SPORTS PHYSIOLOGY

INTRODUCTION
•There are few stresses to which the body is exposed that approach the
extreme stresses of heavy exercise. In fact, if some of the extremes of
exercise were continued for even moderately prolonged periods, they
might be lethal.
•Exercise physiology is defined as the study of alteration in functioning of
cells and organs due to muscular activity.
•Differences in functioning of cells & organs during athletic activity depend
on gender.
•Male athletes have greater muscle strength to greater
protein
due deposition than female ( more fat deposition).
•This is due to hormones- testosterone & estrogen.
Muscles in Exercise
Strength, Power, and Endurance of Muscles
1. STRENGTH:
 CONTRACTILE STRENGTH:
 It is the strength of muscle when it is contracting or force produced
when the muscle contracts.
 Depend upon its size.
 maximal contractile force between 3 and 4 kg/cm2 of muscle cross-
sectional area.
 Thus, a man who is well supplied with testosterone or who has
enlarged his muscles through an exercise training program will have
correspondingly increased muscle strength.
 HOLDING STRENGTH:
 It is the force generated while stretching a contracted muscle.
 It is approx. 40% greater than contractile strength.
2. POWER OF THE MUSCLE:
 It is the work done by it in a unit time & calculated by amount of force
applied by the muscle multiplied by the distance over which the force is
applied.
 Power of muscle depends upon 3 factors- muscle strength, force of
contraction & frequency of contraction.
 Muscle power is generally measured in kilogram meters (kg-m) per
minute.
3. ENDURANCE OF MUSCLE:
Capacity to withstand the power produced by muscle during activity.
Depends on type of diet a person takes.
 MUSCLE METABOLIC SYSTEMS IN EXERCISE
1. Phosphocreatine- Creatine system
2. Glycogen- Lactic acid system
3. Aerobic system

1. Phosphocreatine- Creatine system:

 Possess high energy phosphate bond.
 Breakdown into creatine & phosphate, releasing large
amounts of
energy.
 This energy is used to reconstitute ATP in muscles within seconds.
 Phosphagen energy system= Phosphocreatine + ATP
 Energy from this system is very high.
2. Glycogen- Lactic acid system:
Two phases
 Phase- I: glycogen in muscle glucose pyruvic
acid.
 Produces 4 ATP for each glucose mol.
 Anaerobic
 Phase- II: both aerobic & anaerobic
 Aerobic: pyruvic acid enter mitochondria , generating ATP
lactic acid. (rapid process but give ATP
 Anaerobic: : pyruvic acid
less than aerobic)
 2.5 moles of ATP
3. Aerobic system:
 Glucose, fatty acids, amino acids ( food) oxidize in mitochondria and
release ATP.
 Endurance lasts longer than the other 2.
 1 mole of ATP
 RECOVERY OF MUSCLE METABOLIC SYSTEM AFTER EXCERCISE
 Reconstitution of ATP.
 Recovery with lactic acid system involves removal of excess lactic acid
from the muscle cells as it causes extreme fatigue.
 Either converted into pyruvic acid or reconverted into glucose in liver(
used for replenishment of muscle glycogen stores)
RECOVERY OF AEROBIC SYSTEM AFTER EXERCISE
 Recovered by gaining back the O2 lost by the body & by replenishing
the glycogen stores.
 During heavy exercise- OXYGEN DEBT
 Excess intake of O2 after exercise till the body regain its normal level.
 Glycogen replenishment takes longer time.
 Faster in athletes who take a high carbohydrate diet.
 NUTRIENTS USED DURING MUSCLE ACTIVITY
 In exhaustive exercise, for continuous supply of
energy-
CARBOHYDRATES & FATS.
 Energy from carbohydrates is used first by the body in first few hours of
athletic events followed by fats.
 During athletic events, continuous intake of glucose solutions support
intense muscle activity.
 EFFECT OF ATHLETIC TRAINING ON MUSCLE & MUSCLE PERFORMANCE
 Importance of Maximal Resistance Training:

One of the cardinal principles of muscle development during athletic

training is Muscles that function under no load, even if they are exercised
for hours on end, increase little in strength.
 At the other extreme, muscles that contract at more than 50 percent

maximal force of contraction will develop strength rapidly even if the

contractions are performed only a few times each day. Using this principle,
experiments on muscle building have shown that six nearly maximal muscle
contractions performed in three sets 3 days a week give approximately
optimal increase in muscle strength without producing chronic muscle
fatigue.
The upper curve shows the
approximate percentage increase in
strength that can be achieved in a
previously untrained young person by
this resistive training program
demonstrating that ,
the
strength muscle
increases about 30 percent
during the first 6 to 8 weeks but
almost plateaus after that time. Along
with this increase in strength is an
approximately equal percentage
increase in muscle mass, which is
called MUSCLE HYPERTROPHY.
The changes that occur inside the hypertrophied muscle fibers include
(1) increased numbers of myofibrils, proportionate to the degree of
hypertrophy;
(2) up to 120 percent increase in mitochondrial enzymes;
(3) 60 to 80 percent increase in the components of the phosphagen
metabolic system, including both ATP and phosphocreatine;
(4) 50 percent increase in stored glycogen; and
(5) 75 to 100 percent increase in stored triglyceride (fat). Because of all
these changes, the capabilities of both the anaerobic and the aerobic
metabolic systems are increased, especially increasing the maximum
oxidation rate and efficiency of the oxidative metabolic system as
much as 45 percent.
 RESPIRATORY SYSTEM IN EXERCISE
OXYGEN CONSUMPTION & PULMONARY VENTILATION:
LIMIT OF PULMONARY VENTILATION:
 RS is usually not a limiting factor during athletic events.
 Extra ventilation can be used in conditions- exercising at high altitudes,
hot conditions.

EFFECT OF TRAINING ON VO2 Max:

 VO2 max is used to indicate the rate of O2 usage under
aerobic metabolism.
 It usually doesn’t increase much, even after weeks of exercise & even if
the exercise is performed at greater frequencies.
 It increases with years of training.
 Value are greater based on genetic traits ( greater chest size than rest
of body)
OXYGEN DIFFUSING CAPACITY OF ATHLETES
 Rate at which oxygen can pass through the pulmonary alveoli into the
blood.
 Ml/min ( ml of O2 that diffuse each minute for each millimetre of
mercury difference between alveolar PaO2 & pulmonary blood O2
pressure)
OXYGEN DIFFUSING CAPACITY OF ATHLETES
 With increase in exercise, this increases.
 During rest, it is low due to blood flow through pulmonary capillaries is
very low.

