Cardiovascular system - short-term effects of exercise

• • Increased heart rate (beats per minute)

  • Increased blood pressure (systolic & diastolic)

  • Increased stroke volume (amount of blood leaving heart per beat)

  • Increased blood temperature

Skeletal system - Long-term adaptations

• Increased bone density

• Reduced chance of osteoporosis

• Better posture

• Reduced chance of fractures

• Stronger ligaments and tendons

Bone density can be improved through a balanced diet containing calcium & vitamin D and through weight-bearing activities such as running, walking and aerobics.

Muscular system - Long-term adaptations

• • Increased strength of muscles

  • Increased muscle hypertrophy (increased size of muscles)

  • Increased myoglobin stores

  • Tendons and ligaments also get stronger

Cardiovascular system - Long-term adaptations

• • Decreased resting heart rate

  • Increased cardiac output (amount of blood pumped out of the heart per minute)

  • Faster recovery rate

  • Reduced blood pressure

  • Hypertrophy of the myocardium (increased size and strength of heart)

  • Healthy veins and arteries

  • More Capillaries (capillarisation)

Cardiac hypertrophy

Hypertrophy means an increase in size, so muscle hypertrophy means the muscles get bigger. If you weight train regularly doing biceps curls, your biceps will show muscle hypertrophy. Cardiac hypertrophy is where the ventricle wall gets larger or thickens as a result of exercise.

The muscle wall of the left ventricle increases in size, meaning it is able to pump out more blood during each contraction which increases the stroke volume. As stroke volume is increased, resting heart rate decreases but cardiac output (Q) remains the same as SV × HR = Q.

Capillarisation

Capillarisation is the process where new capillaries are formed. Capillarisation takes place at the alveoli in the lungs and at the skeletal muscle. This has the effect of increasing the amount of oxygen that can be transferred to the working muscles as well as increasing the amount of carbon dioxide that can be removed.