32 Cardiorespiratory Conditioning
Basics Concepts of Cardiorespiratory Exercise
Cardiorespiratory conditioning consists of both aerobic exercise, which requires
oxygen to sustain muscle activity, and anaerobic exercise, which does not use oxygen for
the short bursts of highly intense activity. Most daily work and activities are aerobic in
nature, and thus, improving the delivery of oxygen to the working skeletal muscle will
improve work performance. Your ability to utilize oxygen for exercise depends on a variety
of processes including:" Functioning of your muscles of respiration or pulmonary
ventilation." Ability of oxygen to diffuse across lungs into your blood.
" Ability of heart to increase rate of
beating and amount of blood
pumped with each beat." Ability of blood vessels in and sur-
rounding skeletal muscle to regulate
blood flow." Ability of contracting skeletal mus-
cle to extract and use oxygen in
blood.All of these factors are important in
determining your ability to sustain a submaximal
workload, and your maximal aerobic capacity.
Two other factors which help determine maximal
aerobic capacity are your percentage of specific
muscle fiber types and your genetic makeup.
Some persons are endowed with a high aerobic
capacity, whereas others are not. However, everyone can and will improve if a
cardiorespiratory conditioning program is followed.