Sport and Exercise Physiology: Questions 650-655
Sport and Exercise Physiology: Questions 650-655
Sport and Exercise Physiology: Questions 650-655
MCQs
MCQ
Questions 650–655
650. In athletes, physical fitness is more closely correlated with
A. Maximal oxygen uptake than with resting oxygen uptake.
B. Maximal pulse rate than with resting pulse rate.
C. Maximal minute ventilation than with maximal cardiac output.
D. Blood oxygen saturation than with blood lactate level during strenuous exercise.
E. Resting vagal tone than with resting sympathetic tone to the heart.
Answers
MCQ
650.
A. True Maximal oxygen uptake is the ‘gold standard’ of fitness.
B. False Maximal pulse rate is related to age; a slow pulse indicates fitness.
C. False Cardiac output is the usual limiting factor in exercise.
D. False Saturation changes little during exercise; a relatively low lactate level during strenuous
exercise is an indication of fitness.
E. True A high resting vagal tone is the cause of the low resting heart rate.
651.
A. True The time course of their twitch is relatively long.
B. True This provides an intracellular store of oxygen.
C. True This is due to their myoglobin content.
D. True They generate energy by oxidative phosphorylation.
E. False Their high rate of oxygen consumption classifies them as aerobic.
652.
A. True The respiratory quotient is less than 1.0 during long distance running.
B. False It is around 250–300 ml.
C. False Brain oxygen consumption increases in relatively small active areas, but the total
changes little.
D. True This is a useful way of maintaining fitness, particularly in older people.
E. False The maximum recorded is less than ten litres.
653.
A. True This causes local vasodilation.
B. True Acidosis also favours vasodilation.
C. True Heat dilates blood vessels.
D. False Exercising a limb causes little change in mean arterial pressure.
E. False Vasomotor nerves are not involved in exercise hyperaemia.
654.
A. True Neural factors account for most of the early improvement in performance.
B. True This is a potent factor causing hypertrophy.
C. False There is an increase due to increased diastolic filling with the lower resting heart rate.
D. True This results in a lower blood lactate level for a given workload.
E. True A consequence of the greater oxygen extraction rate.
655.
A. False The resting level is around one millimole per litre.
B. True It is a marker for anaerobic metabolism.
C. True Almost all the energy used in the 100-metre dash comes from anaerobic metab-olism.
D. False Even though the lactic acid level is steady, it is still raised during steady state exercise.
Questions 656–661
MCQ
656. Isotonic (dynamic) exercise differs from isometric (static) exercise in that
there is less
A. Increase in systolic arterial pressure.
B. Increase in diastolic arterial pressure.
C. Assistance to the circulation by the muscle pump.
D. Use of slow-twitch muscle fibres.
E. Reliance on anaerobic glycolysis.
657. Electrocardiological danger signs during incremental treadmill exercise
include
A. A heart rate equal to the maximal predicted for the person’s age.
B. An R-R interval of about 500 milliseconds.
C. R waves with an amplitude greater than one millivolt.
D. Ventricular tachycardia.
E. ST depression of one millimetre.
659. Cold
A. Injury to feet exposed for long periods to 5–10oC is due to frostbite.
B. Injury to the extremities is made less likely by increased affinity of haemoglobin for O 2 at
low temperatures.
C. Environments may induce a five-fold rise in resting metabolic rate.
D. Water immersion causes death from hypothermia more rapidly in fat than in thin people.
E. Water immersion of the hand at 5oC is painless.
660. The maximum possible metabolic rate during exercise is
A. Reached when the blood lactate level starts to fall.
B. Reached when the respiratory exchange ratio starts to fall.
C. Reached when ventilation reaches the maximum breathing capacity.
D. Reduced by about half if the haemoglobin level falls by half.
E. About 50 times the resting rate in an athlete.
Answers
MCQ
656.
A. False There is a greater increase during isotonic exercise.
B. True Diastolic pressure rises more with isometric exercise.
C. False The muscle pump does not function during static exercise.
D. False In dynamic exercise more use is made of endurance fibres.
E. True Isotonic exercise relies mainly on aerobic metabolism, whereas isometric exercise
relies mainly on anaerobic glycolysis.
657.
A. False It is normal to reach one’s predicted maximal heart rate.
B. False This implies a heart rate of about 120 beats/minute, well within the normal range.
C. False This is also a normal finding.
D. True Stroke volume is impaired and ventricular fibrillation may develop.
E. False Depression of 2–3 millimetres is the borderline level for danger.
658.
A. True Vasodilation in skin in addition to that in muscle may reduce arterial pressure to
fainting point.
