Fitness, Exercise, and The Body's
Energy System
By Donovan
Baldwin
Some of the major goals of any exercise
program are, or should be, to improve muscle tone, strength, and
endurance. All of this is made possible by, indeed, requires, the
body's energy production-and-use system. Central to that system is a
complex molecule called ATP, Adenosine Triphosphate.
ATP is a core element of a process known in biochemical studies as (are
you ready for it?): the tricarboxylic acid cycle, or, a simpler term,
the Kreb's cycle.
Don't worry about the complicated names. The basic ideas are very
simple.
Here's how it works:
Carbohydrates we digest are first broken down into sugars which produce
ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate mentioned above).
Simple carbohydrates, such as refined sugar, jam, and gums or candies
sweetened with sugar, corn syrup. or honney, break down more easily and
therefore, on average, more quickly. Complex carbohydrates take longer
- and therefore supply the body with a longer lasting storehouse of
compounds needed to produce ATP.
Please understand, sugar, per se, is NOT bad, only excess sugar,
consumed in unhelpful forms, can lead to poor health effects.
To continue on the topics of fitness, exercise, and energy:
Once carbohydrates have been used to produce ATP, the ATP is then
broken down into ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate - enough with the big
words, already!) and releases energy in the process. Later in the
process, ADP will pick up the needed molecules to produce more ATP.
That's why it's known as a cycle, since the process "cycles around" to
the beginning and starts over.
The energy produced by the tricarboxylic acid cycle (okay, Kreb's
cycle) is used to maintain and repair cells, fuel respiration and organ
systems and - more to our purpose here - produce the energy needed to
fuel muscle contractions.
Hey! Don't muscle contractions occur during exercise?
I think you're getting the idea.
As byproducts of this cycle, heat and carbon dioxide are produced. The
heat is eliminated by a number of means, including respiration and
sweating...hence, the recommendation to drink plenty of water before,
during, and after exercising.
The carbon dioxide is carried through the system and some of it is
expelled during respiration.
In order to effectively exercise, one essential element of which is the
muscle contraction I made the smart aleck remark about earlier, ATP
must be produced continuously over varying stretches of time.
In order to carry out this task, the body actually has three different
ATP producing systems, with different production rates. These
are the phosphagen system, the glycogen-lactic system, and aerobic
respiration.
The phosphagen system replenishes ATP quickly, but this can be done
only for short periods. That aids sprinters, fast-twitch fiber users
and other short-term uses.
The glycogen-lactic system produces more slowly, but lasts up to 90
seconds or so.
Aerobic respiration (normal oxygen breathing) makes ATP the most
slowly, but can continue indefinitely.
As you exercise, ATP is consumed.
Actually, that's one of the chief reasons you have to eat - in order to
replenish the building blocks that can produce more ATP. Once you have
more ATP, you have the basic molecule needed to engage in exercise and
we're back where we began.
The body is an amazing, self-regulating complex of interconnected
systems. Few aspects are more fascinating or central to health and
fitness than the way it produces and consumes energy, an essential
component of life itself.
While I do not normally recommend diets themselves, healthy eating is
important to any health, fitness, or weight loss program. Click Here
to learn more about Diet To Go
meals.
P. S. If you want to learn more about why Diets Don't Work,
please click here.
If you want to learn how to burn fat, a great book to read is Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom
Venuto
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