of time the:

Tidal volume Levels off
Breathing rate level off

These all remain constant until exercise has stopped for a period of time.

21. EXPLAIN THESE RESPIRATORY RESPONSES, SUGGESTING WHY THEY OCCUR.

After the first few minutes of the same intensifying exercise your tidal volume will gradually begin to level off, this is when the individual is breathing in and breathing out the same volumes of air for the duration of the exercise, initially when exercise begins the tidal volume excessively increases this is because the bodies muscles that are being required to work initially only have enough oxygen for “Rest mode”, however when the body begins to carry out exercise for long periods of time at the same intensity the tidal volume levels off at the increased rate. This is because the intensity has remained the same, therefore the lungs can adapt to the tidal volume coming in and out of the lungs.

Initially the body’s tidal volume would have had to increased rapidly to compensate for the lack of oxygen going to the exercising muscles, however once lungs are able to increase the pressure of oxygen that is coming in and out of the lungs, the diffusion of oxygen to the exercising muscles can be achieved much more efficiently.

Within the blood’s plasma there is only 1.5% of oxygen being carried, however within the blood there is haemoglobin which can react with oxygen to create oxyhaemoglobin, this is only a temporary status as this allows the oxygen to be transferred into working muscles.

As the tidal levels plateaux also does the breathing rate, even though the breathing rate has increased more than when it is at rest it begins to become more consistent at a higher level due to inside the lungs the air becomes much less therefore the pressure increases to enable more air to be taken from the outside to enable it to be breathed in, and because it is essential that the lungs diffuse as much carbon dioxide as possible to reduce fatigue the pressure increases within the lungs to diffuse the carbon dioxide out of the body, this is why the breathing levels plateaux because there is a larger amount of air going in and out of the lungs therefore the breathing rate can remain consistent.

22. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE RESPIRATORY RESPONSES TO STEADY-STATE EXERCISE.

When the tidal and breathing rates plateaux, this effectively cannot happen until the diffusion rate of oxygen increases and plateaux’s. The graph below is what is known as a Dissociation curve, this curve forms an S-shape curve displaying the distribution of which haemoglobin transports oxygen to the tissues which have variations of oxygen levels.

Initially when you review the graph, at the beginning a steep rise of haemoglobin appears because it has a high attraction for oxygen therefore when the oxygen pressure has been increased haemoglobin is able to bond with oxygen much more efficiently, this then allows the blood within the lungs to become immersed in oxygen. Therefore due to small decreases in pressure of oxygen this causes a large decrease in the percentage saturation of haemoglobin, so when steady state exercise begins, the muscles in use the oxygen pressure is low therefore the haemoglobin efficiently releases the oxygen so it can be used by the exercising tissues.

As exercise continues the volumes of carbon dioxide and hydrogen ion change rapidly, this has an effect upon the dissociation curve whereby it can increase the oxygen release to the exercising muscles and it can also enhance the oxygen intake within the lungs. This is what’s known as the Bohr Effect, because during exercise there is an increase of carbon dioxide this results in the blood becoming much more acidic. As this carbon dioxide increases this has the effect of reducing the PH level of the blood, and on the Dissociation Curve graph the curve shifts to the right, this produces a higher release of oxygen to the tissues, this is evident when looking at the graph below:

Within the lungs the pressure of carbon dioxide is decreased and so also is the hydrogen ion concentration, and as you can see on the graph this causes the curve to shift to the left allowing a much more efficient oxygen uptake within the lungs.

When looking at the graph above it also mentions temperature has an effect upon the curve because as muscles continue to work for long periods of time there temperature increases this effects the curve by shifting it the right and which causes oxygen to be released to the tissues more readily, and in reverse when the muscles cool down this causes the curve to shift to the left which allows the lungs to increase their uptake in oxygen.

23. DESCRIBE THE NEUROMUSCULAR RESPONSES TO STEADY- STATE EXERCISE

When exercising if the muscles carry out the same exercise at the same intensity for a long period of time the following happens:

the muscles elasticity increases
Nervous impulses increase
Muscular heat increases

24. EXPLAIN THESE NEUROMUSCULAR RESPONSES, SUGGESTING HOW THEY BENEFIT AN ATHLETE

After three minutes of exercise our muscular system begins to produce high amounts of heat, this is due to the continuous high blood pressure flowing through them, as the muscle tissue generates more heat this allows the muscle the ability to stretch more efficiently, in exercise science this is known as becoming more Pliable.

