section 4.4 energy and motion: exercise physiology
4.4 Essential Questions
1.What is the connection between power and movement in the body?
Power is supplied by food, water and oxygen and it is necessary for movement to occur in the body.
2.How does the body maintain a supply of ATP during exercise?
The body utilizes other systems to generate ATP. Instead of using cellular respiration, it switches to lactic acid fermentation, which produces a lot less ATP but occurs much more quickly.
3.What body systems are involved with powering an athlete through a running race?
Muscular, Skeletal, Cardiovascular, and Nervous.
4.What is muscle fatigue?
When muscles begin to lose energy because of a lack of ATP/oxygen. This is when an athlete begins to feel tired and pain.
5.How are we able to overcome muscle fatigue?
We begin to breathe more often, expelling more Carbon Dioxide and take in more Oxygen in order to combat the oxygen debt that caused our bodies to switch to lactic acid fermentation.
6.What are performance-enhancing drugs?
Chemicals and substances that interfere in the body and allow someone to do more physically without tiring. An example of a PED could be a substance that increase the amount of oxygen in the blood.
7.How do specific performance-enhancing drugs affect the human body?
They can change the composition of the blood so that there is more oxygen. Some others may help increase muscle mass without as much physical activity.
8.Why should certain performance-enhancing drugs be banned from athletic competition?
They allow for the athlete to cheat and win a race or event without as much effort.
9.What are areas to consider when designing a training plan for an athlete?
Whether the athlete has asthma, a physical disability, muscular dystrophy, Narcolepsy, the upper limit of how much they can perform and do without tiring or getting injured.
4.4.1 Conclusion Questions
1. Provide at least two examples of the opposite effects of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the nervous system.
Parasympathetic releases saliva and controls hormones, while sympathetic controls locomotor movement and speaking different languages.
2. Explain how the respiratory and the cardiovascular system work together to meet the demands of the working muscle.
The cardiovascular system transports oxygen that the body gets from the respiratory system to the muscles that need it for fuel and energy.
3. Our body sweats to stay cool during exercise. How does this seem to counteract the action of the urinary system?
It expels water which the urinary system functions to balance the water in our body.
4. List and describe at least three things a runner can do before a race to prepare the body for the demands it is about to endure.
Carb load- eat well with lots of carbohydrates to get necessary energy.
Stretch- prepare the muscles for exercise and activity
Warm up- get oxygen going throughout the body
5. When you set out to jog five miles, your body first uses the ATP that is floating around in your system. Describe the systems that your body relies on for ATP after this point.
Your body uses the lactic acid cycle to do glycolysis for a while, then resorts to aerobic respiration to use oxygen to make more ATP, which results in an oxygen debt that leads to pain .
6. Which muscle energy system(s) is (are) used for each of the following activities? Make sure to explain your reasoning.
o The 50 meter dash
Primary ATP. If that is used up, then the lactic acid fermentation kicks in
o A game of basketball
All three energy systems are used to keep the body going throughout the whole game
o A single football play
Most likely just ATP in the blood
o Weight lifting
Lactic Acid Fermentation because of the pain and soreness felt later
o Running a marathon
Aerobic because you run for hours on end
4.4.2 Conclusion Questions
1. Use the data in your table to calculate the percent loss of grip strength that occurs between the 0-20s and 60-80s intervals. Describe a situation in which such a loss of grip strength is noticeable in your day-to-day life.
0-20 seconds: 28%
60-80 seconds: 78%
If you spend a long day playing golf, you may notice muscle fatigue in your hands.
2. Use the data in your table to calculate the percent change in amplitude (∆mV) in electrical activity that occurs between 0-20s and 60-80s. What accounts for the difference in the percent change observed in grip strength and ∆mV for the two time intervals? What’s going on in your muscle?
0-20 seconds: 2.891
60-80 seconds: 2.000
It decreased because my body was not able to continue to work that hard for that length of time. My muscle fatigued.
3. How did your mean grip strength in the last 20 seconds of the experiment compare to the 60-80s interval? Explain this result.
112 > 116. At 80 seconds, we were asked to increase our grip strength, which resulted in a slightly higher mean grip strength for the last 20 seconds.
4. Do the findings from your experiments support or refute the practice of “coaching from the sidelines” at sporting events? Can you exert “mind over muscle?”
They support, because whenever I had my classmates cheering me on for the last 20 seconds, I did better than I had the previous 20 seconds. Yes, it is possible to exert mind over muscle.
5. What role does the nervous system play in muscle fatigue?
The nervous system helps prevent muscle tearing by decreasing the rate of nerve impulses sent so that no injury is caused by an overworking muscle.
6. Is the hand grip test an example of an isometric or an isotonic muscle contraction? Explain your reasoning.
Isometric. The joints of the hand do not move, but the muscles generate a sufficient amount of force to prevent the object from falling from the hands.
7. What conclusion can you draw about the number of individual muscle fibers that fired in the last 10 seconds as compared with the first 10 seconds?
