EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY

Exercise Physiology is at the heart of every champion athlete.

Every training system, every performance enhancement, even the prevention and rehab of injuries comes first from a sound understanding of how the body responds to exercise and stress.

But it’s not just the elite that can benefit from this understanding…

Amateur and aspiring pros alike can begin to tap their full potential by learning more about their body’s capabilities.

So whether it’s to improve your performance, or just out of intrigue — below you’ll find an ever-expanding selection of Exercise Physiology articles.
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Exercise Physiology Articles

Energy Systems in Sport & Exercise
How does your body produce the energy it needs to power you through any activity? What exactly does aerobic and anaerobic exercise mean? Understanding your body’s energy systems will help you design a more precise fitness program…

VO2max – Your Aerobic Potential
VO2max is the best indicator of your “aerobic potential”. In untrained individuals it can be a good marker of fitness. But how useful is it in predicting performance in top athletes and is VO2max the be all and end all in endurance-based sports?

Lactate Threshold – Tapping Your Aerobic Potential
If VO2 max is your aerobic endurance potential then your lactate threshold plays a significant role in how much of that potential you are tapping…

How to Determine Your Anaerobic Threshold
There are several non-invasive tests used to determine the anaerobic threshold. Which are the most reliable?

Lactic Acid, Blood Lactate & The ‘Lactic Acid Myth’
Blood lactate is not be all bad! In fact there is research questioning whether it causes fatigue at all. This review of the literature highlights the good and bad of both lactic acid and blood lactate…

Acclimatization to Altitude
What happens to our bodies several thousand meters above sea level? And can adaptations to altitude improve performance at sea-level?

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)
We’ve all suffered it – the stiff, aching muscles that follow the first day of training or a long layoff. But can it be prevented or treated?

The Cardiovascular System and Exercise
What are the immediate and long-term changes to the cardiovascular system following an endurance training program?

FITT Principle of Training
The four basic rules of any effective training program…

Hyperplasia Examined
How do muscles really get bigger and stronger? Hyperplasia is controversial but intriguing and there might be some evidence to back it up…

Hypertrophy examined
A more conventional concept of muscle growth…

Using Heart Rate Reserve to Calculate Target Heart Rate
How to use the Karvonen formula for a more accurtae target heart rate zone…

Muscular System Picture (Anterior View)
Here’s all the major muscle groups in the human body – those you can see from the front that is!

Muscular System Diagram (Posterior View)
And here’s all the major muscle groups in the human body from the back…

Muscle Anatomy & Structure
Take any skeletal muscle in the body, break it down into it’s smallest parts and what do you get?

Sliding Filament Theory
How do our muscles contract? Here’s the generally accepted mechanism for all human movement..