BLOOD GASES:
Remain normal even at maximum exercise.
EFFECT OF SMOKING:
1. nicotine is constriction of the terminal bronchioles of the lungs, which
increases the resistance of airflow into and out of the lungs.
2. irritating effects of the smoke cause increased fluid secretion into the
bronchial tree, as well as some swelling of the epithelial linings.
3. nicotine paralyzes the cilia on the surfaces of the respiratory epithelial
cells that normally beat continuously to remove excess fluids
and
foreign particles from the respiratory passageways.
As a result, much debris accumulates in the passageways and adds further
to the difficulty of breathing. After putting all these factors together,
even a light smoker often feels respiratory strain during maximal
exercise, and the level of performance may be reduced.
 In chronic smokers, emphysema causes obstruction of terminal
bronchioles, chronic bronchitis and severe damage to the alveolar
walls.
 Straining of RS even on slight exercise.
 CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM IN EXERCISE
 Blood transports oxygen, carbon dioxide and lactic acid to and away
from tissues.
 During exercise, blood carries nutrients to the tissues for maintaining
their movement & removal of wastes- lactic acid.
 Exercise induced CVS changes:
 Heart rate
 Stroke volume
Cardiac output
MUSCLE BLOOD FLOW:
During exercise, there
will a drastic increase.
Each muscle
contraction shows an
 Due to contraction, there will be a temporary decrease in blood flow
because the contracting muscle compress the blood vessels.
 Inadequate supply of nutrients and oxygen
 Rapid contractions of muscles leads to fatigue
 Rapid pumping of blood helps in rapid supply of required O2 and
nutrients to the muscles.
 Blood flow can increase up to 25 times ( normal – 3.6ml/100g
muscle/min to 90ml/100g muscle/min) due to intra muscular
vasodilation & increase in arterial BP (30%)
WORK OUTPUT, OXYGEN CONSUMPTION & CO DURING EXCERCISE
 Related linearly as work output enhances O2 consumption
which
dilates the BV thus enhancing venous return & CO.
 4 times increase in untrained person
 6 times increase in trained marathoners
EFFECT OF TRAINING ON HEART HYPERTROPHY & CO
 In Marathoners, there will e 40% increase in CO than untrained person
due to enlargement of heart chambers up to 40% leading to increase in
HR to 40% or more- heart hypertrophy
 This occurs only during endurance training.
 CO is same in untrained & athlete with cardiac hypertrophy.
 Stroke volume is increased & HR is decreased.
RELATION OF CVS TO VO2 Max:
 During strenuous exercise HR & SV increase up to 95% which increase
CO by 90%
 This is in contrast to 65% increase in pulmonary ventilation.
 CVS exert limited effect on VO2 max compared to RS as O2 used by the
body can never be more than the rate of O2 supply by CVS.
 Enhanced ability to perform dependent on performance capacility of
the heart.
EFFECT OF HEART DISEASE & OLD AGE ON ATHELETES:
 Heart disease reduced CO & muscle power.
 In Old age, maximum CO is reduced 50% by age 80 from 18yrs
 Maximum breathing capacity decreases along with decrease in skeletal
mass.
 BODY HEAT IN EXERCISE
 Energy released by metabolism of nutrients, muscle contraction finally
convert into heat.
 Energy efficiency for conversion to muscle is only 20-25%.
 Only some energy is used in muscle movements & blood flow,
remaining is converted into body heat.
 Heat released in the body is proportional to O2 consumption by the
body.
 During endurance, large amount of heat is released in the body tissue.
 On a hot humid day. Sweating may not be able to eliminate body heat
in athletes resulting in large amounts of heat retention in the body-
HEAT STROKE ( SUN STROKE)
 BODY HEAT IN EXERCISE
 The body temperature may rise from normal 98.6F to 102/ 103F while
endurance.
 On a hot humid day with excessive clothing- 106 to 108F
 Results in exhaustion, extreme weakness, dizziness, nausea, headache,
profuse sweating finally leads to unconsciousness.
 Thermoregulatory mechanism fails during this condition.
 Fatal if not treated immediately.
 Removal of clothing, sponging with cool water,, blowing air over the
body & immersing the body in water containing crushed ice.
 BODY FLUIDS & SALTS IN EXCERCISE
 Athletes in endurance events can lose 5-10 pounds weight/hr on a hot
humid day due to sweating.
 Sweating decrease 3% of body wt can hinder the performance; 5-10%
decrease body weight is harmful to individual leading to nausea,
muscle cramps.
 Lost Fluids should be replaced before the condition becomes critical.
 Replacement of NaCl & KCl:
 Athletic training prior the event in hot & humid conditions for a period
of 1-2 weeks acclimatizes the person due to enhanced secretion of
aldosterone.
 Loss of K+ during heat acclimatization takes place. Thus athletes should
be given K+ supplements( fruit juices) containing appropriate Na+ & K+.
 DRUGS & ATHLETES
1. Anabolic steroids/ androgens-
 Possess both anabolic & androgenic properties.
 At high dose increases muscle strength & body mass
 Help in maintaining higher intensity & volume of training, speeding up
the recovery process between the training sessions.
Eg: Methandrostenolone, oxymetholone, ethylestrenol, nandrolone

2. Testosterone precurssors:
 Help in endogenous synthesis of testosterone and norandrostenediol
 Not effective as androgens
Eg: androstedione, deydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), androstenediol
3. Masking agents:
 To avoid a positive test for drug abuse.
Eg: diuretics, epitestosterone
 Epitestosterone- Bring testosterone & epitestosterone ratio within legal
limits to pass the drug test.
4. Blood doping
 Enhance VO2 max and performance of endurance events.
 Enhance the no.of RBC/unit volume of blood which help in greater
availability of O2 muscle during exercise.
5. CNS stimulants:
Alertness, enhanced mental acuity, thermogenesis which help in
enhancement of performance.
 Ephedrine: has strong thermogenic effect result in body fat.
 Citrus Aurantium: suppress appetite, increase rate of metabolism
&
lipolysis.
 Modafinil: delays exhaustion time by alertness and
maintaining
cognitive performance even in sleep deprivation.
6. Growth hormone:
Increase anabolic effect & decrease body fat.
T1/2 – approx 20min – widely used.
7.Selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs)
Anabolic effects
Eg: aryl propionamides, tricyclics.