
Homeostasis
Metabolism encompasses the chemical changes inside tissue cells that sustain life, with energy from nutrient breakdown and a continuous balance of anabolism building biomolecules and cannibalism breaking them down.
Endurance exercise induces metabolic adaptations like increased mitochondrial density, glycogen storage, resting ATP and CP, more slow-twitch fibers, and greater capillaries, while aerobic and anaerobic modes differently shift energy systems.
Explore energy metabolism and how carbohydrates, fats, and proteins produce energy and heat, then outline the four energy systems—strength/power, sustained power, anaerobic power endurance, and aerobic endurance.
Explore the glycolytic pathway, an anaerobic energy system that converts glycogen or glucose to ATP, producing lactic acid and shaping recovery through lactate clearance.
Explore oxidative pathway, an aerobic system using oxygen to produce ATP via Krebs cycle and electron transport chain. Learn how glycolysis fuels beta-oxidation and glycogen depletion contributes to fatigue.
Review how solar energy powers metabolism to fuel cellular activities, highlighting plant and animal energy sources and the role of homeostatic balance in trillions of cells.
Analyze the cell as the body's basic unit, detailing plasma membrane, organelles (nucleus, mitochondria, ER, Golgi, ribozymes), and how insulin, glucose, and fatty acids fuel energy.
Explore how conditioned lungs process air, exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide via hemoglobin, and how the diaphragm and ribcage muscles increase usable lung capacity and vital capacity for athletic performance.
The heart powers blood flow from the lungs to the body and back, with training boosting stroke volume, lowering resting heart rate, and promoting an athletic, efficient heart.
Explore how the digestive system, spanning about 25 feet, begins with the mouth's mastication and saliva, transports food via the esophagus, and supports digestion, absorption, and waste excretion.
Storing and releasing food, the stomach moves contents to the small intestine for absorption through secretions and churning, while macronutrients empty at different rates, with carbohydrates fastest and fats slowest.
Understand how the brain and spinal cord coordinate with the peripheral nervous system to sense changes, interpret signals, and trigger muscle contractions, and how training and mind-body focus enhance strength.
Explore how skeletal muscles contract through actin and myosin filaments, motor units, and tendons, with the nervous system using muscle spindles to coordinate tension and length for movement.
Explore how nerve impulses produce all-or-none motor unit contractions and how exercise recruits more units to alter muscle fiber type, metabolism, and aerobic or anaerobic energy.
This course is one of three installments. This study focuses on the anatomy and physiology of the body in relation to exercise and fitness. It's time to start understanding WHY we should eat certain foods and stay away from others. Now, we can answer the question "what makes some people faster than others". Get the low down on what metabolism really is. And understand the make-up of the human body, so you can truly understand why you are working out.
If you want chiseled abs...start understanding your body and how it functions in exercise. If you want to lose 30 pounds by summer, learn how food interacts as a key player in your body's physical make-up.