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Cardiorespiratory Responses
to Exercise
Cardiovascular Responses
to Acute Exercise
 Cardiovascular Responses
to Acute Exercise
• Increases blood flow to working muscle
• Involves altered heart function,
peripheral circulatory adaptations
– Heart rate
– Stroke volume
– Cardiac output
– Blood pressure
– Blood flow
– Blood
 Cardiovascular Responses:
Resting Heart Rate (RHR)
• Normal ranges
– Untrained RHR: 60 to 80 beats/min
– Trained RHR: as low as 30 to 40 beats/min
– Affected by neural tone, temperature,
altitude

• Anticipatory response: HR  above RHR

just before start of exercise
– Vagal tone 
– Norepinephrine, epinephrine 
Heart rate response to
exercise

continued high HR

Rapid recovery

sharp rise Slow recovery

Steady state
Anticipatory rise
 Cardiovascular Responses:
Heart Rate During Exercise
• Directly proportional to exercise intensity
• Maximum HR (HRmax):
– Estimated HRmax = 220 – age in years
– Better estimated HRmax = 208 – (0.7 x age in
years)
 Cardiovascular Responses:
Factors That Increase Stroke
Volume
•  Preload: end-diastolic ventricular stretch
–  Stretch (i.e.,  EDV)   contraction
strength
– Frank-Starling mechanism
•  Contractility: inherent ventricle property
–  Norepinephrine or epinephrine  
contractility
– Independent of EDV ( ejection fraction
instead)
•  Afterload: aortic resistance (R)
Stroke volume response to
exercise

Anticipatory rise
Cardiovascular Responses: Stroke
Volume Changes During Exercise
•  Preload at lower intensities   SV
–  Venous return   EDV   preload
– Muscle and respiratory pumps
• Increase in HR   filling time 
slight  in EDV   SV
•  Contractility at higher intensities 
 SV
•  Afterload via vasodilation   SV
 Cardiovascular Responses:
Cardiac Output (Q)

• Q = HR x SV
• Normal values
– Resting Q ~5 L/min
– Untrained Qmax ~20 L/min
– Trained Qmax 40 L/min

• Qmax a function of body size and aerobic

fitness
 Cardiovascular Responses:
Blood Pressure
• During endurance exercise, mean arterial
pressure (MAP) increases
– Systolic BP  proportional to exercise
intensity
– Diastolic BP slight  or slight  (at max
exercise)
• MAP = Q x total peripheral resistance
(TPR)
– Q , TPR  slightly
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Cardiovascular Changes
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Cardiovascular Changes
• Heart size
• Stroke volume
• Heart rate
• Cardiac output
• Blood flow
• Blood pressure
• Blood volume
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Cardiovascular: HR
• Heart size
– With training, heart mass and LV volume 
– Target pulse rate (TPR)  cardiac
hypertrophy   SV
–  Plasma volume   LV volume  
EDV
  SV
– Volume loading effect
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Cardiovascular: SV
• SV  after training
– Resting, submaximal, and maximal
– Plasma volume  with training   EDV
  preload
– Resting and submaximal HR  with training
  filling time   EDV
–  LV mass with training   force of
contraction
– Attenuated  TPR with training  
afterload

• SV adaptations to training  with age

Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Cardiovascular: HR
• Resting HR
–  Markedly (~1 beat/min per week of training)
–  Parasympathetic,  sympathetic activity in heart

• Submaximal HR
–  HR for same given absolute intensity
– More noticeable at higher submaximal intensities

• Maximal HR
– No significant change with training
–  With age
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Cardiovascular: Blood Flow
•  Blood flow to active muscle
•  Capillarization, capillary recruitment
–  Capillary:fiber ratio
–  Total cross-sectional area for capillary
exchange

•  Blood flow to inactive regions

•  Total blood volume
– Prevents any decrease in venous return as a
result of more blood in capillaries
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Cardiovascular
• Blood pressure
–  BP at given submaximal intensity
–  Systolic BP,  diastolic BP at maximal
intensity

• Blood volume: total volume  rapidly

–  Plasma volume via  plasma proteins, 
water and Na+ retention (all in first 2 weeks)
–  Red blood cell volume (though hematocrit
may )
–  Plasma viscosity
Cardiovascular Adaptations to
Chronic Endurance Exercise
Long-term responses of the
nervous control system
Respiratory Responses
During Exercise
 Respiratory Responses:
Ventilation During Exercise
• Ventilation increase proportional to
metabolic needs of muscle
– At low-exercise intensity, only tidal volume

– At high-exercise intensity, rate also 

• Ventilation recovery
– Recovery takes several minutes
– May be regulated by blood pH, PCO2,
temperature
Ventilation – short-term
response to exercise
 Respiratory Responses:
Ventilation During Exercise

• Immediate  in ventilation
– Begins before muscle contractions
– Anticipatory response from central
command

• Gradual second phase of  in ventilation

– Driven by chemical changes in arterial blood
–  CO2, H+ sensed by chemoreceptors
– Right atrial stretch receptors
chemoreceptor
Respiratory Adaptations to
Aerobic Training
Lung volumes and capacities
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Respiratory
• Pulmonary ventilation
–  At given submaximal intensity
–  At maximal intensity due to  tidal
volume and respiratory frequency
• Pulmonary diffusion
– Unchanged during rest and at submaximal
intensity
–  At maximal intensity due to  lung
perfusion
• Arterial-venous O2 difference
–  Due to  O2 extraction and active muscle
blood flow
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Muscle
• Fiber type
–  Size and number of type I fibers

• Capillary supply
–  Number of capillaries supplying each fiber
– May be key factor in  VO2max

• Myoglobin
–  Myoglobin content by 75 to 80%
– Supports  oxidative capacity in muscle
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Muscle
• Mitochondrial function
–  Size and number
– Magnitude of change depends on training
volume

• Oxidative enzymes (SDH, citrate

synthase)
–  Activity with training
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Muscle
• High-intensity interval training (HIT):
time-efficient way to induce many
adaptations normally associated with
endurance training
• Mitochondrial enzyme cytochrome
oxidase (COX)  same after HIT
Adaptations to Aerobic Training:
Metabolic
• Resting and submaximal VO2
– Resting VO2 unchanged with training
– Submaximal VO2 unchanged or  slightly
with training

• Maximal VO2 (VO2max)

– Best indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness
–  Substantially with training (15-20%)
–  Due to  cardiac output and capillary
density
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