aerobic conditioning

{{Short description|Method for improving the oxidative capacity of the heart, lungs, and skeletal muscles}}

{{Multiple issues|{{More citations needed|date=June 2007}}

{{External links|date=December 2023}}}}

Aerobic conditioning is the use of continuous, rhythmic movement of large muscle groups to strengthen the heart and lungs (cardiovascular system),{{Cite web |title=AAOS - OrthoInfo |url=http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm |access-date=2016-05-17 |website=orthoinfo.aaos.org}} as well as changes to the skeletal muscles. Improvement in aerobic conditioning occurs when athletes expose themselves to an increase in oxygen uptake and metabolism, but to keep this level of aerobic conditioning, the athletes must keep or progressively increase their training to increase their aerobic conditioning.

Aerobic conditioning is usually achieved through aerobic exercise such as running, swimming, rowing machine, elliptical, treadmill, cycling,("Aerobic Exercise,"2023). etc. A stronger heart does not pump more blood by beating faster but by beating more efficiently, primarily via increased stroke volume and left ventricular mass.{{cite journal |last1=Stone |first1=Nicholas M. |last2=Kilding |first2=Andrew E. |date=2009 |title=Aerobic Conditioning for Team Sport Athletes |journal=Sports Medicine |volume=39 |issue=8 |pages=615–642 |doi=10.2165/00007256-200939080-00002 |issn=0112-1642 |pmid=19769413 |s2cid=23256471}} Trained endurance athletes can have resting heart rates as low as a reported 28 beats per minute (Miguel Indurain) or 32 beats per minute (Lance Armstrong),The Lance Armstrong Performance Program {{ISBN|1-57954-270-0}} both of whom were professional cyclists at the highest level.

Aerobic conditioning makes the heart and lungs pump blood more efficiently, delivering more oxygen to muscles and organs.{{Cite web|website=Boundless|date=2016-01-04|title=Effects of Exercise on the Heart|url=https://www.boundless.com/physiology/textbooks/boundless-anatomy-and-physiology-textbook/cardiovascular-system-the-heart-18/exercise-and-the-heart-176/effects-of-exercise-on-the-heart-881-5090/|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20161012065524/https://www.boundless.com/physiology/textbooks/boundless-anatomy-and-physiology-textbook/cardiovascular-system-the-heart-18/exercise-and-the-heart-176/effects-of-exercise-on-the-heart-881-5090/|archive-date=2016-10-12|url-status=dead}} Skeletal muscles also become aerobically conditioned, as regular aerobic exercise produces a shift in muscle fibres from more type II (fast twitch/glycolytic) into more type I (slow-twitch/oxidative).{{Cite journal |last1=Widmann |first1=Manuel |last2=Nieß |first2=Andreas M. |last3=Munz |first3=Barbara |date=April 2019 |title=Physical Exercise and Epigenetic Modifications in Skeletal Muscle |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30778851/ |journal=Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=509–523 |doi=10.1007/s40279-019-01070-4 |issn=1179-2035 |pmid=30778851|s2cid=73481438 }} Type I muscle fibres have far more mitochondria than type II, making type I fibres the producers of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) primarily through oxidative phosphorylation rather than anaerobic glycolysis.

Some neuromuscular diseases recommend regular aerobic exercise (of varying intensities depending on the disease) in order for the skeletal muscles to become aerobically conditioned, providing symptom relief or slowing the course of the disease, for example metabolic myopathies, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM).{{Cite journal |last1=Urtizberea |first1=Jon Andoni |last2=Severa |first2=Gianmarco |last3=Malfatti |first3=Edoardo |date=May 2023 |title=Metabolic Myopathies in the Era of Next-Generation Sequencing |journal=Genes |language=en |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=954 |doi=10.3390/genes14050954 |pmid=37239314 |pmc=10217901 |issn=2073-4425 |doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Heydemann |first=Ahlke |date=2018-06-20 |title=Skeletal Muscle Metabolism in Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy-Implications for Therapies |journal=Nutrients |volume=10 |issue=6 |pages=796 |doi=10.3390/nu10060796 |issn=2072-6643 |pmc=6024668 |pmid=29925809 |doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Alemo Munters |first1=Li |last2=Dastmalchi |first2=Maryam |last3=Katz |first3=Abram |last4=Esbjörnsson |first4=Mona |last5=Loell |first5=Ingela |last6=Hanna |first6=Balsam |last7=Lidén |first7=Maria |last8=Westerblad |first8=Håkan |last9=Lundberg |first9=Ingrid E. |last10=Alexanderson |first10=Helene |date=2013-08-13 |title=Improved exercise performance and increased aerobic capacity after endurance training of patients with stable polymyositis and dermatomyositis |journal=Arthritis Research & Therapy |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=R83 |doi=10.1186/ar4263 |doi-access=free |issn=1478-6362 |pmc=3978470 |pmid=23941324}}