Chronic Adaptations

Question 1

What is Lung Volume and what occurs from its Adaptation?

Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 1

Increase & Aerobic
Lung Volume refers to maximum amount of air that can be inhaled or exhaled during each breath. As a result more air, and therefore oxygen, can be stored in the lungs, and therefore more oxygen can be eventually transferred to working muscles.

Question 2

What is Tidal Volume and what occurs from its Adaptation?

Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 2

Increase & Aerobic
Tidal Volume refers to the amount of air inspired or expired per breath. Tidal Volume increases during submaximal or maximal exercise and this allows for more oxygen to enter the lungs, and, through the process of diffusion, enter the bloodstream and be made available to working muscles.

Question 3

What is Maximum Ventilation and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 3

Increase & Aerobic
Ventilation refers to how litres of air is breathed in or out per minute. At submaximal level of physical activity, ventilation levels will slightly decrease due to improved oxygen efficiency. At maximal physical activity, increased ventilation results in more oxygen being made available to working muscles.

Question 4

What is Pulmonary Diffusion and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 4

Increase & Aerobic
Pulmonary Diffusion refers to the movement of molecules from an area of high concentration to low concentration within the lungs. At the lungs, oxygen moves from the alveoli in the lungs to the capillaries, where it can then enter the bloodstream. Carbon dioxide moves from the capillaries to the alveoli, where it can then be breathed out. An increase in diffusion means that more oxygen is able to be transported from the lungs into the bloodstream and made available to the working muscles.

Question 5

What is Ventilatory Efficiency and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 5

Increase & Aerobic
Just like the heart muscle (myocardium) requires oxygen to work, so do the muscles responsible for breathing, which are the intercostal muscles and the diaphragm. An increase in ventilatory efficiency means that these muscles require less oxygen, meaning that more oxygen is available to be used by the working muscles.

Question 6

What is VO2 Maximum (maximum oxygen uptake) and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 6

Increase & Aerobic
VO2 Maximum refers to the maximum amount of oxygen that a person can take in and utilise per minute. Due to all of these adaptations, VO2 Maximum increases at maximal intensity. 5-30% improvements through a sustained program.

Question 7

What is Stroke Volume and what occurs from its Adaptation?

Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 7

Increase & Aerobic
Stroke Volume refers to how many millilitres of blood the ventricles pump per beat (avg. 70ml/bt during rest). Plateaus at around 40-60% of one’s VO2 Max. An increase in stroke volume results in more blood being able to be circulated around the body and therefore more oxygen is available to working muscles.

Question 8

What is Cardiac Output and what occurs from its Adaptation?

Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 8

Increase & Aerobic
Cardiac Output refers to how many litres of blood the left ventricle pumps per minute (avg. 23L during exercise). Increase in cardiac output results in more blood being able to be circulated around the body, and therefore more oxygen is available to working muscles. However, cardiac output only increases at maximal intensity physical activity. At rest or during submaximal physical activity, cardiac output usually stays unchanged following sustained aerobic training.

Question 9

What is Heart Rate and what occurs from its Adaptation?

Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 9

Decrease & Aerobic
Heart Rate refers to the amount of heart beats per minute (avg. 80 beats during rest). Due to the increase in stroke volume but the decrease/no change in cardiac output, heart rate will decrease while at rest and during submaximal physical activity. It will remain the same at maximal intensity physical activity.

Question 10

What is Left Ventricle Size and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 10

Increase & Aerobic
Left Ventricle Size refers to the ventricle which pumps the blood around the body and its total size improvement. This results in an increased stroke volume (SV) and an increased cardiac output (Q), resulting in increased blood supply (and therefore oxygen supply) to the working muscles.

Question 11

What is Capillary Density around the Heart and Muscles and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 11

Increase & Aerobic
Capillary Density refers to the amount of blood vessels between the terminations of the arteries and the beginnings of the veins. An increase in the number of capillaries around both the heart and the muscles results in an increased blood flow to both the heart and muscles, meaning they have an increased amount of oxygen available to them for use.

