Correlation Between Aerobic Fitness And 4km Cycling Performance

Brooks GA, Fahey TD, Baldwin KM (2005). Exercise Physiology: Human Bioenergetics and Its Application. 4th Edition

The anaerobic threshold (AT), also called the “lactate threshold,” is the exertion level between aerobic and anaerobic training. The AT is the point during exercise where your body must switch from anaerobic to aerobic metabolism. Anaerobic exercise consists of weightlifting, sprinting, and jumping. Once an athlete reaches its anaerobic threshold, lactic acid builds up in the muscles faster than it can be cleared away resulting in muscle cramps. The AT is a useful measure for deciding exercise intensity for training and racing in endurance sports. On average untrained individuals have a low AT (approximately 55 % of VolumeO2max), and elite endurance athletes have a high AT (approx. 80 - 90% of VolumeO2max). lactate threshold.(1) Studies have been conducted on finding methods of improving anaerobic threshold. Lately High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has become a popular training modality in competitive athletes, recreationally-trained individuals, and clinical populations. HIIT consists of repeated bouts of short to moderate duration exercise

Each athlete has an ideal of training that leads to maximum performance, if not carefully monitored it would lead into a state of consistent fatigue and underperformance (Raedeke, 1997). According to previous research, there are three major causes of overtraining; Lehman suggested that two of the biggest reasons that lead to overtraining are training monotony and the increase of training loads (Wiart, 2010). The third cause is inadequate recovery; Richardson (2008) suggested that looking at monitoring overtraining from a recovery approach may give a better understanding of stress/recovery imbalances in athletes.

In an attempt to understand the underlying biological differences of these runners Pui W. Kong hypothesized that one variation is, “related to the fact that Kenyans generally live and train at high altitude (around 2000 m above sea level) influencing their oxygen capacity” (Kong, 2008). One study that addressed this compared Kenyan runners oxygen uptake, as well as blood ammonia

Gymnastics is one of the most demanding and dangerous collegiate sports. Marina and Rodriguez (2014) investigated the physiological demands of women’s competitive gymnastics routines. Post-exercise heart rate, oxygen uptake, and peak blood lactate concentration were studied from eight elite female gymnasts. The gymnasts reached their highest heart rates (183-199 beats/minute), their highest oxygen uptake (33-44 mL/kg), and their highest blood lactate levels (7-9 mmol) following the floor and the uneven bars. The mean oxygen uptake levels of the gymnasts for all four events ranged from 65 to 85% of their individually recorded VO2 maximums and their maximum heart rates. Gymnasts work at very high physical levels during practice and competition.

Intensity is the difficulty or effort applied of which an athlete works out to each session. In particular, the level of intensity is directly related to an individual's heart rate. An unfit athlete would reach a heart rate of 60 to 80% of their maximum heart rate capability after performing an activity such as running a set distance. With this, if an unfit athlete experiences a higher that usual insentisty it puts the individual at risk of overbeating or skipping a beat, potentially causing fatigue. Though an Olympic Marathon runner would experience high levels of intensities, reaching the heart rate between 85 to 100%. This level of intensity can be matched in fitness tests through the combination of the Maximum Oxygen Consumption test as well other various tests that involve the components of fitness. With these tests it will force the athlete to reach their VO2Max, peaking at their lactating threshold whilst also reaching their maximum possible heart rate. Overall, different levels of intensities are required to be applied to athletes with different levels of fitness to suit their physical capabilities and

The type of activities the oxidative system supports are longer than 3 minutes such as walking, or jogging. This system produces a large amount of energy that lasts a long time. Some of the draw backs are lung function, oxygen availability, and ATP production is slow. According to Artioli, Bertuzzi, Roschel, Mendes, Lancha, and Franchini 2012, it can be difficult to measure all energy systems inside the lab. Their method allows measuring of the different contributions of energy systems on sports that might be difficult to mimic in a lab. In order to measure each system, resting oxygen, exercise oxygen, and post-exercise oxygen consumption need to be measured. As well as resting lactate, and post-exercise peak lactate. To calculate aerobic metabolism, you need resting and during exercise oxygen consumption. Using the trapezoidal method, measure the area under the curve of oxygen consumption during exercise and subtract the resting oxygen consumption. To measure the ATP-PC system contribution, post-exercise oxygen consumption curve has to be made into a bi-exponential model, and then use the following equation ATP-CP metabolism = A1 (mL . s-1) x t1

The primary focus of this lab is to familiarize students with the procedure and practice of taking measurements, doing calculations, and constructing interpretations. These are foundational skills that will be applicable and essential to any study performed. This lab requires and utilizes height, weight, gender, age, and skinfold measurements to determine BMI, body composition, and estimated VO2max. The Rockport-walking test, an alternative field test that directly establishes a subject’s maximal energy consumption, is required to determine the aerobic limitations/abilities of the male subject M.N. and the female subject M.B. (Kline et al.1987). These calculations will be used to formulate interpretation regarding the relationship

