Janely Castro

Patricia Príncipe

Vigorous aerobic exercise and its effects on metabolism on young healthy untrained female
individuals.

Abstract
With the increase awareness of the importance of exercise in well-being and since the human body
has unique ways of responding to exercise and physical activities, many studies have been done
on the changes that exercise and physical activity produce on metabolism. In this study, we tested
how well our data resemble the existent data on immediate physiological response to vigorous
aerobic exercise. To assess changes in metabolism, blood glucose levels were measured before the
routine started, after the first 10 minutes of exercise and after the cool down. Oxygen consumption
was monitored during the entire exercise routine. Blood glucose level before performance of
vigorous exercise was 87 mg/dL, after 10 minutes into vigorous exercise it was 51 mg/dL,
following cool down blood glucose level was 87 mg/dL. Oxygen consumption increased as
treadmill speed increased and it decreased as treadmill speed decreased. Oxygen consumption was
the highest after 20 minutes with a value of 1.85 L/min. Our hypothesis was confirmed as the blood
glucose levels and the oxygen consumption levels agreed with the current available data on blood
glucose levels and oxygen consumption before, during, and after vigorous exercise. These results
showed that our subject had a normal and healthy metabolic response to vigorous exercise.

Introduction
The benefits that can be obtained through regular exercise and physical activities can be said to be
innumerable. Regular exercise and physical activities are said to well treat the stress coming from
limited life, provide mental and physical health and pleasure, strengthen the heart muscles,
increase blood flows to the heart, reduce blood fats, maintain normal blood pressure and body
weight, and increase the quantity of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), while reducing
the quantity of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (Lee et al., 2010). With the increase
awareness of the importance of exercise in well-being and since the human body has unique ways
of responding to exercise and physical activities, many studies have been done on the changes that
exercise and physical activity produce on metabolism. In this study, we aim to provide relatable
data regarding healthy untrained young female individuals and their immediate physiological
response to vigorous aerobic exercise to see how well they fit the existent data on the human body
responses to exercise and physical activities. To achieve this, changes in metabolism will be taken
into account before, during, and after the performance of a vigorous aerobic exercise routine.

Hypothesis
Changes in metabolism should agree with the available data regarding immediate physiological
responses to exercise and physical activity on healthy untrained individuals.
Methods
A 20-minute running workout on the treadmill was used as a vigorous exercise routine as follows:

Time Speed (mph) Incline (%)

1 min. 4.5 0
1 min. 5.0 0
1 min. 5.0 0
1 min. 5.5 0
1 min. 6.0 0
2 min. 6.5 0
1 min. 4.0 0
1 min. 4.5 0
45 sec. 6.0 0
*Repeat x1 (Robertson, 2016)

Cool Down: 5 min of a series of movements consisting of toe touch, quad stretch, overhead triceps,
and pike hold (Hy-Vee, 2017).

To assess changes in metabolism, blood glucose levels were measured before the routine started,
after the first 10 minutes of exercise and after the cool down. Oxygen consumption was monitored
during the entire exercise routine.
Blood glucose levels were measured using a GE100 Blood Glucose Monitoring System by General
Electrics Company. Oxygen consumption was measured using a metabolic cart available at the
Human Performance Lab at Southwestern Adventist University.

Anticipated Results
The anticipated results were based on information found in the textbook (Silverthorn, 2016) and
Mayo Clinic (Mayo Clinic, 2015).

Before performance of vigorous exercise

Results for each of the tests (blood glucose and oxygen consumption) should be within a normal
level range expected for a young healthy untrained female.

During performance of vigorous exercise

Blood glucose levels should drop. Oxygen consumption will be expected to increase.
After performance of vigorous exercise (following cool down)
Blood glucose levels might be still lower than the initial level or they might have recovered back
to its initial level Oxygen consumption will be expected to be lower than during the exercise
performance.

Results
Blood glucose level before performance of vigorous exercise was 87 mg/dL, after 10 minutes into
vigorous exercise it was 51 mg/dL, following cool down blood glucose level was 87 mg/dL.
Oxygen consumption increased as treadmill speed increased and it decreased as treadmill speed
decreased (Figure 1). Oxygen consumption was the highest after 20 minutes with a value of 1.85
L/min. This happened during the second half of the workout. The highest oxygen consumption
 value during the first half of the workout was 1.77 L/min after approximately six minutes into the
workout (Table 1).

