Define Cardiorespiratory Exercise and Explain how Oxygen Travels throughout the Body During this type of Activity
The Cardiorespiratory system (sometimes referred to as the Cardiovascular system when talking about only the heart and blood vessels, not including the lungs/airways) is comprised of two separate parts: the Respiratory system and the Circulatory system.
The purpose of the Respiratory System ("Glossary") is to get oxygen into the circulatory system and "waste" gases (such as carbon dioxide) out of the body. The following video gives you a brief introduction of the Respiratory system:
Click Here for Video on Respiration
The Circulatory system is responsible for delivering oxygen (as well as other nutrients and water) around your body as well as transporting waste products to be removed from the body. Here is short video that introduces the Circulatory System:
Click Here for Video on Circulatory System
For Cardiorespiratory Exercise, both of these systems work together to get oxygen into the body, circulated through the heart, pumped to the muscles (by the heart), and bring carbon dioxide back to the heart and, in turn, pumped to the lungs to be exhaled.
Cardiorespiratory Exercise (or Endurance) is considered to be the KEY health-related component of fitness due to its positive influence over numerous chronic diseases (more on this in the next section). Other names for Cardiorespiratory Endurance is AEROBIC Endurance or Cardiovascular Endurance. Aerobic exercises involve large muscle groups that are used for continuous, extended periods of time, such as walking, jogging, cycling, rowing (in a boat or simulated on a machine), stairmaster, elliptical, etc. This type of exercise needs oxygen in order for your body to make the energy necessary to complete the activity. Consequently, during aerobic exercise, your body has to increase the intake of oxygen into the lungs (breathing rate increases) and increase the delivery of oxygen to exercising muscles (heart rate increases to pump more blood).
So any type of activity that you do which involves larger muscle groups and you do it continuously for an extended period of time uses Aerobic energy sources (more on this in a subsequent module). Including this type of exercise...
Click Here for "Special" Exercise routine
... people will do anything to try and make money. But I digress...
Oxygen Utilization Pathway
The pathway that oxygen travels from the "outside" air to your exercising muscles will be discussed numerous times this semester. Therefore, you need to know this pathway and all of its steps. (I do suggest you take note of the order that this pathway follows)
(1) To start, oxygen must be brought in through your air passages (nose/mouth), down your airway and into your lungs.
(2) In the lungs, oxygen makes its way to the smallest portion of your lungs called the alveolus (plural = alveoli).
For a short visual of these first two steps, watch the following video until the 1 minute mark (the rest may get too complicated for this course). If you need a closed caption system to read the "script" as it is playing, click the YouTube Link at the bottom of the video, then once in YouTube, look for (and click) the Transcript icon that is found below the video and on the same line as "About" and "Share" links:
Click Here for Video displaying first two steps
(3) In the alveolus, oxygen is diffused into the blood stream and finds its way into a Red Blood Cell (RBC).
(4) Inside a RBC, oxygen binds with Hemoglobin (making the blood Oxygenated) to be carried to its next destination (remember this for a section later this semester ... four oxygen molecules can bind to each hemoglobin). For a visual representation of this part of the pathway, please watch this video from the beginning until 3 minutes and 16 seconds...
Click Here for Video on Oxygen and Hemoglobin
(5) From the lungs, the hemoglobin loaded with oxygen travels back to the left side of the heart and enters the left atrium ("Glossary"), this atrium will then pulse and push the blood into to the left ventricle. The ventricle will pulse, pushing the blood into the aorta ("Glossary") to be dispersed to your body. The heart is a huge muscle in your chest. When it pulses (or "beats"), the muscle tissue in the heart is contracting and forces blood to go places all over your body through your arteries ("Glossary").
(6) For the purposes of this section of class, the next step has the Oxygenated blood traveling to your exercising muscles during Aerobic exercise. When this blood reaches the muscle tissue, Oxygen will release from the RBC and diffuse into the exercise muscle. Oxygen will then be utilized in the tissue to make ATP molecules and, as a by product, carbon dioxide is formed. The blood picks up this Carbon Dioxide and the now Deoxygenated Blood travels back to the right side of the heart via the veins ("Glossary").
(7) The Deoxygenated blood enters the right side of the heart, and more specifically into the right atrium ("Glossary") through the Venae Cavae. The atrium will pulse and push blood into the right ventricle, which in turn will pulse and push blood into the pulmonary arteries and send blood to your lungs. In the lungs, carbon dioxide will diffuse into alveoli and Oxygen will once again diffuse into the blood attaching itself to hemoglobin molecules.
This is a long process. To provide you with a visual of what happens in steps 5, 6, and 7 within the heart, watch this final video: