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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
A comprehensive guide to the science of movement
Exercise Science For Dummies covers must-know information about the how and why to body movement. This useful primer covers content found in a typical introduction course in this topic area—which includes the likes of exercise physiology, biomechanics, and more. With current and helpful guidance, this book includes information on wearable technology, fitness programming across the lifespan, exercise as medicine, and the 101 on human performance, including prevention and care of injuries.
With Exercise Science For Dummies, you'll:
- Discover the science behind movement and exercise
- Know the powerful connection between the mind and body
- Understand exercise as a form of medicine
- Explore fitness across the lifespan
Exercise Science For Dummies is a great guide for kinesiology and exercise science majors, coaches and personal trainers, athletes, and anyone who would like to know more about movement.
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Seitenzahl: 577
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Exercise Science For Dummies®
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Getting Started with Exercise Science
Chapter 1: Introducing Exercise Science
Getting Familiar with Key Areas of Study
Understanding the Many Systems That Make Up the Human Body
Examining Exercise from Many Angles
Determining Whether Exercise Science Is the Field for You
Chapter 2: Better than a Pill: Exercise Is Medicine
Getting People to Value Physical Activity
Movement Matters: Physical Activity and Disease
Slowing Your Grow: Exercise and Health Span
Part 2: Powering the Body: Exercise Physiology
Chapter 3: Let’s Move, Baby! The Muscles
The Foundations of Muscle Movement: The Science behind Contraction
The Tortoise and the Hare: Fast- and Slow-Twitch Fibers
Working in Unison: How the Muscle Behaves
Acting on Instinct: Hardwired Muscle Reflexes
Training Muscles to Work
Recognizing Sources of Muscle Fatigue
Chapter 4: Keeping the Big Wheel Turning: Exercise Metabolism
Introducing The ATP-PC Energy System: Give Me Energy Now!
The Oxidative (Aerobic) System: It Just Keeps Going and Going
Measuring Metabolism: VO
2
Training for Improved Metabolism: It’s the Enzymes!
Chapter 5: The Body’s Engine: The Cardiovascular System
The Heart’s Structure: A Muscle Made to Pump
Seeing How the Heart Works
Delivering Fresh Air to Your Cells
Observing Blood Vessels in Action
Noting the Effects of Exercise on the Cardiovascular System
Making Long-Term Changes to Cardiovascular Performance
Chapter 6: Earthlings and the Earth: Adapting to Your Environment
Keeping It Just Right: The Basics of Temperature Regulation
Some Like It Hot — But Not Your Body!
When Chillin’ Ain’t Cool: Exercising in Cold Environments
Live High and Train Low: Exercising at Different Altitudes
Part 3: The Physics of Movement: Basic Biomechanics
Chapter 7: Planning Your Movements: Motor Control
Introducing the Main Player: The Neuron
Orders from Above: Motor Control
Your Place in Space: Sensory Information and Control of Movement
Threading the Needle or Shooting a Free Throw: Coordinating Movement
Chapter 8: The Nuts and Bolts of Movement
Biomechanics: The Study of Movement
Kinematics: A Compass Telling You Where You Are
Studying Kinetics: May the Force Be with You!
Chapter 9: These Joints Are A-Jumping
Getting These Old Bones to Move: Types of Joints
Enhancing Joint Stability and Longevity: Cartilage and Connective Tissues
Getting Physical: Understanding the Functional Basis to Moving
You Want Me to Put My What Where? Stretching Redefined!
Chapter 10: Assessing Movement: Motion Analysis
Investigating Movement: The Basics
Breaking Down an Analysis Model
Studying Motion Analysis Examples
Part 4: Improving Fitness and Performance: Putting It All Together
Chapter 11: Improving Physical Fitness: Training Wisely
Thinking of Exercise like a Dose of Medicine
Identifying the Key Components of an Exercise Session
Building Strength
Working on Flexibility Training
Chapter 12: Managing Your Body, Not the Other Way Around
Staying Healthy While Staying Active
Understanding Your Body: What Is It Made of and What Force Can It Take?
Identifying Common Injuries
Treating Injuries
Chapter 13: Molding the Clay: Body Composition and Weight Management
Knowing What Makes Up the Human Body: Body Composition
Measuring Body Composition
Managing Your Body Composition
Chapter 14: Measuring Performance: Fitness Trackers and the Wearables Craze
Seeing What Wearables Can Do
Measuring Activity and Performance
Enhancing Performance
Chapter 15: Eating for Success: Sports Nutrition
Macronutrients: Carbohydrates, Fat, and Protein
Water: Most of What We Are
Micronutrients: Vitamins and Minerals
Part 5: The Part of Tens
Chapter 16: Ten Foundations of Fitness
Training Specificity
Training Overload
Reversibility: If You Don’t Use It, You Lose It
Exercising to Build Better Bone
Sticking with It: Exercise Adherence
Cross-Training to Optimize Fitness
Accepting That Fat Goes Where It Wants
Keeping Blood Sugar under Control
Allowing Yourself to Recover from Exercise
Remaining Active as You Age
Chapter 17: Ten Facts about Obesity and Physical Inactivity
As One Goes Up, the Other Goes Down
Just Adding Activity May Not Be Enough
Obesity and Inactivity Can Lead to Metabolic Syndrome
Sitting Is the New Smoking
Obesity Is a Tough Burden for Children
Caloric Restriction Has Its Limits
There Is No Secret to Losing Fat
Fat Can Hide in Your Body
You Can Make a Difference in a Day
It All Adds Up
Chapter 18: Ten (or So) Careers for Exercise Scientists
Cardiac Rehabilitation
Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Wellness Specialist
Personal Trainer
Sports Biomechanist
Athletic Trainer
Sport and Exercise Psychologist
Wellness Coach
Index
About the Authors
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 2
TABLE 2-1 Physical Activities by MET Value
Chapter 3
TABLE 3-1 Common Characteristics of Slow-Twitch Muscles
TABLE 3-2 Common Characteristics of Fast Twitch Muscles
Chapter 4
TABLE 4-1 Fitness Categories Based on VO
2
Max (in mL/kg/min)
TABLE 4-2 Comparing VO
2
Max: An Example
Chapter 5
TABLE 5-1 How Blood Moves through the Heart
TABLE 5-2 Partial Pressure Gradient for Oxygen (PO
2
) and Carbon Dioxide (PCO
2
)
Chapter 9
TABLE 9-1 Types of Diarthrotic Joints
Chapter 11
TABLE 11-1 Effort Perception Scale
Chapter 14
TABLE 14-1 Types of Wearable Devices
Chapter 15
TABLE 15-1 The Glycemic Index for Select Foods
TABLE 15-2 Sources of Protein
TABLE 15-3 Vitamins: What They Do and Where to Get Them
TABLE 15-4 Minerals: What They Do and Where to Get Them
List of Illustrations
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2-1: Amount of physical activity and death from all causes.
FIGURE 2-2: Health scores across a lifetime.
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3-1: The anatomy of skeletal muscle tissue.
FIGURE 3-2: The sarcomere.
FIGURE 3-3: Calcium activates the contraction sequence.
FIGURE 3-4: Pennate and parallel muscles.
FIGURE 3-5: The angles of pull.
FIGURE 3-6: More and more motor units are recruited as the required force goes ...
FIGURE 3-7: The relationship between agonist and antagonist muscles.
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4-1: How phosphocreatine remakes ATP.
FIGURE 4-2: Producing ATP, using anaerobic glycolysis.
FIGURE 4-3: How lactic acid causes fatigue.
FIGURE 4-4: A mitochondrion.
FIGURE 4-5: The Krebs cycle: The body’s hydrogen-producing machine.
FIGURE 4-6: The electron transport system — using H
+
to make ATP.
FIGURE 4-7: Measuring VO
2
by analyzing the concentration of gas in your breath....
FIGURE 4-8: The anaerobic threshold — the point where lactic acid begins to acc...
Chapter 5
FIGURE 5-1: The direction of blood flow through the heart.
FIGURE 5-2: The coronary arteries originate at the aorta.
FIGURE 5-3: During diastole, the blood flows back toward the heart, providing i...
FIGURE 5-4: The contraction phase generates systolic pressure; the resting phas...
FIGURE 5-5: The sequence of electrical stimulation of the atria and ventricles ...
FIGURE 5-6: Red blood cells and the hemoglobin contained in them pick up, trans...
FIGURE 5-7: The difference between the amount of oxygen in the arteries versus ...
Chapter 6
FIGURE 6-1: The heat index factors together air temperature and humidity.
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7-1: The parts of a neuron.
FIGURE 7-2: The brain.
FIGURE 7-3: The basal ganglia.
FIGURE 7-4: Leg movement is broken into stance phase (top) and swing phase (bot...
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8-1: Types of motion: rectilinear, curvilinear, angular, and general.
FIGURE 8-2: Anatomical position.
FIGURE 8-3: Cardinal planes of motion and axes of rotation.
FIGURE 8-4: Sagittal plane movements.
FIGURE 8-5: Frontal plane movements.
FIGURE 8-6: Traverse plane movements.
FIGURE 8-7: Types of levers.
FIGURE 8-8: Torque is dependent on an eccentric force.
FIGURE 8-9: Mechanical loads.
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-1: Types of joints.
FIGURE 9-2: Articular cartilage.
FIGURE 9-3: Measuring range of motion.
FIGURE 9-4: Reciprocal inhibition.
FIGURE 9-5: The PNF stretching technique.
Chapter 10
FIGURE 10-1: Power and-return phases of the squat exercise.
FIGURE 10-2: The phases of walking.
FIGURE 10-3: The phases of a soccer kick.
FIGURE 10-4: The phases of a baseball pitch.
Chapter 11
FIGURE 11-1: Identifying the running speed and heart rate at the anaerobic thre...
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12-1: Long bone structure.
FIGURE 12-2: Types of bone fractures.
Chapter 15
FIGURE 15-1: Glycogen use during a marathon run.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Begin Reading
Index
About the Authors
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Exercise Science For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
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Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Introduction
Life is movement. Starting from the smallest living cells to the most dynamic athletic skill, all aspects of the human body are in a constant state of movement. Exercise science is a field that studies the acute responses of the body to physical activity and exercise, as well as the chronic adaptations of the body to exercise as a student, within or beyond the classroom, you’ll study how the body initiates and controls movement, starting with the brain and involving all the different body systems, including neuromuscular, cardiovascular, and metabolic.
About This Book
This book contains the primary principles of the field of exercise science, a vast field. Textbooks within even the subdisciplines contain so much information that you can get lost in the details. This book, on the other hand, covers the major concepts you need to know — the key aspects of exercise science across all the major systems of the body, the primary subdisciplines, and so on — in a much easier-to-read and easier-to-understand format than you’ll find in other textbooks in the field.
Exercise Science For Dummies is an excellent introductory text to the entire field of exercise science. Here, we show you the forest rather than force you to focus too much on the trees. To make information easy to understand, we use the following conventions:
Throughout the book, we introduce you to the jargon you’ll hear as an exercise science student to help ease you into the complexity of the information. Understanding these basic concepts will help you confidently pursue deeper study in the field of exercise science, if you want.
We’ve sprinkled sidebars and paragraphs accompanied by Technical Stuff icons throughout the book. You can skip these tidbits if you like, but if you’re hungry for more information or deeper understanding, these discussions can help point the way.
Finally, within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.
Foolish Assumptions
You may be an aspiring student of the exercise sciences. Maybe you’re interested in a health profession, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, athletic training, or public health. Maybe you want to work in the exercise science field as a cardiac rehab specialist, exercise physiologist, or strength and conditioning specialist. Maybe you want to work in corporate wellness or some environment that allows you to work one-on-one with clients trying to change their health and fitness using exercise as a tool. This book is for you!
Although we assume you don’t have a substantial background in the exercise science field, we do assume that you have some knowledge of anatomy and basic physiology — things like the anatomy of muscle, the skeletal system, the heart and circulatory system, as well as the basic physiology of how these systems function within the body.
Here are a few other assumptions we’ve made about you:
If you’re an avid exerciser,
you may be reading this book for your personal use, because you want to know more about how the body works. We assume you want the main points, the big picture, and useful information that will help you in your training.
If you’re a budding exercise science student,
this book is an excellent way to get a broad view and some key information about exercise science and its many subdisciplines. Reading this text as part of an introductory course in the exercise sciences is a very good first step in your training.
If you’re a coach or personal trainer,
you have a background in one or more aspects of exercise science, but you’re trying to broaden the scope of your knowledge. Consider this book a refresher in material you may have learned already and an introduction to topics you may not have previously been exposed to.
Icons Used in This Book
You’ll notice some images in the margins throughout this book. These icons clue you in to particular types of information:
This icon points you in the direction of understanding. Sometimes just a simple statement can make you think, “Aha! Now I get it!”
This icon summarizes and reiterates important information that you need to know. Keep these tidbits filed away for later.
An important aspect of studying movement is being able to recognize when an activity or situation increases the likelihood of an injury. We highlight these situations with this icon. When you see it, pay close attention so that you can avoid potentially dangerous situations.
This icon highlights information that we just had to share! We consider these points important enough to include but a bit technical or slightly beyond the scope of the text. You can read these for added information or skip them.
Beyond the Book
In addition to what you’re reading right now, this product also comes with a free access-anywhere Cheat Sheet that explains how aerobic training strengthens the cardiovascular system, keys to building muscle, tips on avoiding injuries, and information on how to use exercise as medicine. To get this Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and enter Exercise Science For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the Search box.
Where to Go from Here
This book is designed so you can jump in anywhere. You don’t need to begin at the beginning. Do you see a chapter that interests you? Start there! If you’re not sure where to start, head to the table of contents or the index to find specific topics that may interest you.
The key thing to remember is that this book is designed so that you can jump in anywhere, get the info you need, and jump back out. Jumping, as you’ll soon discover, is a great way to approach both this book and the study of movement.
Part 1
Getting Started with Exercise Science
IN THIS PART …
Get up to speed on the disciplines you’ll be exposed to as a student of exercise science with insights into various careers within the field.
Understand how exercise and movement can reduce the impact of chronic disease and is considered a form of medicine.
Chapter 1
Introducing Exercise Science
IN THIS CHAPTER
Identifying the fields within exercise science
Grasping the concept of a systems approach to the control of the body
Studying the many aspects of exercise
Evaluating whether a career in exercise science is a good fit for you
The human body was made to move. Your health depends on it, your survival is supported through it, and your ability to engage and interact with the world requires it. Exercise science is the science behind exercise, how the body adapts to exercise, and using exercise as therapy to improve the body’s condition.
Because the human body is complex, the study of exercise and exercise itself is complex as well. In this chapter, we offer a quick overview of the science, the field, and the options available to you as a student — official or not — of exercise science.
Getting Familiar with Key Areas of Study
Exercise science grew out of the areas of physiology, medicine, and physical education. It has only been around as a field since the 1970s, and it’s connected to many disciplines that examine the human body at rest, during motion, and as it adapts and changes because of exercise and physical activity.
Forming the foundation of exercise science
Before you can understand how the body moves and adapts to exercise, you must understand the human body at rest. These basics — knowing important biological processes, explaining the function of the body’s structural components and its systems, knowing the chemical reactions that occur in the body, being familiar with principles governing matter in motion, and so on — give you a working knowledge of the human body and how it works.
Here’s a quick rundown of the subjects you need to know before you get into exercise science, arranged in a way to give you a glimpse of how the body works:
Biology:
Learning about living organisms and what makes them tick sets you on the right path. Biology helps you understand the structure and function of cells, their growth and development, and how they come together to form complex life-forms.
Anatomy: When you understand how organisms function at the level of the cell, you can then begin to understand how humans (and animals) are constructed. Understanding anatomy gives you the blueprint of a species. Anatomical study ranges from the structure of the very small (cells and tissues) to the very large (the hip-bone-connected-to-the-thigh-bone kind of info).
If you want to learn how to train someone to increase muscle growth or bone strength, you really need to know how the muscles and bones are constructed.
Physiology:
With a firm understanding of cellular processes (biology) and how the body is put together (anatomy), you can start to examine how cells, tissues, and organs work together in a living body.
Physiology
examines the functions of the living tissues of the body. Whereas anatomy teaches you how the heart is constructed, physiology shows you how the heart works in relation to the lungs and the muscles and reveals its purpose throughout the body. By studying human physiology, you begin to see that the different structures of the body are designed for specific functions that, altogether, keep the entire body functioning while at rest
Chemistry:
Humans are made of matter and require energy to live. Because the body is constructed of atoms, and energy is exchanged through the interaction of various atoms, molecules, and enzymes, you need a basic understanding of chemistry. This knowledge helps you understand what goes on in the body during exercise. After you know the basics of chemistry, you can then focus more closely on the chemistry of the human body.
Biochemistry:
Biochemistry gives you a more in-depth understanding about how the body makes energy from the food eaten and how it uses that energy to keep the cells alive.
Physics:
Bodies are always in motion, even when they seem to be sitting still. Therefore, understanding matter in motion — the realm of
physics
— is essential to the study of exercise science. Physics helps you understand the relationship between energy and force, levers (like joints!), center of gravity, and acceleration.
Psychology:
You can’t fully understand exercise and movement unless you also understand the brain and human behavior! Not only do you need to know the anatomy and basic physiology of the functioning areas of the brain, but you also must understand that people learn new things, how people handle stress, and how people prepare themselves mentally for peak performance. Psychology also delves into how emotions influence the body and behaviors.
Getting serious: Focusing on the fields specific to exercise science
Sometimes, the hardest part of starting a career in exercise science is deciding which field to focus on! Your interest may gravitate toward the microscopic: the actions of cells and organ systems and how they function during exercise. Or, maybe you prefer to focus on the way the body performs during exercise and generates forces, or how the body heals through physical training. Maybe you want to blend exercise and nutrition as a means of preventing disease There is a field for all interests within the study of exercise science. We cover some of the primary fields in the following sections.
Biomechanics
Exercise and movement involve forces, levers, balance, and acceleration. Starting with a foundation in mathematics and physics, biomechanics studies the mechanics of exercise and physical movement. Exercise can be as simple as lifting a weight or as complex as walking (gait) or doing a high jump. Biomechanics uses technologies that can measure forces (through force platforms) and the activation of muscles (through electromyography), and it often uses video to analyze all the aspects of body exercise. (Part 3 delves deeply into the biomechanics of exercise.)
Exercise physiology
Exercise physiology is all about the body in motion. As a field, exercise physiology is often associated with a job in a clinical setting (like cardiac rehabilitation) or sports medicine (working with athletes). Understanding how the systems of the body (for example, muscular or cardiovascular) behave during exercise and how they adapt because of exercise training is a major part of exercise physiology. (For detailed information on exercise physiology, head to Part 2).
Exercise is used as a tool to change the body, as well as to better understand how the body functions. For this reason, exercise physiology is a key component of the many careers and fields that use exercise as a way to improve the body. (You can discover a number of these fields in Chapter 18.)
Fitness and wellness
Cardiovascular disease and cancer are the leading killers of men and women in America. Research has shown a strong link between these conditions and physical inactivity and poor nutrition. Chapter 2 introduces today’s view of exercise as a key therapy for health and well-being.
Exercise is Medicine (www.exerciseismedicine.org) is an initiative across the medical and exercise science disciplines. It takes advantage of modern medicine while using exercise to build the foundation of fitness that can lead to many years of health. Fitness and wellness professionals, along with doctors, use exercise and physical activity as part of a comprehensive approach to reduce the incidence of cancer, heart disease, and many other common health challenges. Exercise, body fat reduction, and dietary improvements go a long way toward putting people on a path to health. (Chapter 17 delves into the link between physical inactivity and health problems related to obesity.)
Graduate-level health professions
Having a strong background in exercise science means that you have the knowledge of how exercise can change the systems of the body. You also gain hands-on skills in assessment of the body — things like measuring fitness, body composition, and blood pressure and performing a bunch of cool tests for both athletes and those with chronic diseases. These skill sets are what graduate programs in athletic training, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant, public health, and more advanced exercise physiology studies are looking for. Exercise science is an excellent degree for a range of bachelor’s degree-level careers, as well as a way to be competitively prepared for graduate degree programs in the health professions.
Rehabilitation therapy
Injuries can happen for a variety of reasons: perhaps from a exercise that isn’t performed correctly (you lift something wrong, for example), an accident (you fall on an arm), or some underlying health issue (a problem exists with your heart or lungs, for example).
Understanding how the body heals and the interaction between exercise and the healing process is an area of study that spans a number of career fields. These fields often combine medical knowledge with exercise physiology, biomechanics, and even sports psychology. Studies for this field may focus on cardiac rehabilitation, physical therapy, respiratory therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, athletic training and therapeutic recreation. (Parts 2 and 3 help contribute knowledge to rehabilitation of the body.)
Sports and exercise psychology
After the body has been trained for an activity, the mind becomes the most important aspect of performance. Mood, behavior, and confidence all influence performance, for better or for worse. This area of study seeks to answer questions like, “How do athletes control the stress of a competition and still do their best?” and “How can an athlete be ‘in the zone’ one day and then perform terribly the next?”
What about people trying to get beyond failed new year’s resolutions and make changes to their lifestyle that result in long lasting, consistent health behaviors? Changing a lifestyle that resulted in obesity and heart disease into one that can maintain nutrition and exercise behaviors can be rewarding for an exercise psychologist. Sports and exercise psychology studies human behavior and the mind and applies that knowledge to determine how best to train athletes to get the most out of their performance. If this is an area you find interesting, check out Sports Psychology For Dummies by Leif Smith and Todd Kays (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)
Strength and conditioning
Athletes’ bodies can perform at their best only if they’ve been properly conditioned for the activity. Because exercise requires conditioning the muscular and cardiovascular systems, as well as training the body to hold off fatigue, studying strength and conditioning gives you a deep understanding of how exercise changes the body. You also learn how to apply training principles that are specifically designed to improve performance in a sport. Careers in strength and conditioning range from working with populations trying to condition for fitness to high-level athletes seeking peak performance through strength and conditioning. Parts 2 and 3 cover aspects of conditioning related not only to the muscles (like Chapter 3) but also to the other systems of the body that are essential for peak performance. Part 4 provides more specific guidance on creating a conditioning program.
Understanding the Many Systems That Make Up the Human Body
Single-cell organisms have it so easy! Everything they need is contained in one cell. All their biological processes (eating, generating energy, moving, “thinking,” and reproducing) have to be carried out within their single cell, and their range of interactions with the environment is quite limited. Human bodies, on the other hand, are able to adapt and interact with each other and the environment. To function at such a high level, the human body is much more complicated. Structurally, it has multiple levels (cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems) that build on each other and that must all function in a coordinated way to maintain the health of the organism — you.
As a student of exercise science, you’re introduced to the following systems. Exercise science helps you understand how these systems interact and change as a result of exercise and physical activity.
The brain and nervous system
The brain and the neurons that make up the brain function together as a central processing center where all the information about your body and your environment can be interpreted. The other systems of your body communicate with each other through the nervous system, enabling you to see, hear, move, and interact with your surroundings. This system constantly adjusts and adapts to exercise and your environment. To find out about the nervous system, head to Chapter 7. Chapter 6 explores how your body adapts to different environments.
The circulatory system
Humans need continual sustenance to survive, and the circulatory system is the primary highway over which nutrients like glucose (the sugar your body uses for energy), fatty acids, oxygen, and hormones travel. The arteries transfer nutrient-rich blood to your tissues, and thin capillaries create easy access to the tissues. Your veins help guide the nutrient-depleted blood back to the heart and lungs for a refresher. The circulatory system changes its flow during times of stress or exercise. Chapter 5 covers the key functions of the circulatory system related to oxygen and nutrient transfer.
The cardiorespiratory system
To keep a constant flow of oxygen and nutrients coming to your tissue and to keep waste moving out, the body needs a pump and a fueling station. Fortunately, it has both: the heart and the lungs. The heart keeps blood moving, and the lungs serve as the station where oxygen-depleted blood fills up again. Every time a ventricle (a chamber in the heart) contracts, its dual chambers either push blood to the lungs to pick up more oxygen (right ventricle) or push oxygen-rich blood to the entire body (left ventricle). Exercise can help train this pump to do more work, push more blood, and get you in shape.
The skeletal system
The human body is about 70 percent water, and most of the tissue in it is made up of some pretty soft stuff. Without a frame to mount the soft, squishy bits on, we’d all be big blobs of humanity! The skeletal system provides a rigid framework that allows you to move about and see the world. Strong bones, constructed with plenty of calcium, mean a strong frame. Functioning joints enable you to move with little effort. When this system begins to weaken (and lose calcium), mobility really drops. You can read about the skeletal system and joints in Chapter 9. In Chapter 10, you can learn about the high-tech methods we have for measuring motion.
The muscular system
Exercise wouldn’t be possible without something to produce force. In the body, those “force producers” are your muscles. Muscles provide the horsepower you need to move your body and interact with your world. They’re also very adaptable. If you make them do a lot of work, they grow stronger. If you let them sit around and do nothing, they shrink! Strong muscles play a role in good health and quality of life. Head to Chapters 3 and 11 to find out about exercise in general and the muscular system in particular; turn to Chapter 10 to delve into motion analysis.
Energy, metabolism, and nutrition
Humans are hybrid vehicles in a sense that we may only run on a chemical called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), but we have systems in our body that can take carbohydrate, fat, and protein and turn them into ATP. The faster we can make the systems run, the more “fit” we are! Chapter 4 explains how we keep the metabolic engine running.
The systems don’t run if we can’t continually provide our bodies with key nutrients (carbohydrate, fat, and protein), as well as other important nutrients (water, vitamins, and minerals). In Chapter 15, you see how diet can help performance and find some guidelines to get you moving in the right direction.
The endocrine system
Although the brain can control many of the functions of the body through the nervous system, other controls require chemical stimuli. Glucose, for example, can’t get into the cells unless the pancreas secretes insulin to help create a pathway into the cells. The endocrine system involves a number of organs and glands that secrete chemicals that bind to receptors both inside and outside cells to essentially open and close cell doors, either letting in or blocking out these chemicals. Sometimes, the release of hormones can cause a fast response (insulin helping to drop blood glucose levels, for example); other times, the release of hormones may cause changes that occur slowly over time (thyroid hormones can slowly make changes in your resting metabolic rate, for example).