This essentially means that because the muscles elasticity is increased its ability to stretch further without tearing is also increased, for an example initially when you take blue-tak it is cold and when you stretch it the elasticity is stiff and brittle and breaks quickly, eventually when the blue-tak is handled with frequently it begins to generate more heat with the friction, therefore when stretched its elasticity will increase and it would be much more durable.

As the muscles blood pressure is increasing this causes rapid heat due to the speed at which the blood is flowing through, this increase in heat has a knock on effect to the nervous impulses that are being sent and received by the muscles. Heat generates more speed within the nervous impulses thus increases the signal speed this is because the heat generates more energy for the ions and increases there rate at which the receive signal therefore the overall affect is that the speed of transmissions are increased.

25. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES, RESEARCH AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE NEUROMUSCULAR RESPONSES TO STEADY-STATE EXERCISE

Throughout the neuromuscular system the nerves connect with muscles during the neuromuscular junction, it is here where the ends of the nerves fiber connect to specific areas of the muscles membrane known as Motor end plates. Within these plates they consist of receptors which allow the muscle to respond to Acetylcholine this is the neurotransmitter. When the nerve stimulates the muscle at this junction an electrical pulse is transmitted which results in the muscle contracting. To allow an individual t carry out effective steady state exercise these junctions have to be efficiently working, however there are disorders which causes the neuromuscular system to malfunction these are a list of them:

Myasthenia Gravis
Botulism
Eaton Lambert syndrome
High doses of some antibiotics
Specific insecticides
Curare (an extract from plants formerly placed on the tip of some poison darts and used to paralyze and kill)
Nerve gases used in chemical warfare

All of these affect the neuromuscular system by causing a breakdown of acetylcholine after the nerve impulse has been transmitted to the muscle. If an individual suffered from any of these disorders, carrying out any form of steady state exercise would be physically impossible, this is because the Acetylcholine diffuses across the gap between the nerve and the synaptic cleft (muscle), the Acetylcholine has the ability to produce electrical signals known as the Excitatory post-synaptic action potential. So if the Acetylcholine is being broken down by other substances, the pre-synaptic membrane is unable to produce the electrical signal to produce contraction, throughout steady state exercise if the Acetylcholine diffusion is not happening effectively then contractions become extremely weak therefore resulting in fatal injuries, and any individuals suffering from these type of illnesses are very unlikely able to carry out any form of strenuous exercise that involves high rate of Acetylcholine diffusion.

26. DESCRIBE/ EXPLAIN THE AEROBIC ENERGY SYSTEM (INCLUDE THE 3 STAGES)

The Aerobic system is the energy system most commonly known for producing energy, it produces ATP at a much lower rate than ATP-CP or lactic systems, however it is the predominant energy source throughout exercise, especially during steady-state. Even when our bodies are resting or participating in a low strenuous exercise such as jogging, the Aerobic system is the preferred source, this is because the Aerobic system breaks down glucose and transforms it into carbon dioxide and water and when oxygen is available this source can be much more effective.

When glucose becomes oxidised it can provide up to 38 molecules of ATP, it is the opposite to the Anaerobic system, because during that system glucose is broken down into pyruvate acid because oxygen is not available to oxidise it, however because in the Aerobic system oxygen is the optimum source Pyruvate is not converted in Lactic acid however continues to be broken down through these three stages:

Glycolysis

This is when glucose becomes oxidised by the presence of oxygen avoiding the produce of lactic acid and the Pyruvic acid can now be converted into the compound known as Acetyl CoensymeA or CoA.

Krebs Cycle

Once the Pyruvic acid is able to diffuse through to the mitochondria which results in acetyl CoA, the acetyl coenzyme A merges together with Oxaloacetic acid which produces citric acid, then the final result of these chemical reactions is the production of two ATP molecules, also there are two by-products these are Carbon dioxide which is exhaled and Hydrogen which is then transported to the Electron Transport chain.

Electron Transport Chain

From the Krebs Cycle Hydrogen is created, this then is transported by hydrogen carriers whereby it can enter the Electron Transport chain, this stage occurs in the Cristae of the Mitochondria, in here occurs the division of the hydrogen into hydrogen ions and electrons where they become charged with potential energy, the hydrogen ions are oxidised to generate water whilst the hydrogen electrons produce the energy to resynthesise ATP, within this process 34 ATP molecules are produced.

27. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE ENERGY SYSTEM RESPONSES TO STEADY-STATE EXERCISE

In the initial responses to energy systems I used this following table to portray how the different energy rates would compare initially:

So if the table was to be recalculated for steady-state exercise the only energy system that would be visible on this graph would be the Aerobic system, this is because the energy required through steady state exercise requires oxygen, and this is available during steady state exercise a the intensity remains the same throughout the duration of the exercise, therefore throughout this period there is enough time to continuously resynthesise the ATP to create more ATP.

From reviewing the above table it is evident to see that the Aerobic system produces a larger amount of ATP’s, however this may be due because this energy system has a longer period to resynthesise ATP, it also has the assistance of the Mitochondria. The Aerobic system is the only energy system which uses the Mitochondria as whereas the other two energy systems use the Sarcoplasm, this may be because a large amount of glycogen is stored within the Sarcoplasm therefore this can assist within the resynthesisation of ATP.

The aerobic system must use the Mitochondria because it has a large surface area whereby the energy production can take place, because within the Mitochondria’s are Cristae which are little folds within the Mitochondria. The Mitochondria are what’s known as the “Power Engine” for the energy system this is because they are the only cells that can convert organic materials into energy, this predominantly why they are used for the Aerobic system, because within the table is states that it uses Fats, Proteins and Carbohydrates to assist in resynthesising ATP.

FATIGUE AND RECOVERY FROM EXERCISE

28. DESCRIBE THE PHYSIOLOGY OF FATIGUE.

The downfall of exercise is that we cannot continue indefinitely this is because eventually fatigue will occur, fatigue occurs for a number of reasons, these are:

Diminution of energy sources such as Phosphocreatine, glucose and glycogen.
Waste products begin to tire muscles and cause soreness, such as lactic acid pooling in our muscles and not quick enough diffusion of carbon dioxide within the lungs, causing more deoxygenated blood.
Neuromuscular depletion such as acetylcholine levels drop and calcium ion release decrease.

29. EXPLAIN FATIGUE, USING PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.

When we put through our bodies through exercise it requires sources within our body to assist in producing ATP, these sources include Phosphocreatine, glucose and glycogen. As discovered in the energy systems we only have enough Phosphocreatine to last for a maximum of 10 seconds during exercise, the energy systems then use glucose for the energy production, approximately our bloodstream carries around 15-20g, there is approximately 345g of glycogen stored within our muscles and 90-110g of glycogen stored within the liver, the livers source of glycogen is only ever used when our bodies blood sugar levels are low, the liver has the ability to convert glycogen into glucose and even the skeletal muscles’ store of glycogen. It is estimated that our bodies glycogen stores could last during exercise for up to 2 hours, from then onwards our body adapts by having to exercise at a lower intensity, it is at this stage our bodies have then become fatigued.

When the body is at its fatigued stage the reduced energy levels restrict the energy that the bodies muscles can use therefore the ability to produce contractions would recline. However it is not predominantly the energy systems responsibility for making an individual feeling fatigued this is because there are other factors that can speed up the process of fatigue such as the alteration of homeostasis by environmental stress, or even the failure of the muscle fibers contraction mechanics.

Individuals participating in long distant runs are always advised to “pace themselves”, this essentially means ensure that you don’t get fatigued in the early stages of the race, however the science behind it is that the athlete has to control their rate of exertion so that their PC and ATP stores are not exhausted too quickly, because as Phosphocreatine is becoming depleted within the first stages of the race , your body’s capability to efficiently replace the used ATP is negatively effected whereby the ATP-PC system becomes less efficient in replacing the depleted ATP levels, resulting in exhaustion and fatigue.

The confusion for many people is that it is suggested that lactic acid is the predominant cause of fatigue, however this is slightly inaccurate because lactic acid is accumulated during short high intense activities and at times this lactic acid remains within the muscles, with the lactic acid remaining there it separates and resulting in creating lactate this attracts high amount of hydrogen ions, this high increase of Hydrogen’s causes the muscles to acidification and then this is what causes the condition acidosis which is where there is an negative increase in acidity, and this acidity increase causes impairments to the muscles contractions which lead to fatigue.

