Chapter 4 – Cardiorespiratory Fitness
Objectives
- Define the cardiovascular and respiratory system
- Describe how the cardiorespiratory system works
- Identify the benefits of cardiorespiratory fitness
- What is the importance of this system?
- Identify methods for assessing and improving the CR system
Terminology
- Cardiorespiratory system: The term used to describe the relationship between the cardiovascular system (heart and blood vessels) and respiratory system (lungs).
- Calorie: A term used to describe food energy. Scientifically, it is the amount of energy needed to raise one kilogram of water, 1 degree Celsius. More accurately, it is one kilocalorie.
- Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP): The basic unit of energy used by the cells.
- Aerobic energy system: The term used to describe the way cells produce ATP. In this case, the cells require oxygen to assist in ATP production.
- Mitochondria: The area (organelle) of the cell where ATP is produced.
- Creatine phosphate: a compound found in the cells and used by the immediate energy system that can be used to produce ATP.
- Non-oxidative energy system: a term used to describe the way cells produce ATP. In this case, cells do not require oxygen to produce ATP.
- Glucose: The simplest form of sugars found in the blood.
- Tidal volume: The amount of air measured during inspiration or expiration.
- Diffusion capacity: The amount of air that is transferred from the lungs to the blood.
- Arterial-vein difference (aVO2diff): The difference between the oxygen found in arterial blood and venous blood.
- Principle of Reversibility: The fitness principle describing how fitness is lost while detraining.
- Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max): The maximum amount of oxygen the body can take in and utilize.
- Specificity: A fitness principle describing how fitness improvements or adaptations to exercise stress are specific to the type of training that is performed.
- Overload: The fitness principle describing how adaption to exercise stress is driven by progressively increasing the workload during training.
- Target Heart Rate (THR): A term describing heart rate zones that represent an intensity range—a low end heart rate and a high end rate—used as a guide for exercise intensity.
- Max heart rate (MHR): The maximum number of beats per minute the heart can contract.
- Resting Heart Rate (RHR): The minimum number of beats per minute the heart contracts.
- Heart Rate Reserve (HRR): The difference between the maximum heart rate and the resting heart rate. This term is also used to describe a method for calculating target heart rate.
- Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE): A self-assessment used during exercise used to estimate the intensity of the work being performed. The scale used, called the Borg Scale, ranges from 6 to 20.
- Talk-test: A self-assessment used during exercise to estimate the intensity of the work being performed. The assessment is based on the degree of breathlessness observed while attempting to talk during exercise.