Check out Anatomy & Physiology For Dummies, 3rd Edition, by Erin Odya and Maggie Norris, or Biology For Dummies, 3rd Edition, by René Fester Kratz (both published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), for complete discussions on the endocrine system and the role of hormones.
Examining Exercise from Many Angles
Chances are, when you hear the term exercise, you have your own idea of what it means and how people use it in their lives. But you can think about exercise and the connections between it and the world in more ways than you probably imagine. In the following sections, we outline the many ways exercise can be examined.
Studying the science of human performance
When you throw a ball, clear a hurdle, or balance on a beam, you probably focus on the result (were you successful?) or the “feel” of the exercise (the power of your release, for example, or the steadiness of your stance). Biomechanists study these aspects of exercise, using the tools of physics and math.
Exercise physiologists examine the energy systems and fuels used during exercise, and how exercise can be used to enhance human performance during athletics and rigorous work situations. focus on these aspects of performance and training.
Both of these careers are focused on answering questions like the following:
How is exercise or any movement impacted by changes in the center of gravity?
Does changing the position of the arms and legs, for example, impact how someone jumps over a high-jump bar or executes a gymnastic move?
What forces and velocities exist in vertical, horizontal, and rotational dimensions?
By knowing the forces, you may change how a spin and rotation are completed in a high-dive maneuver.
How is balance maintained and lost?
Do older people fall because their muscles are too weak to handle a change in direction, or is it due to a delay in the muscle’s ability to generate the required force?
How can changes in speed, load, and training volumes affect performance
? In athletics, even a 1 percent improvement can mean taking first place in an event. Exercise scientists look for that improvement by training energy systems, muscles, and the nervous system.
What kind of training is best to condition the athlete, help them train specifically for their activity, and keep them from getting worn out?
For example, can someone run faster simply by changing their running technique? What about tapering activity before a big event to get the most out of a performance? How can they prevent overtraining and a loss in performance?
How can the principles of exercise be used to prevent injury?
Are there ways to land from a jump that can reduce forces on the knee and prevent someone from tearing a ligament? How soon can rehabilitation of muscle and ligaments begin? The goal is to get the athlete back in action quickly and safely.
Check out Biomechanics For Dummies, by Steve McCaw (published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) for more on this subject.
Focusing on the health-enhancement aspects of exercise
The human body is meant to move. A body at rest begins to atrophy (wither away) and lose muscle mass, bone density, and even heart size. Exercise can be a tool to help the body’s systems function at a more optimal level. In fact, regular exercise can produce the following beneficial results:
Reduced blood pressure and a stronger heart
Increased bone density
Improved blood cholesterol levels
A stronger immune system
Reduced incidence of cancer and heart disease
Reduced stress, anxiety, and depression
If exercise is medicine, how do you “prescribe” exercise? Obviously, there are wide-ranging differences among people, including goals, present physical condition, initial fitness level, and underlying health condition. But there are guidelines and principles to set people on the right path. Part 4 is all about improving fitness and performance. Depending on individual goals (weight management, better eating, strength, aerobic fitness), the exercise program can be adjusted to suit needs.
Using exercise as a tool for rehabilitation
Although exercise can serve to prevent a number of chronic health conditions, it’s also a key factor during the recovery from a range of health issues that people deal with every day:
Cardiac rehabilitation uses exercise to condition patients after heart surgery or heart attack.
Cancer patients use exercise to build strength and boost the immune system.
Exercises can help provide blood glucose control for people with diabetes.
Physical therapy is used for a range of bone, joint, and muscle injuries; arthritis; and stroke recovery.
Exercise therapy is used as treatment alongside medical treatments for autism, neuromuscular diseases, and stress management.
In many cases, exercise reverses the years of decline due to a lack of movement and the resulting health conditions that come with physical neglect.
Determining Whether Exercise Science Is the Field for You
Because exercise is an inherent part of life, exercise science is an inherently important field! Exercise science techniques and areas of study are used by medical professionals, athletic departments, sports organizations, corporations, and fitness and wellness industries to enhance performance, improve health, overcome mobility challenges, and more — all by changing the way people move.
To help you determine whether this field is the right one for you, ask yourself these questions:
Do I enjoy exercise?
Many people who enter the field of exercise science are avid exercisers, athletes, or people who just like the science of exercise and the idea of living a life of holistic health alongside modern medicine. In many cases, the best professionals are those who “practice what they preach” and are able to lead their clients by example. If you’ve always enjoyed exercise and improving your health, exercise science may be for you!
Do I like helping people?
In almost all the fields within exercise science, you use techniques to analyze and improve the physical function or health of other individuals. As a result, you’re in the people business! If you like helping others, especially helping others improve themselves, exercise science may be a good fit for you. Your day may be filled with activity and not much time behind a desk, and your interpersonal skills will be a big plus as you work with people from all walks of life and in all different conditions.
Do I want to know about the science behind the exercise?
If you just like activity but you aren’t interested in or don’t enjoy learning about the science behind the exercise, you may struggle in this field because exercise science is based in anatomy, biology, physiology, psychology, physics, and so on. Conversely, if you like the sciences and can’t wait to apply them to human exercise, then you’re in for a real treat because, as an exercise science student, you’ll be immersed in all of them!
Do I want to use exercise as a way to help improve the human condition?
