Long term = At least 6 weeks
Adaptations = Responses of the body as a result of a regular stimulus - in this case, exercise.
The 5 body systems we will be analysing are:
Cardiovascular
Muscular
Skeletal
Respiratory
Energy
Week 1 - Cardiovascular
There are lots of adaptations that the cardiovascular system goes through as a result of regular exercise. These adaptations help with better delivery of oxygen, and better removal of carbon dioxide and other metabolic products, such as lactic acid. There are 9 different responses:
1. Cardiac hypertrophy
2. Decreased resting heart rate
3. Decreased resting blood pressure
4. Increased stroke volume
5. Increased cardiac output
6. Increased blood volume
7. Increased capillarisation
8. Increased aerobic capacity
9. Decreased recovery time
I am going to be explaining 3 of these in depth.
1. Cardiac hypertrophy:
Cardiac hypertrophy is the
process by which the heart muscle gets stronger as a result of regularly
working harder.
As the heart works harder on a
regular basis, the muscular walls get thicker (especially the left ventricle
wall), and there is an overall increase in the amount of cardiac muscle.
The changes occur as a result of
there being a regular increase in the amount of work the cardiac muscle has to
do. It responds to this increase in load by increasing the size and number of
muscle fibres in order cope with the load better.
This will have a positive effect
on performance as it means that the heart muscle doesn’t have to work as hard
to deliver the same amount of blood to the working muscles
