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Faizan
Aerobic respiration is a process in which cells use oxygen to generate energy. It uses multiple steps to breakdown triglycerides from fat tissues, which release a large amount of energy so you can continue to exercise without early fatigue. As your body adapts to exercise and physical fitness improves, your body becomes more efficient in generating more energy via aerobic respiration.
More Mitochondria, More Energy
Aerobic respiration occurs in your cells' mitochondria, which are the energy powerhouses that break down triglycerides into energy. Muscle mitochondria are those that are responsible to resist fatigue and increased aerobic respiration during moderate to high-intensity exercise. In a 2013 study published in the "Journal of Applied Physiology," elite and highly trained athletes have significant higher aerobic capacity than the average active and well-trained individuals. Likewise, muscle mitochondria count are higher in the elite group than in the other groups. Thus, the body adapts to endurance exercise by generating more mitochondria.
Heart Rate and Stroke Volume
Heart rate and stroke volume are the bread-and-butter factors to determine aerobic fitness. Fitter people have a stronger heart that beats less than sedentary people while pumping larger volumes of blood, which is necessary to process aerobic respiration in your cells. Active and healthy adults have a heart rate of 60 to 80 beats per min -- bpm -- while sedentary adults can have heart rate of more than 100 bpm. The cause of this difference is stroke volume, which is the amount of blood pumped out per beat from left ventricle. This heart chamber adapts to exercise by expanding the cavity, allowing more blood to fill the area and to get pumped out in greater volume. Untrained individuals have a resting stroke volume of 50 to 70 milliliters per beat -- or ml/beat -- and can increase up to 110 to 130ml/beat during intense physical activity. In elite athletes, resting stroke volume averages 90 to110 ml/beat and can increase to as much as 150 to 220 ml/beat. Therefore, these factors can determine how long and how well you perform in any form of exercise -- aerobic or anaerobic.
Lactate Threshold
With an increase in muscle cell mitochondria so you can perform more aerobic respiration, you also increase your tolerance to lactate, or lactic acid, buildup. Lactate is the byproduct of glucose metabolism produced in your skeletal muscles during exercise. Your blood transports lactate into your liver where it is recycled to glucose. Too much lactate buildup can cause muscle cramps and fatigue, forcing you to stop and catch your breath before you can continue to exercise. When the rate of lactate production exceeds the rate of lactate removal from your muscles, you enter a state of lactate threshold, says running coach Jason Karp of REVO2LT Running Team in San Diego. As you become more fit, your lactate threshold increases as well as the number of mitochondria, making you more resistant to fatigue and maintain better balance between lactate accumulation and lactate removal. This allows you to perform an extra few reps of weight lifting or run a couple of minutes longer.
Exercise Recovery Time
Aerobic respiration rate determines how quickly you recover from a bout of intense exercise. During recovery, your body goes into a state of attaining the resting state by cooling your body temperature, repair damage muscle tissues, balancing hormone levels and replenishing nutrients to your tissues. Since this process requires a large amount of energy, a higher rate of aerobic respiration is needed to process these physiological conditions. In a study published in the "Journal of Applied Physiology," trained individuals recovered significantly faster after a bout of high-intensity exercise than untrained individuals.
More Mitochondria, More Energy
Aerobic respiration occurs in your cells' mitochondria, which are the energy powerhouses that break down triglycerides into energy. Muscle mitochondria are those that are responsible to resist fatigue and increased aerobic respiration during moderate to high-intensity exercise. In a 2013 study published in the "Journal of Applied Physiology," elite and highly trained athletes have significant higher aerobic capacity than the average active and well-trained individuals. Likewise, muscle mitochondria count are higher in the elite group than in the other groups. Thus, the body adapts to endurance exercise by generating more mitochondria.
Heart Rate and Stroke Volume
Heart rate and stroke volume are the bread-and-butter factors to determine aerobic fitness. Fitter people have a stronger heart that beats less than sedentary people while pumping larger volumes of blood, which is necessary to process aerobic respiration in your cells. Active and healthy adults have a heart rate of 60 to 80 beats per min -- bpm -- while sedentary adults can have heart rate of more than 100 bpm. The cause of this difference is stroke volume, which is the amount of blood pumped out per beat from left ventricle. This heart chamber adapts to exercise by expanding the cavity, allowing more blood to fill the area and to get pumped out in greater volume. Untrained individuals have a resting stroke volume of 50 to 70 milliliters per beat -- or ml/beat -- and can increase up to 110 to 130ml/beat during intense physical activity. In elite athletes, resting stroke volume averages 90 to110 ml/beat and can increase to as much as 150 to 220 ml/beat. Therefore, these factors can determine how long and how well you perform in any form of exercise -- aerobic or anaerobic.
Lactate Threshold
With an increase in muscle cell mitochondria so you can perform more aerobic respiration, you also increase your tolerance to lactate, or lactic acid, buildup. Lactate is the byproduct of glucose metabolism produced in your skeletal muscles during exercise. Your blood transports lactate into your liver where it is recycled to glucose. Too much lactate buildup can cause muscle cramps and fatigue, forcing you to stop and catch your breath before you can continue to exercise. When the rate of lactate production exceeds the rate of lactate removal from your muscles, you enter a state of lactate threshold, says running coach Jason Karp of REVO2LT Running Team in San Diego. As you become more fit, your lactate threshold increases as well as the number of mitochondria, making you more resistant to fatigue and maintain better balance between lactate accumulation and lactate removal. This allows you to perform an extra few reps of weight lifting or run a couple of minutes longer.
Exercise Recovery Time
Aerobic respiration rate determines how quickly you recover from a bout of intense exercise. During recovery, your body goes into a state of attaining the resting state by cooling your body temperature, repair damage muscle tissues, balancing hormone levels and replenishing nutrients to your tissues. Since this process requires a large amount of energy, a higher rate of aerobic respiration is needed to process these physiological conditions. In a study published in the "Journal of Applied Physiology," trained individuals recovered significantly faster after a bout of high-intensity exercise than untrained individuals.
Posted in: Exercise and Fitness
