Cardiovascular Fitness

Kaye Pierce
Personal Fitness
5th period
Coach Mills
November 24, 2012

Cardiovascular Fitness Cardiovascular fitness also known as cardiorespiratory fitness is the ability of the heart and lungs to supply oxygen-rich blood to the working muscle tissues and the ability of the muscles to use oxygen to produce energy for movement. This type of fitness is a health-related component of physical fitness that is brought about by sustained physical activity. A person’s ability to deliver oxygen to the working muscles is affected by many physiological parameters, including heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, and maximal oxygen consumption. Regular exercise makes these systems more efficient by enlarging the heart muscle, enabling more blood to be pumped with each stroke, and increasing the number of small arteries in trained skeletal muscles, which supply more blood to working muscles. Exercise improves the respiratory system by increasing the amount of oxygen that is inhaled and distributed to body tissue. The benefits of cardiovascular fitness are numerous. It can reduce the risk of heart disease, lung cancer, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and other diseases. Cardiorespiratory fitness helps improve lung and heart condition, and increases feelings of wellbeing. The cardiovascular system is responsible for a vast set of adaptations in the body throughout exercise. It must immediately respond to changes in cardiac output, blood flow, and blood pressure. Cardiac output is defined as the product of heart rate and stroke volume which represents the volume of blood being pumped by the heart each minute. Cardiac output increases during physical activity due to an increase in both the heart rate and stroke volume. At the beginning of exercise, the cardiovascular adaptations are very rapid: Within a second after muscular contraction, there is a withdrawal of vagal outflow to the heart, which is followed by an increase in sympathetic stimulation of the heart. This result in an increase in cardiac output to ensure that blood flow to the muscle is matched to the metabolic needs. Both heart rate and stroke volume vary directly with the intensity of the exercise performed and many improvements can be made through continuous training. Another important issue is the regulation of blood flow during exercise. Blood flow must increase in order to provide the working muscle with more oxygenated blood which can be accomplished through neural and chemical regulation. Blood vessels are under sympathetic tone, therefore the release of noradrenaline and adrenaline will cause vasoconstriction of non-essential tissues such as the liver, intestines, and kidneys, and decrease neurotransmitter release to the active muscles promoting vasodilatation. Also, chemical factors such as a decrease in oxygen concentration and an increase in carbon dioxide or lactic