The number of fibers that fired likely increased to generate a greater amount of force to grip the measuring instrument.
8. What energy systems does your body use to support the 100s trial in the experiment? Refer back to information presented in Activity 4.4.1.
At the beginning, the body used up the ATP energy in my muscles to support the enduring muscle contraction. Once the ATP was used up, my body had to switch to lactic acid fermentation in order to support a continued muscle contraction.
9. Describe one way a person can train to overcome muscle fatigue.
Exercising that muscle/muscle group helps it increase in size and use energy more efficiently.
4.4.3 Conclusion Questions
1. Describe how two of the performance enhancers you discussed in the summit affect human body systems. Be sure to include both positive effects and negative effects.
Caffeine provides energy, but you will most likely crash later.
Andro helps build muscle, but it is likely to affect reproduction later in life.
2. Some performance enhancers are only banned in specific sports. Why do you think beta-blockers are banned in sports such as archery or gymnastics?
It builds fine muscle control rather than rougher muscle. Fine muscle is more important in archery than rough muscle is.
3. Unfortunately, it is not just athletes who are turning to these types of treatments. Many young men and woman, unhappy with their bodies, may turn to drugs in the hopes of added muscle mass, increased size or a leaner body. Why do you think students your age might consider using these drugs and what would you say to those who are considering it?
They likely have bad body image. I would say that natural exercise and better eating habits take longer to see results, but end up in a much healthier body.
4. “Gene doping” has recently been added to the WADA prohibited list. What do you think this term means?
It likely means that someone's DNA is altered so that they are more likely to be a better athlete and be better at competition.
5. Finnish cross-country skier Eero Mantyranta won two gold medals in the 1964 Winter Olympics. It was not until decades later that scientists identified a genetic mutation in Eero’s family that causes an excessive response to EPO. How do you think this “natural advantage” contributed to Eero’s success in endurance sports?
It helped his body to hold on to a higher amount of energy for a much longer period of time than the average human.
6. Describe at least two other genetic changes (either natural or through genetic enhancement) that might improve the performance of an athlete. Make sure to explain how the gene change is linked to increased chances for success.
Taking artificial steroids helps the body to build muscle mass. Genetic enhancement could make a human more likely to build muscle more easily later in life.
7. Throughout this course, we have been looking at medical interventions as a means to preserve and better life as we know it. Explain how performance enhancers show another side of medical interventions.
Performance enhancers show a darker side of medical intervention. Many people misuse medical intervention to cheat in their sports activities so that they can be seen as a superior athlete to others in their competition.
1.What is the connection between power and movement in the body?
Power is supplied by food, water and oxygen and it is necessary for movement to occur in the body.
2.How does the body maintain a supply of ATP during exercise?
The body utilizes other systems to generate ATP. Instead of using cellular respiration, it switches to lactic acid fermentation, which produces a lot less ATP but occurs much more quickly.
3.What body systems are involved with powering an athlete through a running race?
Muscular, Skeletal, Cardiovascular, and Nervous.
4.What is muscle fatigue?
When muscles begin to lose energy because of a lack of ATP/oxygen. This is when an athlete begins to feel tired and pain.
5.How are we able to overcome muscle fatigue?
We begin to breathe more often, expelling more Carbon Dioxide and take in more Oxygen in order to combat the oxygen debt that caused our bodies to switch to lactic acid fermentation.
6.What are performance-enhancing drugs?
Chemicals and substances that interfere in the body and allow someone to do more physically without tiring. An example of a PED could be a substance that increase the amount of oxygen in the blood.
7.How do specific performance-enhancing drugs affect the human body?
They can change the composition of the blood so that there is more oxygen. Some others may help increase muscle mass without as much physical activity.
8.Why should certain performance-enhancing drugs be banned from athletic competition?
They allow for the athlete to cheat and win a race or event without as much effort.
9.What are areas to consider when designing a training plan for an athlete?
Whether the athlete has asthma, a physical disability, muscular dystrophy, Narcolepsy, the upper limit of how much they can perform and do without tiring or getting injured.
4.4.1 Conclusion Questions
1. Provide at least two examples of the opposite effects of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the nervous system.
Parasympathetic releases saliva and controls hormones, while sympathetic controls locomotor movement and speaking different languages.
2. Explain how the respiratory and the cardiovascular system work together to meet the demands of the working muscle.
The cardiovascular system transports oxygen that the body gets from the respiratory system to the muscles that need it for fuel and energy.
3. Our body sweats to stay cool during exercise. How does this seem to counteract the action of the urinary system?
It expels water which the urinary system functions to balance the water in our body.
4. List and describe at least three things a runner can do before a race to prepare the body for the demands it is about to endure.
Carb load- eat well with lots of carbohydrates to get necessary energy.
Stretch- prepare the muscles for exercise and activity
Warm up- get oxygen going throughout the body
5. When you set out to jog five miles, your body first uses the ATP that is floating around in your system. Describe the systems that your body relies on for ATP after this point.