30. DESCRIBE HOW THE BODY RECOVERS FROM EXERCISE

After any individual exercises their body has to recover and return to what’s known as the pre-exercise state, when the body undergoes an oxygen debt or “Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption”, this occurs when there have been parts of the exercise which do not use oxygen as their primary source of energy, and this would be using the anaerobic system therefore this increases the rate of lactic acid production, even after the individual stops exercising their bodies breathing rate remains constant so that extra oxygen inhaled can:

Deteriorate the lactic acid to convert it into carbon dioxide and water.
Resynthesise the ATP, glycogen and Phosphocreatine stores.
Replenish any oxygen that was depleted from haemoglobin or myoglobin.

Also after exercise 5 stages must occur before the muscle is entirely recovered these are:

ATP must be resynthesised
PC stores must be replaced
Lactic acid must be flushed out of the system
Increased oxygen diffusion replaces the myoglobin depletion.
Glycogen levels must be replenished.

The duration of replacing ATP and PC stores can take up to 3 minutes whilst the removal of the lactic acid takes 20 minutes however this is after exercise has stopped.

The replacement of myoglobin and restoring the glycogen stores take the longest of 24-48 hours however this is depending on the intensity of the exercise, if the intensity was high then it can take even longer, this whole replenishment stage is all dependant on how the individual is, naturally athletes are much fitter therefore their recovery rate can be a lot quicker, and their oxygen debts can sooner be repaid and exercise can become more persistent.

31. EXPLAIN HOW THE BODY RECOVERS FROM EXERCISE, USING GRAPHS, TABLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.

The oxygen debt contains two components these are:

Alactacid debt

This is the recovery process which does not consist of lactic acid, this is why the aerobic system is used to produce the ATP this way it can replenish PC stores also recovering ATP depletion. Within exercise 50% of the recovery occurs during the first 30seconds, whilst the rest of the recovery takes up to about 3 minutes.

The oxygen debt within the Alactacid debt consists of 2-3.5 litres of oxygen debt, however this can decrease due to training intensely because training can increase the contents of PC being stored within the muscles, high intensity training also decreases the recovery time due to the efficient oxygen delivery along with increased capillarisation and an effective cardio-respiratory system, this allows the production of ATP to increase from the aerobic system.

Lactacid Debt

This is the second component of the oxygen debt after exercise, this system takes much longer than the Alactacid debt and depending on the individuals fitness levels it can either take minutes or even hours, the intensity of the exercise will also depend how long the Lactacid debt takes.

Within this debt oxygen is needed to break down lactic acid within the body which occurs when anaerobic Glycolysis is converting to pyruvate, this Pyruvate can then be transported into the aerobic energy system and eventually converted into carbon dioxide and/or water.

Lactic Acid + Oxygen = Pyruvate

The liver can also be an assistant with the removal of lactic acid by converting it into Glycogen and then storing it within the skeletal muscles or the Liver itself, however it is always advised after exercise to “Actively recover” this meaning reducing the intensity of the exercise by either walking or jogging gently.

Active recovery allows the heart rate to remain constant as it was during exercise this way oxygen levels increase within the body and this can mean more reaches to all of the working muscles, this helps with reducing the levels of lactic acid within the muscles.

This is why a cool-down is essential after exercise to ensure that recovery is effective and this can allow the athlete to training more frequently, however if a cool-down is not carried out lactic acid levels will remain high and this high acidity levels within the muscles affects the pain receptors and can contribute to increased muscle soreness which is frequently felt after intense exercise, this is known as DOMS or “Delayed onset of muscle soreness”, it causes huge pain after 36-48 hours after exercised has stopped.

Also after intense exercise the glycogen stores must also be recovered this can be achieved by consuming high amounts of carbohydrates and rest periods with no exercise.

To trial out a recovery test a group of individuals carried out a set of one minute press-ups, this was a moderately intense exercise and we recorded their heart rate for 2 minutes before the exercise and then 5 minutes after the exercise, we could then review the stages of their recovery process, this is the graph of an individuals results:

From reviewing this graph it is evident that this individual has a high fitness level this is because their resting heart rate was way below the average of 72 bpm, this also suggests why the heart rate increased rapidly, this graph also suggests that the individual did not take on much oxygen during the exercise this is because within the first minute the heart rate only decreased by 5 bpm this is suggesting that the individual went through the lactic acid debt recovery because after 5 minutes the heart rate still has not recovered.