Question 12

What is Blood Volume and what occurs from its Adaptation?

Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 12

Increase & Aerobic
Blood Volume refers to the volume of blood (both red blood cells and plasma) in the circulatory system of an individual. Aerobic training can increase blood volume by up to 25% and this occurs due to an increase in both plasma and RBC production. Increased blood volume results in more blood being available to carry oxygen to the working muscles.

Question 13

What are Haemoglobin Levels and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 13

Increase & Aerobic
Haemoglobin is the part of the blood responsible for transporting the oxygen. Therefore, increased blood volume, which means increased haemoglobin levels, mean that more oxygen can be transported from the heart around the body to working muscles.

Question 14

What is Blood Pressure and what occurs from its Adaptation?

Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 14

Decrease & Aerobic
Blood Pressure refers to the amount of pressure that is exerted against the arteries when the ventricles contract (systolic) and relax (diastolic) (avg. 120/80). At rest and during submaximal physical activity, blood pressure may be reduced. At maximal exercise, blood pressure will not change.

Question 15

What is Myocardium Oxygen Consumption and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 15

Decrease & Aerobic
Myocardium refers to the muscle tissue of the heart. Like any other muscle, the heart requires oxygen to operate. The heart will require less oxygen to pump blood around the body, meaning that more oxygen is available to be used by the working muscles.

Question 16

What is Redistribution of Blood Flow and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 16

Increase and Decrease & Aerobic

Redistribution of Blood Flow refers to the redirection of blood away from areas where it is not needed to areas where it is needed. During rest and submaximal physical activity, a chronic adaptation to aerobic training is that less blood actually flows to working muscles due to their increased efficiency in using oxygen. This means that more blood is available to flow to the skin and other places to assist with processes such as cooling. During maximal exercise, more blood will be able to flow to working muscles due to increased cardiac output and increased blood volume.

Question 17

What is Removal of Blood Lactate and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 17

Increase & Aerobic
H+ ions that are produced along with lactate cause fatigue, therefore increased levels of oxygen to the muscles mean that lactate (and H+ ions) is able to be removed from the muscles more efficiently. This reduces fatigue levels and increases an athlete’s Lactate Inflection Point (LIP). This is essential as it allows an athlete to work at a higher intensity and yet not suffer fatigue due to a build-up of H+ ions.

Question 18

What is the Thickness of Left Ventricle Wall and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 18

Increase & Anaerobic
The thickness of the wall of the left ventricle of the heart will increase slightly, thus allowing the heart to pump blood around the body more forcefully, meaning that blood may be able to reach working muscles more effectively. N.T. The volume of the left ventricle does not change, and therefore stroke volume does not change.

Question 19

What is Aerobic Capacity of Muscle Fibres and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 19

Increase & Aerobic
The aerobic capacity of slow-twitch muscle fibres will improve. Fast-twitch fibres within the muscle, although generally anaerobic, will also improve their aerobic capacity to a certain degree. Overall a greater ATP production is achieved from the improvement of muscle fibres

Question 20

What is the Size of Slow-Twitch Fibres and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 20

Increase & Aerobic
Slow-twitch muscle fibres will undergo hypertrophy (an increase in size). This allows for a greater number of capillaries to surround the muscle fibres, which in turn allows for more blood and therefore oxygen to be delivered to and used by the muscle.

Question 21

What is the Number and Size of Mitochondria and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 21

Increase & Aerobic
The Mitochondrial cells are the location of aerobic respiration. An increased number and size of mitochondria means that a greater amount of ATP is able to be produced, provided there is sufficient oxygen. This results in increased aerobic performance.