B. True There is a serious risk of a progressive rise to fatal levels due to positive feedback.
C. False It falls due to the hyperventilation induced by the rise in core temperature.
D. False Osmolality rises due to the high output of hypotonic sweat.
E. True By improving the efficiency of heat losing mechanisms, heat adaptation allows the
subject to have a smaller rise in core temperature for a given workload.
659.
A. False The tissues do not freeze at this temperature; ‘trench foot’ injury can occur.
B. False Hypoxia is an increased risk due to poor release of oxygen to the tissues.
C. True Increased muscle tone and shivering account for this.
D. False Fat people have much better insulation of their body core.
E. False It is very painful, a warning of the danger of such temperatures.
660.
A. False The lactate level keeps rising with increasing severity of exercise.
B. False Increasing lactate acid increases ventilatory elimination of CO 2; a rising respira-tory
exchange ratio suggests that exercise is approaching maximal.
C. False The level of ventilation in exercise does not reach the maximum breathing capac-ity.
Questions 662–667
MCQ
662. In someone with diabetes mellitus being treated by injected insulin
A. Omission of an insulin injection causes a rise in the blood glucose level.
B. Regular daily exercise increases insulin requirements.
C. Unaccustomed exercise leads to a low blood glucose level.
D. Carbohydrate intake should be decreased if daily exercise is increased.
E. Tremor may occur if the blood glucose level falls.
666. Hypoxia in
A. Exercising muscle decreases the rate of lactate formation.
B. Life at high altitudes leads to a respiratory acidosis.
C. Patients with cardiac failure is of the hypoxic variety.
D. Patients with asthma is alleviated by treatment with adrenoceptor b blocking drugs.
E. Smokers is due partly to carboxyhaemoglobin formation in blood.
667. During strenuous exercise (12 METS, where one MET is the resting meta-
bolic rate, corresponding to an oxygen consumption of 3.5 ml per minute) as
compared with moderate (6 METS) dynamic exercise, there is a higher
A. Carbon dioxide production in the body.
B. Systolic arterial blood pressure.
C. Blood lactate level.
D. Arterial blood pH.
E. Respiratory exchange ratio.
278 Sport and exercise physiology – answers
Answers
MCQ
662.
A. True There is impaired uptake and storage of glucose in muscle fibres.
B. False Exercise facilitates uptake of glucose in muscles and less insulin is needed.
C. True The normal insulin dosage is now excessive.
D. False Exercise increases carbohydrate requirements.
E. True Tremor is part of the sympathetic response to the hypoglycaemia; included in this
response is a tendency to oppose the fall in blood glucose by mobilizing glucose from hepatic
glycogen.
663.
A. True The predicted rate (220 minus age in years) is 195.
B. False A heart rate of 195 and stroke volume of 70 would give a cardiac output of 13.65
litres/minute; maximal output in an athlete is about twice that value.
C. True A tidal volume of 2 litres and respiratory rate of 60/minute gives a total ventila-tion of
120 litres/minute.
D. False It should be five to ten times the resting level.
E. True It would be below 100 ml/litre (less than 50 per cent saturated); most of the cir-
culation passes through exercising muscles and gives up considerably more than half its oxygen to
the muscles.
664.
A. True This is a recognized adverse effect of strenuous training over weeks or months.
B. True Amenorrhoea is likely when body weight falls markedly below the normal value.
C. False It is usually a hypothalamic response to a reduction in the body’s energy stores which
are sensed in the hypothalamus.
D. True As at the menarche, reproductive activity, including ovulation and menstruation,
generally depend on attaining a normal adult body mass, including fat stores.
E. False This is the normal female body fat level.
665.
A. False The respiratory quotient for carbohydrate is 1.0.
B. True The ratio is about 9:4.
C. False Muscle energy is normally derived about equally from carbohydrate and fat.
D. False Cortisol favours this catabolic process by converting amino acids into glucose.
E. False Training greatly increases energy needs, up to 4000 kcal (16.8 MJ)/day, or more.
666.
A. False Lack of oxygen leads to anaerobic glycolysis and increases lactic acid formation.
B. False It stimulates ventilation and leads to a respiratory alkalosis.
C. False It is ‘stagnant’ hypoxia due to inadequate tissue blood flow.
D. False But beta-receptor stimulation leads to relaxation of airway smooth muscle and should
relieve hypoxia when caused by asthma.
E. True Due to the carbon monoxide content of the smoke.
667.