ADAPTATIONS OF THE BODY TO LONG-TERM AND CHRONIC EXERCISE

32. DESCRIBE WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM ‘LONG TERM EXERCISE’.

Long-term exercise or commonly known as Chronic exercise, occurs when the individual has been participating in consistent exercise for a long period of time, and this is usually a minimum of eight weeks, this consistent exercising affects the body’s:

cardio vascular system
respiratory system
neuromuscular system
energy system

The affects are predominantly positive whereby the person is able to cope with the stresses of exercise much more efficiently, this meaning they can gradually training at higher intensities or for a longer duration, this is commonly known as adaptations.

33. DESCRIBE THE CARDIOVASCULAR ADAPTATIONS TO LONG-TERM EXERCISE

The cardiovascular system adapts to long-term exercise by increasing the efficiency of the oxygen delivery service this is done by:

cardiac hypertrophy
overall increased stroke volume
Bradycardia
Cardiac output increases
Increased capillarisation

34. EXPLAIN THESE CARDIOVASCULAR ADAPTATIONS, SUGGESTING WHY THEY OCCUR AND HOW THEY BENEFIT THE ATHLETE.

When an individual remains physically active consistently for up to 6 weeks the cardiovascular system undergoes changes to adapt to the sheer stress of the exercise puts on the cardio system, the largest adaptation the cardiovascular system makes is the “cardiac hypertrophy” this is where the hearts walls especially the left ventricle’s become much thicker than someone who does not persistently carry out exercise, the heart is a muscle which works similar to the skeletal muscles, the more use it get the larger and much more toned it becomes.

This is what causes the stroke volume to increase because as the heart wall increase in thickness this also increases its strength to pump more blood out per heartbeat, this is why Bradycardia decreases because as there is now more blood going out per heartbeat there is no need for the heart to be beating as frequently therefore the heart beats decrease.

An average person’s heart tends to be between 70-75 beats per minute, however top enduring athletes have a much lower resting heart rate for an example Miguel Indurain is a Tour De France cyclist and had a resting heart rate of 30bpm, so this proves that the more endurance exercises carried out the more efficient the heart becomes, however the resting values of cardiac output do not alter.

As an individual carries out more endurance based activities their capillaries go through a process known as capillarisation this is where the capillary rates increase, this allows oxygen to become more efficiently transported around the body to ensure all of the working muscles obtain enough oxygen to support the activity. Due to the increased capillarisation it causes can increase in haemoglobin as the number of red blood cells have increased this also aids in efficient oxygen transport, as the haemoglobin increases the blood plasma increases even more to compensate for the increased amount of red blood cells, this causes the ratio of red blood cell volume to total blood volume decrease as this can reduce the thickness of the blood and the blood becomes more efficient flowing through veins and capillaries much quicker.

35. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE CARDIOVASCULAR ADAPTATIONS TO CHRONIC EXERCISE.

To review how the cardio vascular system adapts to chronic exercise you need to visualise the results by comparing an athlete’s heart to an average person’s heart:

These two images display the chambers of an athlete’s heart, picture A displays the heart after 8 week of conditioning training, and then picture B displays the heart of an individual who rarely carries out exercise. The walls were measured and the athlete had 13 MM of muscle within the chamber part of their heart, whereas the Individual only had 10 MM of muscle within their heart.

From reviewing the two pictures it is clearly evident that heart A has much thicker walls, however the difference is only 3 MM, which is a very minimal amount however it is not about how many mm’s of heart there is because as the walls increase this naturally supplies much more pressure and power allowing the blood to be pumped around the body at a much higher force.

This diagram displays the left ventricle; a) is the untrained ventricle wall thickness, b) is what happens to the walls of the ventricle when the chambers of the heart increase in wall thickness and then c) is what happens to the ventricles when they are put under 8 weeks of endurance training.

36. DESCRIBE THE RESPIRATORY ADAPTATIONS TO LONG-TERM EXERICSE

The respiratory system adapts to long-term exercise by:

Decreasing resting breathing rate
Increasing lung volume
Increasing vital capacity
Increasing tidal volume
Increasing the strength of respiratory muscles
Increasing capillarisation around the alveoli

37. EXPLAIN THESE RESPIRATORY ADAPTATIONS, SUGGESTING WHY THEY OCCUR AND HOW THEY BENEFIT THE ATHLETE.

The respiratory system adapts to chronic exercise by assuring the removal of waste products within the muscles become more efficient, and assuring the take on of oxygen becomes more effective.