Your body uses the lactic acid cycle to do glycolysis for a while, then resorts to aerobic respiration to use oxygen to make more ATP, which results in an oxygen debt that leads to pain .
6. Which muscle energy system(s) is (are) used for each of the following activities? Make sure to explain your reasoning.
o The 50 meter dash
Primary ATP. If that is used up, then the lactic acid fermentation kicks in
o A game of basketball
All three energy systems are used to keep the body going throughout the whole game
o A single football play
Most likely just ATP in the blood
o Weight lifting
Lactic Acid Fermentation because of the pain and soreness felt later
o Running a marathon
Aerobic because you run for hours on end
4.4.2 Conclusion Questions
1. Use the data in your table to calculate the percent loss of grip strength that occurs between the 0-20s and 60-80s intervals. Describe a situation in which such a loss of grip strength is noticeable in your day-to-day life.
0-20 seconds: 28%
60-80 seconds: 78%
If you spend a long day playing golf, you may notice muscle fatigue in your hands.
2. Use the data in your table to calculate the percent change in amplitude (∆mV) in electrical activity that occurs between 0-20s and 60-80s. What accounts for the difference in the percent change observed in grip strength and ∆mV for the two time intervals? What’s going on in your muscle?
0-20 seconds: 2.891
60-80 seconds: 2.000
It decreased because my body was not able to continue to work that hard for that length of time. My muscle fatigued.
3. How did your mean grip strength in the last 20 seconds of the experiment compare to the 60-80s interval? Explain this result.
112 > 116. At 80 seconds, we were asked to increase our grip strength, which resulted in a slightly higher mean grip strength for the last 20 seconds.
4. Do the findings from your experiments support or refute the practice of “coaching from the sidelines” at sporting events? Can you exert “mind over muscle?”
They support, because whenever I had my classmates cheering me on for the last 20 seconds, I did better than I had the previous 20 seconds. Yes, it is possible to exert mind over muscle.
5. What role does the nervous system play in muscle fatigue?
The nervous system helps prevent muscle tearing by decreasing the rate of nerve impulses sent so that no injury is caused by an overworking muscle.
6. Is the hand grip test an example of an isometric or an isotonic muscle contraction? Explain your reasoning.
Isometric. The joints of the hand do not move, but the muscles generate a sufficient amount of force to prevent the object from falling from the hands.
7. What conclusion can you draw about the number of individual muscle fibers that fired in the last 10 seconds as compared with the first 10 seconds?
The number of fibers that fired likely increased to generate a greater amount of force to grip the measuring instrument.
8. What energy systems does your body use to support the 100s trial in the experiment? Refer back to information presented in Activity 4.4.1.
At the beginning, the body used up the ATP energy in my muscles to support the enduring muscle contraction. Once the ATP was used up, my body had to switch to lactic acid fermentation in order to support a continued muscle contraction.
9. Describe one way a person can train to overcome muscle fatigue.
Exercising that muscle/muscle group helps it increase in size and use energy more efficiently.
4.4.3 Conclusion Questions
1. Describe how two of the performance enhancers you discussed in the summit affect human body systems. Be sure to include both positive effects and negative effects.
Caffeine provides energy, but you will most likely crash later.
Andro helps build muscle, but it is likely to affect reproduction later in life.
2. Some performance enhancers are only banned in specific sports. Why do you think beta-blockers are banned in sports such as archery or gymnastics?
It builds fine muscle control rather than rougher muscle. Fine muscle is more important in archery than rough muscle is.
3. Unfortunately, it is not just athletes who are turning to these types of treatments. Many young men and woman, unhappy with their bodies, may turn to drugs in the hopes of added muscle mass, increased size or a leaner body. Why do you think students your age might consider using these drugs and what would you say to those who are considering it?
They likely have bad body image. I would say that natural exercise and better eating habits take longer to see results, but end up in a much healthier body.
4. “Gene doping” has recently been added to the WADA prohibited list. What do you think this term means?
It likely means that someone's DNA is altered so that they are more likely to be a better athlete and be better at competition.
5. Finnish cross-country skier Eero Mantyranta won two gold medals in the 1964 Winter Olympics. It was not until decades later that scientists identified a genetic mutation in Eero’s family that causes an excessive response to EPO. How do you think this “natural advantage” contributed to Eero’s success in endurance sports?
It helped his body to hold on to a higher amount of energy for a much longer period of time than the average human.
6. Describe at least two other genetic changes (either natural or through genetic enhancement) that might improve the performance of an athlete. Make sure to explain how the gene change is linked to increased chances for success.
Taking artificial steroids helps the body to build muscle mass. Genetic enhancement could make a human more likely to build muscle more easily later in life.
7. Throughout this course, we have been looking at medical interventions as a means to preserve and better life as we know it. Explain how performance enhancers show another side of medical interventions.
Performance enhancers show a darker side of medical intervention. Many people misuse medical intervention to cheat in their sports activities so that they can be seen as a superior athlete to others in their competition.