Vo2 Max is a measure of two things, physical lung capacity and oxygen’s ability in entering the blood stream. The physical lung capacity is down to genetics and cannot be increased to your advantage. However, the transfer of oxygen into the blood stream can be altered. Red blood cells carry oxygen towards the working muscles in the body. In exercise this is increased due to the body’s demands. As the rate of exercise increases the oxygen consumption is short of the bodies’ utilization thus anaerobic pathways must be used for the production of energy. oxygen consumption plateaus when the exercise intensity increases. This plateau marks the VO2 Max. Lactic acid kicks in causing the intensity of the exercise to fall. Putting of the anabolic threshold

During the sub-maximal bike test, the subject 's total kcals expended increased as workload increased. The % efficiency of the subject increased as intensity increased, as well. An increase in intensity on the bike caused an initial increase of kcals from fat from rest to the first workload, subsequently followed by a decrease in fat usage after the first 5 minutes. Carbohydrate usage [kcals from CHO] increased throughout the whole experiment as power output increased. All trends observed during the trial were expected. Efficiency and total kcals expended were expected to increase as power output increased. Fat usage was expected to increase initially due to the aerobic lag and inability to take in enough oxygen to meet energy requirements, then decrease after the first workload (Spriet, 2011). Carbohydrate usage was expected to trend upwards, parallel to intensity.

“In our study a very highly significant increase was observed in pulmonary function parameters of competitive runners than sedentary controls. Competitive runners had higher mean of percentage value of Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) (P=0.0034) 2.70 ± 0.40, Forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1) (P=0.0066) 2.49±0.56, Maximum Voluntary Ventilation (MVV) (P=0.0045) 140.64 ± 20.77 and Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) (P=0.0037) 8.35 ± 0.88 than controls. However there was no significant difference in FEV1/FVC ratio (P=0.1337) between the study

Physiological responses to exercise are dependent on the intensity, duration and frequency of the exercise as well as environmental conditions (Burton, Stokes, Hall, 2004). When participating in physical exercise activities, requirements for oxygen in skeletal muscle is increased, as are the removal of metabolites and carbon dioxide. Chemical, mechanical

The body constantly needs energy to work. This energy, at the cellular level, supplied in the form of chemical potential energy stored in ATP needs to be regeneration in order to fuel more cellular activity and this can be done aerobically or anaerobically(Astrand 1956). Energy to sustain high intensity workouts cannot eventually be fully supported by anaerobic pathways, resulting in an increased reliance on aerobic metabolism (Bogdanis et al. 1996). The level of fitness to carry out anaerobic exercises may be influenced by aerobic capacity (Kaikkonen et al.2000, Tomlin and Wegner 2011).

Mammals consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide as part of their metabolism process in order to maintain body functions. This occurs at all times, both rest and during intense work, within mammals. During times of greater work, skeletal muscles work harder than they do at rest. This in turn increases their metabolic rate and results in a greater demand for oxygen. It has been proposed that fitness training has a positive effect on both the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, which effect the maximum oxygen consumption rate during intense exercise periods. I hypothesize that individuals who aerobically exercise a minimum of at least 7 hours per week will have increased fitness, which will maximize their overall metabolic rates and give them higher VO2 max and VCO2 max values than individuals who do not have increased fitness. Ten males having different fitness levels were put on stationary bikes at increasing levels until exhaustion and VO2-max and VCO2-max was then measured from each individual. It was found that there was a slight upward trend between fitness-VO2max and fitness-VCO2max, although this trend was not statistically significant when represented by the T-test values through statistical analysis. Further experiments should be done in the future to verify a statistically significant correlation.

The human body relies on two systems for energy, which include aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. While aerobic energy system involves the use of oxygen, the anaerobic energy system functions without its use. Anaerobic power is the measure of the rate of energy exerted by the ATP phosphocreatine and anaerobic glycolytic pathways usually in 30 second intervals. In relation, anaerobic capacity is the total amount of energy that can be generated from ATP-CR and glycolytic pathway during a short-term high intensity exercise.(3) Together, anaerobic power is that rate energy is being produced while anaerobic capacity is a measure of the total amount of energy created from the bout of exercise. Thus if one variable was to have increased, such as the anaerobic power of a subject, the anaerobic capacity would also grow. One of the most popular anaerobic tests is the Wingate Anaerobic Test is a 30 second all-out intensity cycle ergometer test in which the subject pedals against a certain percentage of the subject’s weight. (5) Another common test is the Vertical Jump Test and the use of the Vertec to determine the subject’s vertical jump and determine anaerobic power. The Step Test also determines anaerobic power and capacity through counting the repeated stepping on the box in a one minute working interval. Maximal anaerobic running tests or MART which involves 40m to 10-5-10 sprints can also be valid test to determine anaerobic power although speed and agility are