Exercise, physical activity, and movement are tools to change the human body. Exercise scientists use these tools to help individuals heal or improve their condition. Exercise is medicine, and exercise science shows you how to use it effectively to help the individual.
Exercise science provides the foundation for a wide range of careers that use exercise and rehabilitative therapies to help improve the body. As you build your knowledge of the systems of the body and begin to recognize all the ways exercise science can be applied, you’ll see the endless possibilities. Chapter 18 outlines ten careers for the budding exercise scientist. Take a gander — and good luck in your studies!
Chapter 2
Better than a Pill: Exercise Is Medicine
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding how exercise can help people live longer
Recognizing how exercise and movement impact chronic diseases
Adding years to your life and extending health span through exercise
Many people see exercise as a sport or activity done for fun. It may be something they did when they were younger, had time, and were full of energy. But our bodies are made for motion! In fact, not moving is like not eating — we can’t live without movement. Exercise helps to maintain the physiologic systems of the body, like the heart, circulatory system, muscular system, and more. Exercise is also an important treatment for living a long and healthy life.
In this chapter, we cover the important benefits of exercise for promoting a longer and healthier life. We introduce the concept of health span as an important quality-of-life marker, and how exercise can add years of good health to a longer life. We also cover the impact exercise has on many common chronic diseases of today. Exercise can be the most important medicine to hold these conditions at bay.
Getting People to Value Physical Activity
Launched in 2007, Exercise Is Medicine (EIM) is a collaboration between the American College of Sports Medicine (the world’s largest sports medicine organization) and the American Medical Association. The goal is to bring together the medical community with exercise science professionals to include and promote physical activity as part of assessing patients and prescribing treatments that work. Like medication, exercise should be prescribed, with the appropriate frequency, intensity, time, and type of exercise (known as FITT) in order to achieve the desired result. EIM is a big undertaking — most people don’t really recognize the huge impact exercise can have on preventing chronic diseases and helping to improve (and even extend) their years of healthy living.
The goals of EIM are as follows:
Assessing physical activity for each patient when they visit their doctor
Providing exercise-related information and some exercise program planning information
Referring the patient to a trained exercise science professional for more in-depth assessment and prescription
The EIM initiative isn’t limited to the United States. More than 40 countries are participating. People are getting the message that physical activity and exercise can be life-changing. To learn more about EIM, head to www.exerciseismedicine.org.
In this section, we introduce the concept of exercise, physical activity, and how it can impact chronic diseases.
Use it or lose it: The importance of staying active
Our bodies are built to move! In fact, our bodies adapt to movement by becoming stronger, faster, and more aerobically fit. Add good nutrition to the mix, and our bodies can operate at peak capacity well into middle age. Sadly, our bodies can also move in the opposite direction if we don’t move. A body will not stay fit and function well if it doesn’t move.
Believe it or not, aging is not the biggest contributor to a decrease in fitness — instead, it’s simply being inactive.
In the United States, 80 percent of adults do not get enough aerobic exercise.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY VERSUS EXERCISE: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
You’ve probably heard the terms physical activity and exercise bandied about, but you may not be clear on what they mean. (Most people aren’t, so if you’re a little fuzzy on this subject, you’re not alone!)
Physical activity is the broader of the two terms. It refers to any movement that uses large muscle groups, is done repeatedly (like mowing the lawn), and results in calories burned.
Exercise is a more specific term and a type of physical activity. It refers to planned activity with a goal to improve or maintain fitness, increase strength, or achieve some other type of fitness outcome. When you’re mowing the lawn, you’re not exercising, but when you go for a run, you are.
Knowing how intense physical activity should be
Exercise prescriptions or plans for training involve things like the type of exercise, how long it’s done, how often it’s done, and how intense it is. Often, the intensity is hardest to understand and prescribe. Some people think that the intensity must be high in order to be effective, but the required exercise intensity varies depending on your goals.
One common value that you may see on the treadmill display while you exercise is the MET, which stands for metabolic equivalent. Think of MET like the cost of doing movement. What is the cost of sitting still and just resting? That’s 1 MET. Vacuuming? 3 METs (three times the energy and oxygen use compared to rest). Using METs allows you to add an intensity “price tag” to various activities. You can also sort activity into light, moderate, and vigorous intensity. Light intensity is any activity that is between 1.6 and 2.9 METs, moderate is 3.0 to 5.9 METs, and vigorous is 6.0 METs or higher. Table 2-1 gives an overview of some activities and their associated MET values.
To find the MET values of a range of activities, go to the Compendium of Physical Activities website at https://pacompendium.com for the complete list.
SITTING IS THE NEW SMOKING: GET MOVING TO FIGHT OFF DISEASE!
With modern conveniences, jobs using computers, and leisure-time activities that don’t involve movement (like watching TV, reading, or playing cards), sitting has become a big contributor to major chronic diseases, like heart disease, cancer, and obesity. In fact, a person’s risk of dying goes up based on the number of hours per day they sit. If you sit four to six hours per day, you have a 30 percent increased risk of death; sitting more than eight hours per day leads to a 60 percent increased risk of death compared to people who simply keep their bodies moving through normal daily activity.
Outcomes of sitting that contribute to this increased risk are a lower level of fitness, increased rates of obesity, increased inflammation of blood vessels, increase in blood clots, loss of insulin sensitivity, muscle loss … and the list keeps going! These effects contribute to the acceleration of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and cancer. Sitting does a lot of damage to bodies.