A. True Like O2 consumption, CO2 production is a precise index of metabolic rate.
B. True Systolic pressure rises with the level of exercise as cardiac output increases.
C. True With exercise at twelve times resting metabolic rate, the lactate level is high and rising.
Questions 668–673
MCQ
668. The elastic recoil of muscles and tendons in the legs
A. Increases jumping height when someone jumps from a height immediately before take off.
671. For the average healthy, normal male aged 20, the
A. Body fat is about 30 per cent of total body weight.
B. Skin-fold thickness is higher than in a female.
C. Heart rate during maximal exertion is about 200 beats per minute.
D. Cardiac output during maximal exertion is about 10 litres per minute.
E. Maximal oxygen consumption is about 10 ml/kg/minute.
672. Heat
A. Load during maximal exertion should not exceed three times resting heat load.
B. Syncope is caused by an inappropriately high cardiac output.
C. Stroke is a less serious condition than heat syncope.
D. Adaptation results in the subject having a smaller rise in core temperature for a given level of
work.
E. Adaptation takes about six days rather than six weeks to develop.
673. Pain is produced by
A. Potassium ions more than by sodium ions.
B. Occluding the circulation to an exercising limb for five minutes.
C. Occluding the circulation to a resting limb for five minutes.
D. Raised tissue endorphin levels.
E. Thawing of tissue frozen during frostbite.
280 Sport and exercise physiology – answers
Answers
MCQ
668.
A. True The elastic tissue in extensor muscles is stretched by the initial downward jump.
B. True Elastic recoil aids the activity independently of muscular contractions.
C. False The concrete surface ‘reflects’ more of the energy stored during landing the foot on
the surface.
D. True Training which stretches the muscles achieves this.
E. False Compared with skiers, weight lifters produce little muscle stretch and rebound during
training.
669.
A. True Bone density declines, particularly after 60.
B. False The risk is considerably greater in females, especially after the menopause.
C. True Normal calcification requires exposure of the bone to gravitational and other stress.
672.
A. False It normally increases ten to fifteen-fold in a fit individual.
B. False It is caused by cardiac output not rising sufficiently to compensate for the fall in
peripheral resistance due to the skin vasodilation.
C. False Unlike heat syncope, heat stroke is likely to be fatal unless treated promptly and
effectively.
D. True Due to the development of more efficient heat-losing mechanisms.
E. False Six weeks gives useful and fairly complete adaptation.
673.
A. True Injections of isotonic potassium but not sodium into the skin are extremely pain-ful.
B. True Due to the accumulation of pain-producing metabolites when blood flow is in-
adequate to clear the metabolites generated by muscle exercise.
C. False Accumulation of such metabolites is very slow in the resting limb; with more pro-
longed occlusion, anaesthesia due to nerve hypoxia usually occurs before metabolite retention in
the tissues rises to the levels needed to stimulate pain nerve endings.
Questions 674–679
MCQ
674. Heart disease may limit exercise tolerance by
A. Reducing the patient’s maximal cardiac output.
B. Increasing the left ventricular ejection fraction.
C. Depriving cardiac muscle of an adequate blood supply.
D. Decreasing heart rate through increased vagal tone.
E. Changing the relationship between cardiac work and fibre length.
Answers
MCQ
674.
A. True This is the main mechanism limiting exercise.
B. False It decreases ejection fraction and hence stroke volume and cardiac output.
C. True This causes temporary (angina) and potentially permanent (myocardial infarc-tion)
dysfunction.
D. False It may decrease heart rate by blocking impulses from the sinoatrial node to the
ventricles.
E. True It decreases work done at a given fibre length on the left ventricular function curve.
675.
A. True This may occur in severe obstructive or restrictive disease.
B. True This may occur in obstructive disease such as asthma.
C. False Unless resting oxygen requirements are met, death results immediately.
D. False The oxygen carrying capacity of blood often rises in respiratory disease because of
polycythaemia; desaturation of haemoglobin is the usual cause of hypoxia in respiratory disease.
E. False Pulmonary blood flow equals cardiac output, which tends to rise in respiratory disease.
676.
A. False Not unless the individual has been training at high altitude; for some activities a
maximal haematocrit is set to discourage artificial means of raising the oxygen carrying ability of
blood.
B. False This also is likely to be normal (around 98 per cent in arterial blood).
C. False Ventilation is not usually a limiting factor for endurance activity.
D. False There will only be sympathetic tone to the heart at maximal exercise.
E. True This permits a low resting pulse rate and a high maximal cardiac output.
677.
A. False Atmospheric drag is reduced at high altitudes.
B. True Due to impaired saturation of the blood with oxygen (hypoxic hypoxia).
C. True Due to increased ventilation induced by hypoxia; this limits ability to further increase
ventilation.
D. False This compensates for the low PCO2 and allows increased ventilation.
E. True Lactate levels tend to rise rapidly and fall slowly, leading to intense fatigue and
collapse.
