Aerobic conditioning is the use of continuous, rhythmic movement of large

muscle Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

groups to strengthen the heart and lungs ( cardiovascular system), as well as changes to the skeletal muscles. Improvement in aerobic conditioning occurs when athletes expose themselves to an increase in oxygen uptake and

metabolism Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the co ...

, but to keep this level of aerobic conditioning, the athletes must keep or progressively increase their training to increase their aerobic conditioning. Aerobic conditioning is usually achieved through aerobic exercise such as

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion by which humans and other animals move quickly on foot. Running is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is in contrast to walkin ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

, rowing machine, elliptical, treadmill,

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

, etc. A stronger heart does not pump more blood by beating faster but by beating more efficiently, primarily via increased stroke volume and left ventricular mass. Trained endurance athletes can have resting heart rates as low as a reported 28 beats per minute ( Miguel Indurain) or 32 beats per minute ( Lance Armstrong), both of whom were professional cyclists at the highest level. Aerobic conditioning makes the

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

and lungs pump blood more efficiently, delivering more

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

s and organs. Skeletal muscles also become aerobically conditioned, as regular aerobic exercise produces a shift in muscle fibres from more type II (fast twitch/glycolytic) into more type I (slow-twitch/oxidative). Type I muscle fibres have far more mitochondria than type II, making type I fibres the producers of

adenosine triphosphate Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a nucleoside triphosphate that provides energy to drive and support many processes in living cell (biology), cells, such as muscle contraction, nerve impulse propagation, and chemical synthesis. Found in all known ...

(ATP) primarily through oxidative phosphorylation rather than anaerobic glycolysis. Some neuromuscular diseases recommend regular aerobic exercise (of varying intensities depending on the disease) in order for the skeletal muscles to become aerobically conditioned, providing symptom relief or slowing the course of the disease, for example metabolic myopathies, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM).

History

Benefits

Aerobic Conditioning has many benefits, including: * build stronger bones * improve muscle strength, endurance, and flexibility * Improve balance * Increase mental function * Assist in weight management and weight loss * Reduce risk of developing heart disease, hypertension, stroke or diabetes * Improve lung function * Lower blood pressure * Increase HDL ("good" cholesterol) * Help to manage blood sugar

Cardiovascular conditioning

Aerobic conditioning trains the heart to be more effective at pumping blood around the body, it does this in a multitude of ways: * Increasing the stroke volume of the heart (how much blood the heart is pumping per beat) * Increasing the diameter of the blood vessels, which allows for more blood to move through the body, which in turn allows for more oxygen to diffuse into muscle cells. * Increasing the size of the heart chambers, enlarging the heart so it can hold and pump more blood.

Maximum oxygen intake (Vo2)

Aerobic conditioning has the ability to raise maximum oxygen intake, meaning that they are able to diffuse more oxygen into their blood than they previously could. Although exercising at lower intensities improves aerobic conditioning, the most rapid gains are made when exercising close to the anaerobic threshold. This is the intensity at which the heart and lungs can no longer provide adequate oxygen to the working muscles and an oxygen debt begins to accrue; at this point the exercise becomes anaerobic. Aerobic training intensity for most individuals is <85-92% of maximum heart rate.

Recommendations

Aerobic conditioning has many benefits to overall health as it can increase physical endurance and lifespan. Once improvement in aerobic conditioning is apparent, for example in metabolism and oxygen uptake, the body progressively adapts to further training. Aerobic conditioning can be anywhere from walking on the treadmill to mowing the lawn. The average healthy person should engage in 150–200 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise every week. This amount of physical activity helps with maintaining a healthy

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

and protecting the cardiovascular system. Aerobic conditioning increases the amount of physical activity that the body can endure . It benefits sports performance as well. This type of conditioning can help with

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

, diabetes, or

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...

. Aerobic conditioning also has many general benefits, such as improving mood, alleviating

fatigue Fatigue is a state of tiredness (which is not sleepiness), exhaustion or loss of energy. It is a signs and symptoms, symptom of any of various diseases; it is not a disease in itself. Fatigue (in the medical sense) is sometimes associated wit ...

and stabilizing sleeping patterns.Am J Lifestyle Med. (2010). Aerobic Conditioning and Physical Activity.Sage Publications.

References

''Aerobic exercise.''(2023, August 15). Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved March 3, 2024. *Kearns, K. (2011). Aerobic exercise and FASD. University of Victoria, Retrieved fro
Aerobic Exercise Program and FASD , Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)
*Cooper, Kenneth C. ''The New Aerobics.'' Eldora, Iowa: Prairie Wind. *Donatelle, Rebecca J. ''Health: The Basics''. 6th ed. San Francisco: Pearson Education, Inc. 2005. *Hinkle, J. Scott

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719225713/http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-3/fitness.htm , date=2010-07-19 Ann Arbor, MI: ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Personnel Services.

History

Benefits

Cardiovascular conditioning

Maximum oxygen intake (Vo2)

Recommendations

References

See also