Fig.1 Metabolic graphic report.

Oxygen consumption in volume rate (VO2) of liters per minute. As time progressed and speed
increased oxygen consumption increased. The lowest valley in between the peaks corresponds to
a short break needed to adjust equipment to subject before proceeding on the second half of the
workout.

Table 1. Oxygen consumption as L/min at standard temperature and pressure (STPD) with
respect to time.

Time VO2 VO2/kg Time VO2 VO2/kg Time VO2 VO2/kg

(min:sec) STPD STPD (min:sec) STPD STPD (min:sec) STPD STPD
(L/min) (ml/kg/m) (L/min) (ml/kg/m) (L/min) (ml/kg/m)
**00:00 Start Exercise
0:31 0.21 3.8 9:31 1.14 20.4 20:01 1.85 33.2
1:02 0.51 9.1 10:00 1.46 26 20:32 1.56 27.8
1:30 0.73 13.1 10:30 1.31 23.4 21:00 1.65 29.6
2:01 1.11 19.9 12:51 0.07 1.3 21:30 1.39 24.9
2:30 1.28 22.8 13:01 0.35 6.3 22:00 1.32 23.5
3:01 1.3 23.3 13:34 0.33 5.8 22:30 1.36 24.3
3:31 1.5 26.9 14:02 0.58 10.4 23:01 1.46 26.2
4:01 1.43 25.5 14:30 0.78 13.9 23:30 1.26 22.6
4:30 1.6 28.6 15:00 1.08 19.3 24:02 0.97 17.4
5:01 1.58 28.3 15:30 1.04 18.5 24:33 0.7 12.5
5:30 1.55 27.7 16:00 1.33 23.8 25:00 0.8 14.3
6:01 1.62 28.9 16:30 1.41 25.3 25:30 0.73 13.1
6:31 1.77 31.6 17:00 1.5 26.8 26:02 0.59 10.5
7:01 1.7 30.4 17:30 1.64 29.3 26:32 0.46 8.3
7:31 1.5 26.8 18:00 1.68 30 27:01 0.49 8.7
8:01 1.1 19.7 18:31 1.67 29.8 27:31 0.59 10.5
8:30 0.87 15.5 19:00 1.8 32.3 28:02 0.53 9.5
9:02 1.03 18.5 19:30 1.82 32.6 28:31 0.46 8.2
28:48 0.48 8.6
Discussion
Our hypothesis was confirmed as the blood glucose levels and the oxygen consumption levels
agreed with the current available data on blood glucose levels and oxygen consumption before,
during, and after vigorous exercise. Blood glucose levels were normal before the start of the
vigorous exercise routine since normal glucose levels before a meal are within 72 to 99 mg/dL
(National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2012). As the physical activity progressed,
blood glucose levels dropped. This is in accordance with the current knowledge that exercise draws
on reserve sugar stored in muscles and liver. As the body rebuilds these stores, it takes sugar from
the blood. The more strenuous the workout, the longer blood sugar will be affected (Mayo Clinic,
2015). Following cooldown, blood glucose had gone back to normal, this was expected for a young
female individual. Oxygen consumption is known to be an indirect way to measure metabolic
changes (Silverthorn, 2016). During our experimentation, subject’s oxygen consumption increased
as the intensity of the physical activity increased which correlated the speed on the treadmill. This
showed that intensity of the physical activity affects metabolism. These results were gratifying to
see as they showed that our subject had a normal and healthy metabolism. However, this also raises
questions about how other subjects with diseases related to metabolism could be affected by
vigorous exercise or physical activity. For example, checking blood sugar before, during and after
exercise is something expected to be done routinely by diabetic patients (Mayo Clinic, 2015). This
is due to the extreme blood sugar fluctuations that these types of patients may experience, this
means that although exercise can help them improve their blood sugar control, exercise might also
pose unique challenges for them. However, independent of the possible challenges exercise might
present to diabetic patients, our experimentation confirmed that young healthy female individuals
are expected to have normal metabolic responses to vigorous exercise. Therefore, physical activity
is encouraged to be practiced by young healthy individuals as they will benefit of the many
advantages that this will bring to their overall health.

Citations
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