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Year 10
OCR

The short term responses to exercise and changes in the body

I can identify the short-term effects of exercise on the body and apply them to sporting examples.

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New
New
Year 10
OCR

The short term responses to exercise and changes in the body

I can identify the short-term effects of exercise on the body and apply them to sporting examples.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Short-term effects of exercise on the circulatory system include increased heart rate, stroke volume and cardiac output.
  2. Blood is redistributed to the working muscles in response to exercise to deliver more oxygen and remove carbon dioxide.
  3. Respiratory rate, tidal volume and minute ventilation all increase in response to exercise.
  4. Our muscles increase in temperature when we exercise.
  5. Lactic acid is produced when we exercise at higher intensities.

Keywords

  • Lactic acid - a waste product produced in the muscle tissues during strenuous exercise where he anaerobic energy system is in use

  • Fatigue - muscle tiredness when the body has a lack of energy

  • Rate of recovery - the speed at which the body returns back to normal after exercise

  • Redistribution of blood - when you exercise, the blood is diverted from inactive areas to the muscles that are being used. This action is completed through vasodilation and vasoconstriction (aka the vascular shunt mechanism)

Common misconception

Pupils often mix up what changes happen in response to exercise and what changes happen as a long term adaptation to training.

Short-term responses of the body are what happens as soon as we start exercising to cope with it, but if we train regularly, then the body adapts to be better able to cope with the stress of exercise and hence work more efficiently in performance.


To help you plan your year 10 physical education lesson on: The short term responses to exercise and changes in the body, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Make the links between this lesson, long-term adaptations and aerobic/anaerobic exercise to build on the foundations of how the body works. Sporting examples and the chance to experience these responses practically will help secure the learning.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following substances are produced more quickly in the body during strenuous exercise?
Correct answer: carbon dioxide
Correct answer: lactic acid
oxygen
nitrogen
Q2.
Match the following to the correct body system.
Correct Answer:heart,cardiac system
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cardiac system

Correct Answer:alveoli,respiratory system
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respiratory system

Correct Answer:arteries,circulatory system
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circulatory system

Correct Answer:biceps,muscular system
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muscular system

Correct Answer:ulna,skeletal system
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skeletal system

Q3.
Which of the following is incorrect about why our heart rate and breathing rate remain elevated during recovery?
to flush lactic acid out of the body
to recover the oxygen debt
to remove any remaining carbon dioxide
to load the muscles up with fresh oxygen supplies
Correct answer: to reduce oxygen consumption quickly after exercise
Q4.
Match up the following key terms with the correct definition.
Correct Answer:heart rate,the number of times you heart beats per minute
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the number of times you heart beats per minute

Correct Answer:stroke volume,the amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle per contraction
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the amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle per contraction

Correct Answer:cardiac output,the volume of blood pumped per minute by each ventricle of the heart
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the volume of blood pumped per minute by each ventricle of the heart

Correct Answer:breathing rate,the number of breaths taken in a minute
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the number of breaths taken in a minute

Correct Answer:tidal volume,the amount of air entering the lungs during normal inhalation at rest
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the amount of air entering the lungs during normal inhalation at rest

Q5.
Which of the following is the correct definition of aerobic respiration?
Correct answer: use of oxygen for the duration of the exercise, usually at moderate intensity
high intensity exercise which does not allow for the predominant usage of oxygen
exercise with no oxygen present
Q6.
When we cross the anaerobic threshold due to high intensity exercise, is produced in the muscles.
Correct Answer: lactic acid, lactate

6 Questions

Q1.
What happens to muscle temperature when we start to exercise?
it decreases
it stays the same
Correct answer: it increases
Q2.
Which of the following statements is incorrect as a response to a gentle jog?
heart rate increases
stroke volume increases
cardiac output increases
breathing rate increases
Correct answer: inspiratory reserve volume increases
Q3.
Which one of the following types of exercise will result in the greatest production of lactic acid?
a gentle jog
a long distance swim
submaximal cycling
Correct answer: maximal effort sprints
Q4.
Increased blood is redistributed to working muscles due to the shunt mechanism.
Correct Answer: vascular
Q5.
Match up the following descriptions of what happens to the redistribution of blood when we exercise.
Correct Answer:vasoconstriction,of arteries supplying the digestive system to reduce blood flow
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of arteries supplying the digestive system to reduce blood flow

Correct Answer:vasodilation,of arteries supplying the working muscles to increase blood flow
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of arteries supplying the working muscles to increase blood flow

Q6.
Gaseous exchange happens faster during exercise because there is a difference in concentration of oxygen in the alveoli compared to the bloodstream.
Correct Answer: bigger, larger, big, large