Long term effects of exercise on the body systems

Taking part in regular exercise or training around three times per week for six weeks will lead to adaptation of the body systems that are used or trained. This has the effect of increasing performance in that type of exercise or sport and is often beneficial to general health and everyday life.

Weightlifter deadlifting some heavy weights — Image caption,
Resistance training increases strength

Several men and women running on treadmills in a gym — Image caption,
Aerobic training increases aerobic endurance

	Long term effects of exercise	Type of training
Cardiovascular system	Cardiac hypertrophy; increased stroke volume (SV); decrease in resting heart rate (HR); increase in maximum cardiac output (Q); capillarisation at the lungs and muscles; increase in number of red blood cells	Aerobic
Respiratory system	Increased number of functioning alveoli; increased strength of the respiratory muscles (intercostals and diaphragm)	Aerobic
Energy system	Increased production of energy from the aerobic energy system; increased tolerance to lactic acid	Aerobic; anaerobic
Muscular system	Muscle hypertrophy; increased strength of tendons; increased strength of ligaments	Resistance
Skeletal system	Increase in bone density	Resistance
Fitness	Increase in strength; increase in flexibility; increase in speed; increase in muscular endurance	Resistance; stretching; interval

Cardiovascular system
Long term effects of exercise	Cardiac hypertrophy; increased stroke volume (SV); decrease in resting heart rate (HR); increase in maximum cardiac output (Q); capillarisation at the lungs and muscles; increase in number of red blood cells
Type of training	Aerobic

Respiratory system
Long term effects of exercise	Increased number of functioning alveoli; increased strength of the respiratory muscles (intercostals and diaphragm)
Type of training	Aerobic

Energy system
Long term effects of exercise	Increased production of energy from the aerobic energy system; increased tolerance to lactic acid
Type of training	Aerobic; anaerobic

Muscular system
Long term effects of exercise	Muscle hypertrophy; increased strength of tendons; increased strength of ligaments
Type of training	Resistance

Skeletal system
Long term effects of exercise	Increase in bone density
Type of training	Resistance

Fitness
Long term effects of exercise	Increase in strength; increase in flexibility; increase in speed; increase in muscular endurance
Type of training	Resistance; stretching; interval

Cardiac hypertrophy

Hypertrophy means an increase in size, so muscle hypertrophy means the muscles get bigger. If you weight train regularly doing biceps curls, your biceps will show muscle hypertrophy. Cardiac hypertrophy is where the ventricle wall gets larger or thickens as a result of exercise.

A normal heart and a heart with muscular hypertrophy, where the left ventricular wall has thickened as a result of exercise.

The muscle wall of the left ventricle increases in size, meaning it is able to pump out more blood during each contraction which increases the stroke volume. As stroke volume is increased, resting heart rate decreases but cardiac output (Q) remains the same as SV × HR = Q.

Capillarisation

Capillarisation is the process where new capillaries are formed. Capillarisation takes place at the alveoli in the lungs and at the skeletal muscle. This has the effect of increasing the amount of oxygen that can be transferred to the working muscles as well as increasing the amount of carbon dioxide that can be removed.

Question

Give an example of a type of exercise that would produce cardiac hypertrophy.

Question

Give an example of a type of exercise that would produce muscle hypertrophy.

Next up

Test your understanding

��̳

Immediate, short and long term effects of exercise - AQALong term effects of exercise on the body systems