During rest an individual who carries out long-term exercise has a decreased resting respiratory rate this is because the lungs are able to diffuse much more oxygen because endurance training increases the lungs volumes especially the tidal volume, and the lungs are able to take on more air because the intercostal muscles have generated more stronger muscular contractions to allow a much more efficient inhalation and deflation, because if the lungs can expand wider than more oxygen can be taken on.

As more air is being taken on by the lungs, to diffuse all of this air it requires increased amounts of capillarisation surrounding the alveoli, this allows the alveoli to have more capillaries to diffuse the oxygen into meaning there are more capillaries taking on larger amounts of oxygen which can be distributed at a higher rate meaning muscle now respire quicker.

38. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE RESPIRATORY ADAPTATIONS TO CHRONIC EXERCISE

For respiratory long term affects a group of students carried out a test, they asked several other student to run for 12 minutes around an athletics track and measure the amount of laps they carry out, before they carried out their exercise we recorded the individuals breaths per a minute for 2 minutes, then after they had completed the 12 minutes we recorded their breaths every minute for 10 minutes, this gave us a good indication the rate at which the individual was recovering, here is a table for one individuals results:

This individual has a a very low resting respiratory rate because at the beginning because within the first 2 minutes before exercise they were only breathing 7-8 times per a minute, this is extremely low and this definitely suggests that this individuals respiratory system has adapted due to consistent training, this proves that their tidal volume is very high as their lungs are able to obtain enough oxygen through 7-8 breaths at rest.

After the 12 minute run, when reviewing from the graph the individuals breathing rate escalated to 36% higher then when at rest, however even though this is a high figure, for an individual who hasn’t carried out exercise frequently their breathing rate would at least triple from their resting breathing rate, this is because their tidal volumes are not as high as a athlete who trains regularly, the trained athlete also has the assistance of stronger intercostal muscles which allow their lungs to inflate at a much quicker and stronger rate allowing more air into their lungs, whereas with a untrained individual their intercostal muscles have not been used to the required contraction rate therefore they contract as normal just at a quicker rate, this then has the affect of tiring out the individual much quicker.

Another long-term adaptation of a trained athlete is their quicker diffusion rate of oxygen, if you review at the graph, the athlete has a high breathing rate this is suggesting that their body is overloading its muscles to compensate for the oxygen debt however this only lasts for up to three minutes and then their breathing rate gradually declines back to their normal resting respiratory rate, this is portraying that their body initially was able to take on large amounts of air within the first few minutes and this was obtaining enough oxygen to recover this is because their alveoli’s have high capillarisation allowing more oxygen to be diffused at a more frequent rate, whereas an untrained athlete does not have the high amounts of capillaries that a trained athlete would therefore there recovery rate would be longer because they have to breathe in quicker, and more frequent, because their capillaries around their alveoli’s are not enough to transport the adequate oxygen to the working muscles.

It was researched that an trained athletes alveoli’s if stretched out could fulfil a whole tennis court and another quarter of a tennis court, this was calculated an endurance based athlete, and the same research was carried out on a untrained athlete, and it was calculated that their alveoli’s would only fulfil just one tennis court if laid out flat.

39. DESCRIBE THE NEUROMUSCULAR ADAPTATIONS TO LONG-TERM EXERCISE

The Neuromuscular adapts to long-term exercise by:

Increasing myoglobin contents
Increasing the number of capillaries
Increasing the amount of mitochondria
Increasing the size of slow twitch muscle fibres
Increasing stores of glycogen
Increasing stores of fat

40. EXPLAIN THESE NEUROMUSCULAR ADAPTATIONS, SUGGESTING WHY THEY OCCUR AND HOW THEY BENEFIT THE ATHLETE.

All of the adaptations within the neuromuscular happen due to knock on effects, endurance training requires high amounts of energy therefore the body adapts to consistent endurance based training by increasing their ability to store much larger amounts of glycogen.

Due to the respiratory system increasing the capillarisation this also increases the capillary density surrounding throughout the muscles therefore the oxygen rate being transported to the muscles has increased and this is only sustainable due to the increased concentration of the myoglobin, however due to the high amounts of oxygen being delivered to the muscles has the effect of increasing the frequency and size of the mitochondria, because without this increase the muscles wouldn’t even be able to obtain the increased amounts of oxygen in the first place.

Throughout the mitochondria because their size has increased this allows high demand for the concentration of enzyme especially all of the enzymes of which that take place during the aerobic process, this then allows the muscles a larger opportunity to use glycogen and fat as energy.

