My favorite part of exercise physiology was learning about anaerobic ATP production and how that contributes to specific types of exercise. For example, according to one of the charts from our chapter 3 powerpoint, the anaerobic contribution to ice hockey is close to 90% compared to aerobic ATP production contribution. This was really interesting for me to learn about because one of our fitness tests is to run a mile and a half, which according to the same chart lies somewhere between 60 and 80% aerobic contribution. Knowing this, it is puzzling to me why we would be tested on an exercise that requires a heavy contribution of the type of ATP production that we don’t use during our sport. People tend to perform the worst on the mile and a half test compared to the 300 yard shuttle sprint test and this makes a lot of sense now knowing that the processes used to fuel the sprint test are more in line with our sport than those used to fuel the distance test. It was also cool to learn about all the different factors that impact performance, especially because these concepts were supplemented by the Endure book. I also thought the labs were really cool because we got to be our own subjects so it made it more interesting because we were learning about our own bodies. Lastly, being an athlete, I feel as though I have gained a better understanding of how exercise impacts the body and therefore have a better scientific insight on how to improve my performance.
It is really interesting to see how that chart from so early in the term can be applied to your everyday life. I like how you were able to relate the amount of aerobic vs anaerobic ATP production during your sport to how you are able to perform on the various fitness tests. Linking that to what we just learned about how training affects your overall body composition (i.e. muscle fiber types) it’s cool that we are able to link everything we have learned together and come up for a plausible explanation for performance in everyday activities. I agree that the labs were interesting, as we were consistently learning more about our own bodies and what they are capable of.