Long-term physiologic adaptations to exercise with special reference to performance and cardiorespiratory function in health and disease

• Published in: The American journal of cardiology Vol. 33; no. 6; pp. 765 - 775
• Main Authors: Adams, William C., McHenry, Malcolm M., Bernauer, Edmund M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 20.05.1974
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Angina Pectoris - prevention & control; Arteriosclerosis - prevention & control; Body Composition; Coronary Artery Bypass; Coronary Disease - prevention & control; Follow-Up Studies; Heart Rate; Hemodynamics; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Myocardial Infarction - rehabilitation; Oxygen Consumption; Physical Education and Training; Respiratory Function Tests; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0002-9149; 1879-1913
• DOI: 10.1016/0002-9149(74)90219-7

The exercise training principles of specificity, overload, individual differences and transiency are discussed and examples of each presented. Disadvantages of the cross-sectional method, and the values of the longitudinal method of ascertaining physical training effects are discussed. The effects of endurance-oriented exercise programs on middle-aged sedentary normal men and patients with coronary artery disease, emphasizing body composition and cardiorespiratory function and basic hemodynamic response to submaximal and maximal exercise, are reviewed. An original study of the effects of endurance-oriented training on patients after myocardial infarction and coronary artery bypass is presented. Emphasis is placed on cardiorespiratory function at submaximal and maximal exercise loads, and the patients' response is contrasted to that of a group of sedentary normal subjects of similar age. It is concluded that after infarction most trained patients can achieve the performance levels of sedentary normal subjects but that their response to training is often restricted, presumably because residual disease effects myocardial dysfunction. Successful coronary artery bypass surgery seldom normalizes work performance and cardiorespiratory function although it may amellorate symptoms. Physical training in conjunction with bypass surgery effects a further improvement in work performance and aerobic power.