Throughout the whole adaptation of the neuromuscular system, the slow twitch fibres carry out a 22% hypertrophy as this provides a much more efficient aerobic process, also with the slow twitch fibres increasing it allows a higher increase within the storage of glycogen and triglycerides this enables the muscles to have continuous access to energy stores allowing the athletes to train for longer periods.

The final result of all of these adaptations increases the maximal oxygen consumption also known as the VO2 max this reduces the fatigue rate and increases the anaerobic threshold.

When athletes train at high intensities this increases the hypertrophy of the fast twitch fibres this is because there increasing levels of ATP and PC within the muscle and it has generated a higher ATP resynthesising rate using the PC energy system, this is predominantly due to the higher rate at which enzymes are being obtained, and these enzymes are able to quickly break down the PC. This results in a higher ATP production rate through anaerobic Glycolysis and enhances the efficiency of the glycolytic enzyme; throughout this anaerobic process the muscles obtain the ability to consume glycogen without the use of oxygen.

Throughout the anaerobic system as the lactic acid forms it reduces the PH of the blood making the blood to become more acidic this causes the athlete to tire quicker as the increased level of hydrogen ions eventually prevents the enhanced glycolytic enzyme functioning, however persistent training at anaerobic levels increases the athletes ability to train longer throughout the high acidity blood flow.

41. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE NEUROMUSCULAR ADAPTATIONS TO CHRONIC EXERCISE.

A study was carried out on two individuals client a and client b, these individuals were the same age and both female, they both had to carry out a 6 minute cycle, both individuals would have to start on effort level 10 and on each minute they would have to increase their effort every minute by, so it would be 10, 12, 14, 16 ect.

These were the results obtained from the study:

From reviewing this table the underlying result of this study shows that the athlete was able to apply more effort than a normal individual who does not exercise frequently. However the table also displays that even though the athlete was a sprinter they still had a good endurance based throughout their legs to allow them to apply enough force through the bike to keep it cycling at a high rate, this may be due also to the high amount of muscle within the sprinters legs which provides them much more force to push down, however the Untrained individual at the start had a much lower RPM suggesting they naturally don’t have much force within their legs.

This table also suggest that the athlete was able to continue for longer at a much higher effort rating, this could be because of their continuous training regime which allows the athlete to train through high acidic blood, so essentially their pain threshold is much higher than the untrained athlete, this is because the muscle has been trained to adapt to continuous training so that the exercise does not cause long term damaging effects to the athletes muscles, because if the athlete were to continue training at high intensities and frequently, and their neuromuscular system did not make these long term adaptations this system may falter whereby injuries could be sustained, this would be because their energy levels would continuously be low as their muscles are not breaking down enough energy because their hasn’t been the increase in storage, their slow twitch fibres would remain the same rate, so as the training becomes more frequent the slow twitch fibres would tire very quickly making the athlete feel fatigued or even “hit the wall” and overall if their neuromuscular system did not make these adaptations their VO2MAX would never alter therefore they could not get fitter and progress further into their sport, which is the whole underlying reason for training frequently.

42. DESCRIBE THE ENERGY-SYSTEM ADAPTATIONS TO LONG-TERM EXERCISE

The Energy systems adapt to long-term exercise by:

Increasing the number of aerobic enzymes
Increasing the breakdown of fat molecules.

43. EXPLAIN THESE ENERGY-SYSTEM ADAPTATIONS, SUGGESTING WHY THEY OCCUR AND HOW THEY BENEFIT THE ATHLETE.

When an athlete undergoes long-term training and exercise as discussed in the neuromuscular section the mitochondria increase within numbers within the slow twitch fibres, this provides more opportunity for the ATP to reproduce using the aerobic energy system, and this allows more glycogen to be stored within the skeletal muscles and even the liver.

When aerobic training is carried out continuously it also has a knock on effect by increasing the amount of enzymes required to break down fat molecules, the body then reacts to this by allowing more fat to be stored within the muscles tissues then this way the body can then become more efficient at burning body fat and using it as an essential source of energy.

When anaerobic training is carried out persistently this is using the PC and lactic acid system predominantly as its energy source therefore the body then adapts lenience to the reduced PH levels of the blood, by utilising it more efficiently, this then results in an increase energy source being obtained from using the lactic acid energy system, and therefore the individual can sustain exercise for longer periods at a time without feeling the affects of lactic acid.

44. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE ENERGY SYSTEM ADAPTATIONS TO CHRONIC EXERCISE.

To analyse the energy systems I am going to review the different muscle enzymes (mmol . g-1 . min-1) throughout the different types of muscles, these muscles are going to be; Untrained, Anaerobically Trained, Aerobically Trained.

Reviewing this table looking at the untrained muscles enzymes aerobically the enzymes are similar to the quantity of aerobic enzymes within the anaerobically trained muscles, this is suggesting that an untrained muscle if it is not trained to perform aerobically they will adapt anaerobic characteristics, however this would not make it strongly anaerobic trained. An untrained has not been trained to utilise oxygen efficiently this is why it has significantly lower aerobic enzymes, this may be because the muscle has not adapted capilarisation therefore it is easier for the muscle to use anaerobic enzymes because they are not efficient enough at utilising oxygen to produce energy.

When you look at the untrained muscle’s anaerobic enzymes they are significantly lower than an Anaerobically trained muscle, this is because the muscle has not adapted to cop with stress of the lactic acid production, and therefore there are not enough capillaries to transport oxygen.

If an individual carries out continuous aerobic training their enzyme will predominantly become more aerobic, however there muscles do not completely discard of anaerobic enzymes this is because the body at times still needs to use the anaerobic system because during training they are required at some point to exercise without using oxygen for a source of energy.

45. DESCRIBE THE SKELETAL ADAPTATIONS TO LONG-TERM EXERICSE

The Skeletal system responds to long-term exercise by:

Increasing the strength of bones
Increasing the strength of tendons
Increasing the pliability of ligaments

46. EXPLAIN THESE SKELETAL ADAPTATIONS, SUGGESTING WHY THEY OCCUR AND HOW THEY BENEFIT THE ATHLETE.

As athletes train more, this requires huge impact being applied through the skeletal system especially a lot of their own bodily weight being applied through at severe force. Take sprinting this requires the athlete to move as quickly as possible this requires strong muscle mass so this is extra weight being applied through the skeletal system, and it requires force being applied as they put their full weight through each leg as they are sprinting.

Over a long period the skeletal system takes a lot of pressure, and each time an athlete exercise they do damage minor parts of their bone, however it is because of this that their bone density becomes stronger, this is because as small parts of the bone break off they require large amounts of calcium to reproduce the skeletal structure and it is therefore much stronger because more calcium content is sustained throughout the bone.

Throughout exercise the mineral consistency throughout the boy is increased which allows the bones to become harder and stronger, long term exercise also helps the joints strengthen by increasing the layers within the cartilage at the ends of each bone joint, this allows much more impact to be absorbed therefore less bones are broken, and it also prevents any joint injuries.

Carrying out long-term strength training this increases the muscles strength and also allows the skeletal system to strengthen the tendons, and this prevents any joints obtaining any injuries, the ligaments also have an increased pliability allowing the bones a wider range of movement to prevent any joint strains, however this can have an adverse affect because these ligaments may become vulnerable to tears.

47. USING GRAPHS, TABLES, EXAMPLES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER, ANALYSE THE SKELETAL ADAPTATIONS TO CHRONIC EXERCISE

The long-term adaptations to the ligament and tendon strength during exercise increase significantly, when an individual undergoes intense strength training, the ligaments and tendons do not have the opportunity to adapt, this is because as the muscle mass increases, this applies further excess force and pressure throughout the muscle joints, the ligaments and tendons consist of fibrous protein collagen, they attach themselves onto the articulating bones, so as an individual undergoes continuous exercise this applies excess force throughout the ligaments and tendons, but as they try to adapt by increasing their diameter across the cross section, this increases their durability, however research suggests as the ligaments and tendons become more durable and allow more movement throughout the joints it is likely injuries are likely to occur as they allow so much movement that the joint can vigorously twist out of position and cause severe joint strains.

I am someone who went throughout a season continuously training at least 6 times a week for at least 9 months as beneficial this was upon my fitness levels and muscular system it did not allow my ligaments and tendons any rest, this was evident when I tore my Anterior cruciate ligament, it was a complete tear suggesting that the ligament became so over trained that the fibres within the ligament became deteriorated because they never had chance for the protein molecules to amend.

A knee specialist suggested that due to over training continuously my skeletal system adapted by attempting to strengthen the pliability of my ligaments, this then caused me more problem because as the flexibility of the ligament increased it increased the likelihood of it tearing completely.