MPU3343 Nutrition and Public Health

Glossary
Chapter 10 Fitness - Physical Activity, Nutrients and Body Adaptations

No Term / Word Definition / Meaning

Glossary
1 Aerobic physical activity Activity in which the body’s large muscles move in a
rhythmic manner for a sustained period of time. Aerobic
activity, also called endurance activity, improves
cardiorespiratory fitness. Brisk walking, running, swimming
and bicycling are examples.
2 Atrophy (AT-ro-fee) Becoming smaller; with regard to muscles, a decrease in size
(and strength) because of disuse, undernutrition or wasting
diseases.
3 Carbohydrate loading A regimen of moderate exercise followed by the consumption
of a high-carbohydrate diet that enables muscles to store
glycogen beyond their normal capacities; also called
glycogen-loading glycogen super compensation.
4 Cardiac output The volume of blood discharged by the heart each minute;
determine by multiplying the stroke volume by the heart rate.
The stroke volume is the amount of oxygenated blood the
heart ejects toward the tissues at each beat. Cardiac output
(volume/minute) = stroke volume (volume/beat) x heart rate
(betas/minute).
5 Cardiorespiratory Improvements in heart and lung function and increased blood
conditioning volume, brought about by aerobic training.
6 Cardiorespiratory The ability to perform large-muscle, dynamic exercise of
endurance moderate to high intensity for prolonged periods.
7 Conditioning The physical effect of training; improved flexibility, strength
and endurance.
8 Cool-down 5 to 10 minutes of light activity, such as walking or stretching,
following a vigorous workout to gradually return the body’s
core to near-normal temperature.
9 CP or creatine phosphate A high-energy compound in muscle cells that acts as a
(also called reservoir of energy that can maintain a steady supply of ATP.
phosphocreatine) CP provides the energy for short bursts of activity).
10 Duration Length of time (for example, the time spent in each activity
session).
11 Enhanced water Water that is fortified with ingredients such as vitamins,
minerals, protein, oxygen or herbs. Enhanced water is
marketed as vitamin water, sports water, oxygenated water
and protein water.
12 Exercise Planned, structured and repetitive body movements that
promote or maintain physical fitness.
13 Fitness The characteristic that enable the body to perform physical
activity, more broadly, the ability to meet routine physical
demands with enough reserve energy to rise to a physical
challenge; or the body’s ability to withstand stress of all
kinds.
14 Flexibility The capacity of the joints to move through a full range of
motion; the ability to bend and recover without injury.

1
 MPU3343 Nutrition and Public Health

15 Frequency The number of occurrences per unit of time (for example, the
number of activity sessions per week).
16 Glucose polymers Compounds that supply glucose, not as single molecules, but
linked in chains somewhat like starch. The objective is to
attract less water from the body into the digestive tract
(osmotic attraction depends on the number, not the size of
particles).
17 Heat stroke A dangerous accumulation of body heat with accompanying
loss of body fluid.
18 Hyperthermia An above-normal body temperature.
19 Hypertrophy (high-PER- Growing larger; with regard to muscles, an increase in size
tro-fee) (and strength) in response to use.
20 Hyponatremia (HIGH- A decreased concentration of sodium in the blood.
poe-na-TREE-mee-ah) Hypo = below
Natrium = sodium (Na)
Emia = blood
21 Hypothermia A below-normal body temperature.
22 Hourly sweat rate The amount of weight lost plus fluid consumed during
exercise per hour. One pound equals roughly 2 cups (500
millilitres) of fluid.
23 Intensity The degree of exertion while exercising (for example, the
amount of weight lifted or the speed of running).
24 Moderate-intensity Physical activity that requires some increase in breathing
physical activity and/or heart rate and expands 3.5 to 7 kcalories per minute.
Walking at a speed of 3 to 4.5 miles per hour (about 15 to 20
minutes to walk 1 mile) is an example.
25 Muscle endurance The ability of a muscle to contract repeatedly without
becoming exhausted.
26 Muscle power The product of force generation (strength) and movement
velocity (speed); the speed at which a given amount of
exertion is completed.
27 Muscle strength The ability of muscles to work against resistance.
28 Physical activity Bodily movement produced by muscle contractions that
substantially increase energy expenditure.
29 Progressive overload The training principle that a body system, in order to improve,
principle must be worked at frequencies, durations or intensities that
gradually increase physical demands.
30 Resistance training The use of free weights or weight machines to provide
resistance for developing muscle strength, power and
endurance; also called weight training. A person’s own body
weight may also be used to provide resistance such as when a
person does push-ups, pull-ups or abdominal crunches.
31 Sedentary Physically inactive (literally, “sitting down a lot”).
32 Sports anaemia A transient condition of low haemoglobin in the blood,
associated with the early stages of sports training or other
strenuous activity.
33 Training Practising an activity regularly, which leads to conditioning
(Training is what you do; conditioning is what you get).

2
 MPU3343 Nutrition and Public Health

34 Vigorous-intensity Physical activity that requires a large increase in breathing

physical activity and/or heart rate and expands more than 7 kcalories per
minute. Walking at a very brisk pace (>4.5 miles per hour) or
running at a pace of at least 5 miles per hour are examples.
35 VO2 max The maximum rate of oxygen consumption by an individual at
sea level.
36 Warm-up 5 to 10 minutes of light activity, such as easy jogging or
cycling, prior to a workout to prepare the body for more
vigorous activity.
Additional Glossary
37 Anabolic steroids Drugs related to the male sex hormone, testosterone, that
stimulate the development of lean body mass.
Anabolic = promoting growth
Sterols = compounds chemically related to cholesterol
38 Androstenedione See DHEA.
39 Beta- A metabolite of the amino acid leucine promoted to increase
hydroxymethylbutyrate muscle mass and strength.
(HMB)
40 Caffeine A natural stimulant found in many common foods and
beverages including coffee, tea and chocolate; may enhance
endurance by stimulating fatty acid release. High doses cause
headaches, trembling, rapid heart rate and other undesirable
side effects.
41 Carnitine A nonessential nonprotein amino acid made in the body from
lysine that helps transport fatty acids across the mitochondrial
membrane. As a supplement, carnitine supposedly “burns” fat
and spares glycogen during endurance events, but in reality it
does neither.
42 Chromium picolinate A trace mineral supplement; falsely promoted as building
(CROW-mee-um pick- muscle, enhancing energy and burning fat. Picolinate is a
oh-LYN-ate) derivative of the amino acid tryptophan that seems to enhance
chromium absorption.
43 Convenient dietary Liquid meal replacers, energy drinks, energy bars and energy
supplements gel that athletes and active people use to replenish energy and
nutrients when time is limited.
44 Creatine (KREE-ah-tin) A nitrogen-containing compound that combines with
phosphate to form the high-energy compound creatine
phosphate for phosphocreatine) in muscles.
45 DHEA Hormones made in the adrenal glands that serve as precursors
(dehydroepiandrosterone) to the male hormone, testosterone; falsely promoted as
and androstenedione burning fat, building muscles and slowing aging.
46 Ergogenic (ER-go-JEN- Substances or techniques used in an attempt to enhance
ick) aids physical performance.
Ergo = work
Genic = gives rise to
47 hGh (human growth A hormone produced by the brain’s pituitary gland that
hormone) regulates normal growth and development, also called
somatotropin.

3
 MPU3343 Nutrition and Public Health

48 Ribose A naturally occurring 5-carbon sugar needed for the synthesis

of ATP.
49 Sodium bicarbonate A white crystalline powder that is used to buffer acid that
(baking powder) accumulates in the muscles and blood during high-intensity
exercise.