Integrated Cardiovascular Control During Full Body Exercise
Blood flow regulation is one of the most interesting aspects of human physiology. When we perform high intensity exercise we utilize oxygen at a greater rate than it can be supplied to the skeletal muscle, and as a result there is a net deoxygenation of the skeletal muscle. In response to this hypoxia in the skeletal muscle we experience ‘metabolic vasodilation’ which is a process by which we increase blood flow. This process is relatively simple during single joint or small muscle mass exercise, like a bicep curl for example. However, it becomes increasingly complex when we progress to regional exercise using multiple muscle groups in close proximity to one another or full body exercise. The reason for this is that we have a finite ability to metabolically vasodilate tissue before we outstrip our cardiac output and cannot maintain our arterial blood pressure. As a result our body has built in protective mechanisms to ensure that we never vasodilate so much that it threatens our arter…
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