Biology 105
Biology of Exercise
Spring 2003

3/28/03 - Post-class outline

Learning objectives:

What are appropriate training programs for aerobic, anaerobic power, endurance, and strength?

To what extent does genetics influence exercise performance?

Diagrams.

• A model for the training effect
• Detraining
• Molecular biology overview
• Coding for proteins
• Triplet code
  
  
• Anaerobic training
  • Off-season - aerobic, endurance.
  • Pre-season
• In season
• Intervals for anaerobic training
• Strength training
  • Progressive resistance
  • Repetitions and sets.
• Combining strength and endurance
• Health
  

Training plans (external links)

• Marathon (Hal Higdon's Site)
• Powerlifting (Tom McCullough)
  

Contributions of Genetics and Training to Exercise Performance.

• Genotype - the entire genetic makeup of an individual, determined by the sequence of nucleotide bases in the DNA
• Phenotype - the observable traits of an individual, determined by many factors including the pattern of protein expression.
  • Exercise performance is a phenotypic trait.
  • Phenotype is influenced by genotype and also by environmental influences.
• To what extent is exercise performance determined by genetics?
  • The Heritage family study -
    • Examination of VO2max. (Bouchard et at. J. Appl. Phys. 87: 1003-1008, 1999.)
    • Use of family studies.
    • Heretability may be influenced by genetics but also by nongenetic familial factors.
  • Effect of heredity on VO2max of sedentary individuals - explains up to 59% of variation in VO2max.
  • Effect of heredity on the response of VO2max to training programs - explains up to 47% of variation in training response.
  • Some specific genes may be linked to variation in training response
    • creatine kinase - enzyme that catalyzes transfer of phosphate from phosphocreatine to ADP. May be correlated with VO2max changes in response to training.
    • uncoupling protein 3 - found in mitochondria of skeletal muscle. May be correlated with body composition changes in response to training.
  • Bottom line
    • Both genetics and environment affect both sedentary VO2max and training response to VO2max.
    • There is very substantial variability among individuals, training programs that geatly improve fitness in one individual may have little affect in another.
    • Different aspects of exercise performance are differently affected by genetic. For example, sport-specific skills and psychological responses may be less influenced by genetics than physiological responses.
  • President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports summary