TABLE 2-1 Physical Activities by MET Value
Aerobic Intensity Level
Activity
MET Value
Light
Getting ready for bed
2.3
Light
General gardening
2.0
Light
Washing dishes
2.0
Moderate
Walking for pleasure
3.5
Moderate
Salsa dancing with a partner
4.8
Moderate
Water aerobics/calisthenics
5.5
Vigorous
Playing basketball
7.5
Vigorous
Running 5.0 to 5.2 miles per hour (12 minutes per mile)
8.5
Vigorous
Playing racquetball
10.0
Recommended amounts of physical activity
Using the MET ranges for moderate and vigorous activity, here are the weekly aerobic exercise guidelines for adults in the United States:
150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic activity
A WORD FROM HIPPOCRATES: THE FATHER OF WESTERN MEDICINE
Hippocrates (460–370 BCE) followed in the footsteps of his teacher, Herodicus, by placing a tremendous emphasis on the health benefits of diet, exercise, and overall fitness. In fact, a quote attributed to Hippocrates is something most exercise scientists and fitness/wellness specialists would be proud to put on the back of their business cards today:
If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.Not bad insight for a guy living a couple thousand years ago.
These are minimum amounts. The more you do, the better!
The level you choose may be related to your starting level of fitness, but the goal is to accumulate! Exercise volume is not just the intensity of exercise but also time. The metabolic equivalent (MET) minute is an indicator of the intensity and duration of activity (exercise volume). If you go for a 20-minute jog at 6 METs, that’s 120 MET minutes. If you walk at 3 METS for 60 minutes, that’s 180 MET minutes. A good goal is 450 to 900 MET minutes per week. So, choose the intensity (METS) and duration that best fits the MET minute goal.
Movement Matters: Physical Activity and Disease
The main causes of death are heart disease and cancer, but other contributing diseases, like obesity and diabetes, are heavy hitters as well. What happens when all causes of death are put together and associated with levels of physical activity? The picture is clear: Movement matters!
The recommended amount of aerobic activity is 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. In Figure 2-1, you can see what happens to a person’s risk of dying from any cause — look how much risk drops! When you get past about 450 minutes of moderate exercise per week, the risk level stays about the same.
© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
FIGURE 2-1: Amount of physical activity and death from all causes.
Many chronic diseases occur as a result of behaviors across time. Inactivity, overweight, and poor diet all can contribute to the development of disease. The good news is that these same conditions can be improved by using physical activity or exercise, dropping body fat, and improving nutrition.
This section covers the use of exercise as a treatment that can improve chronic disease conditions and other health risks that lead to disease.
Treating diabetes using exercise
Type 2 diabetes is a form of diabetes in which the body is still making insulin to help control blood glucose, but the insulin receptor is not able to recognize the insulin, so glucose struggles to get into the cells, leaving the body with elevated blood glucose. High glucose is very damaging to the blood vessels, organs, and brain, and it accelerates the progression of many other diseases, including heart disease. The cause of diabetes is linked to obesity and physical inactivity, which inflame the tissue and prevent insulin from connecting to the insulin receptors.
Type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic levels in the United States. Currently, around 12 percent of Americans have diabetes, and many more have not yet been diagnosed.
The good news? Obesity and physical inactivity can be addressed through lifestyle intervention. If we can get people to become more active and reduce their body fat, they may regain normal blood glucose control. Current medications to treat diabetes are not cures — they only try to manage the elevated blood glucose. Losing weight and increasing activity is the only intervention that can reset the body’s control of glucose and reduce the risk of other diseases impacted by diabetes.
METABOLIC SYNDROME: MULTIPLE WHAMMIES AGAINST HEALTH
Often, ailments come in multiples — for example, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. As one organ struggles against a disease or condition, others are affected as well. In the human body, obesity can really get in the way of normal metabolic function. For some people, obesity is accompanied by a number of other problems, such as elevated cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and diabetes. This grouping of disorders is known as metabolic syndrome, and it affects millions of Americans. The first line of intervention? Reduce body fat and increase physical activity. This prescription can start treating all the parts of metabolic syndrome.
Type 1 diabetes (often referred to as juvenile diabetes) is an autoimmune disease often diagnosed in children or young adults. People with type 1 diabetes lack insulin and must take insulin shots or be fitted with an insulin pump that provides doses of insulin. Physical activity is a very effective tool to help maintain safe blood glucose levels in people with type 1 diabetes, too.
Insulin is a hormonal trigger of sorts that binds to receptors on the cell membranes. This binding starts a series of steps that allows a protein known as glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4) to enter the cell membranes and create a pathway to pull glucose into the cell. Two things can trigger GLUT4: insulin and exercise. So, in a sense, exercise is almost like an insulin shot. People who take insulin can also factor exercise into their daily plan to help lower their blood glucose. This can mean fewer insulin shots and better blood glucose control. Exercise will also improve their tissue sensitivity to insulin, so even their doses of insulin may be reduced with regular exercise, which can help them maintain a stable body weight.
The bottom line: Exercise is a very important part of treating diabetes! It must be incorporated into any diabetes treatment plan in order to achieve the best possible outcome.
Using exercise to treat cancer
Cancer is an insidious disease that can attack many different areas of the body, from the organs to tissue to blood and bone. The mechanism of how cancer begins are not fully understood, but inflammation can play a role.