Question 22

What is Oxidative Enzymes and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 22

Increase & Aerobic
Oxidative Enzymes are enzymes that catalyses an oxidation reaction. Enzymes are responsible for the breakdown of fuels, such as glycogen and triglycerides, which allow ATP to be produced aerobically. An increase in the number of these enzymes therefore increases the amount of ATP that can be produced aerobically.

Question 23

What is Triglyceride and Glycogen Stores and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 23

Increase & Aerobic
An increased amount of triglycerides and glycogen are able to be stored at the muscle, where they can be immediately used. Combined with the increased number of oxidative enzymes, this increases the amount of fuels that can be broken down and used to produce ATP aerobically.

Question 24

What is a-vO2 Difference and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 24

Increase & Aerobic
a-vO2 Difference is effectively the amount of oxygen that can be extracted from the blood and used by the muscle. After consistent aerobic training, a-vO2difference increases as the muscle is able to extract more oxygen from the blood. This is generally due to the increased capillarisation of slow-twitch muscle fibres and therefore the increased diffusion of oxygen at the muscles.

Question 25

What are Fuel Stores and what occurs from its Adaptation?

Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 25

Increase & Anaerobic
Increase in the amount of ATP, PC and glycogen that can be stored at the muscles, and therefore used as fuel to produce ATP anaerobically. Increased levels of PC mean that the ATP-PC system can produce ATP (at a rapid rate) for a slightly longer amount of time, and increased glycogen stores results in more fuel being available for both aerobic and anaerobic ATP production.

Question 26

What is Levels of ATPase and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 26

Increase & Anaerobic
ATPase is an enzyme that assists with the breakdown of ATP into ADP (which is when the energy for movement is produced). Anaerobic training increases both the activity levels and the number of ATPase. This allows for a more efficient breakdown of ATP, meaning that energy can be produced more rapidly.

Question 27

What is Level of Glycolytic Enzymes and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 27

Increase & Anaerobic
The purpose of a Glycolytic Enzyme is to breakdown carbohydrates. Anaerobic training increases the number of glycolytic enzymes, meaning that glycogen is able to be broken down and used more effectively to produce ATP.

Question 28

What is Tolerance to Metabolic By-Products and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 28

Increase & Anaerobic
Due to other adaptations, more ATP is able to be produced anaerobically at the muscle using the anaerobic glycolysis system. This also results in an increase in lactate production (and other metabolic by-products such as H+ ions). Athletes are able to build up a tolerance to these metabolic by-products, meaning that they are able to continue working at a high intensity, rather than become fatigued and have to reduce their physical activity intensity.

Question 29

What is Motor Unit Recruitment and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 29

Increase & Anaerobic
An increase in the number of motor units that can be ‘recruited’ increases the maximum amount of force that can be generated by the muscle (increasing muscular strength).
Increased chance that fast-twitch fibres, which are generally the larger and stronger motor units, will be recruited. This increases the strength and the duration of the contraction that be maintained by the muscle.

Question 30

What is Rate of Motor Unit ‘Firing’ and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 30

Increase & Anaerobic
Rate of Motor Unit ‘Firing’ refers to Motor units are able to ‘fire’ more regularly, increasing the strength and duration of a muscular contraction.

Question 31

What is Motor Unit Coordination and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 31

Increase & Anaerobic
The Synchronisation of motor unit firing is able to increase. This increases the coordination of muscular movements, which can result in increased power and acceleration and improved coordination of movements

Question 32

What is Hypertrophy of Muscles and what occurs from its Adaptation?
Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 32

Increase & Anaerobic
When placed under stress muscles will hypertrophy (increase in size). This can be due to an increase in the size of myofibrils (a part of the muscle fibre) and an increase in the contractile proteins within muscles.

Question 33

What is HDL and LDL and what occurs from its Adaptation?

Increase or Decrease & Aerobic or Anaerobic

Answer 33

Increase & Aerobic

Increase in High Density LipoProteins acts to remove more plague from artery walls and lower cholesterol levels.