678.
A. True Due to shortage of amino acids to repair loss due to normal turnover.
B. True Thus the substrates for energy production in exercise are missing.
C. False A reduced haemoglobin level is common and causes anaemic hypoxia.
D. True This is the commonest cause of anaemia (haemoglobin contains iron).
E. True High activity requires more energy than this so there would be negative energy
balance.
679.
A. True Due to stimulation of radial dilator fibres by sympathetic nerves.
B. True Another sympathetic effect.
C. True Due partly to circulating adrenaline.
D. False Sweating increases as part of the fight or flight response.
E. True Another beta sympathetic adrenoceptor response.
Sport and exercise physiology – questions 283
Questions 680–684
MCQ
680. In someone whose activities are limited by a recent stroke
A. Weakness is more of muscular than neurological origin.
B. Voluntary movements are better preserved than reflex movements such as the knee jerk.
C. Speech difficulties are usually worse when the weakness is left-sided.
D. Weakness usually affects both legs.
E. The main area of nervous system damage is usually in the cerebellum.
Answers
MCQ
680.
A. False The weakness is of neurological origin.
B. False Voluntary movements are weak, but spinal reflexes such as the knee jerk are usu-ally
increased.
C. False The muscles on the right side and speech are usually controlled by the left side of the
brain; both are usually impaired when the left side of the brain is damaged by a stroke.
D. False A stroke usually affects just one side of the body.
E. False The damage is usually in one cerebral hemisphere, where the main motor fibres pass
from the cerebral cortex to the brainstem.
681.
A. False Conventionally it is ten times the resting rate (higher than the basal rate).
B. True 10 METS require 10 times the resting oxygen consumption of around
250 ml/minute.
C. True Resting metabolic rate is roughly proportional to body mass.
D. False Such people should exercise at this level, but advice is needed on dietary and insulin
needs.
E. True The world record for the mile at this age is between ten and fifteen minutes, implying
much less than ten METS for about a quarter of an hour.
682.
A. False The maximal thermoneutral temperature is around 30 degrees.
B. False Thermoregulatory release of vasoconstrictor tone is confined to skin blood ves-sels.
C. False Since the ambient temperature is higher than blood temperature, the only ave-nues left
for heat loss are evaporation of sweat and fluid lining the respiratory tract.
684.
A. True This gives a daily deficit of about 500 kcal which would be supplied by metabo-lizing
fat stores.
B. True This provides a positive energy balance and allows replenishment of body pro-tein and
fat, assuming an adequate protein content of the diet.
C. True Metabolizing at 10 METS for 6 hours (60 MET hours) would itself use up more than
the daily sedentary requirement (e.g. sleeping for 8 hours, about 8 MET hours; average 2 METS
for 16 hours, 32 MET hours).
D. True Ketoacidosis impairs muscle function.
E. False A moderate carbohydrate intake is required to avoid ketoacidosis; a relatively high
carbohydrate intake is required for exercise.
Sport and exercise physiology – questions 285
Questions 685–686
MCQ
685. The increase in ventilation during maximal exercise
A. May exceed 100 litres/minute in a young 70 kg adult.
B. Is smaller when the exercise is performed at high altitudes.
C. Is related in part to a fall in pH due to lactic acidosis.
D. Is related in part to stimulation of receptors in muscle (‘metaboreceptors’) by metabolic
products of exercise.
E. Does not involve the brain above the level of the brain stem (pons, midbrain and medulla).
686. Glycogen stores in skeletal muscle
A. Are beyond the resolution of the electron microscope.
B. Help the body to avoid ketoacidosis during exercise.
C. Increase during endurance training.
D. Are replaced more completely if carbohydrate is ingested immediately, rather than hours,
after exercise.
E. Are depleted in people with inadequately treated diabetes mellitus.
286 Sport and exercise physiology – answers
Answers
MCQ
685.
A. True This is necessary to maintain a normal alveolar oxygen level and full blood oxygen
saturation.
B. False It is increased due to the low oxygen content at low atmospheric pressures; ven-
tilatory ability can then be a limiting factor.
C. True This occurs above the anaerobic/lactate threshold.
D. True Ventilation is somewhat reduced if this input to the brain is blocked.
E. False The precise matching of ventilation to exercise requirements is postulated to take
place in an ‘exercise centre’ which receives an input from the cortical neurones initiating the
exercise.
686.
A. False Glycogen granules are readily identifiable in sections of biopsied muscle.
B. True By providing an adequate source of glucose.
C. True This is an important effect of training; muscle glycogen stores may then exceed 1 kg.