Exercise Pharmacology
Chapter 1
1. Distinguish between pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacology.
2. How would you determine a drugâs doseâresponse curve?
3. What is meant by drug efï¬cacy? Potency?
4. How would you determine equipotent doses for two drugs of the same class?
5. What features of a drugâs action may make its pharmacokinetic properties more sensitive to exercise?
6. How might a drugâs volume of distribution be altered in the case of a person who is obese? A person who is elderly?
7. How might you explain an antagonist with partial agonist activity?
8. What are some of the ways that taking a second drug can affect the activity of the ï¬rst drugâor either drug?
Chapter 2
1. Bill is 60 years old and in reasonable shape. Working out on an elliptical machine, Bill sees that his heart rate is 135 bpm. Can you determine his ap-proximate exercise intensity without hooking him to a metabolic cart? What is he primarily burning for energy?
2. Your mother asks your advice about starting an exercise program. She is in pretty good health, but wants to drop some weight besides improving her cardiovascular health. What kind of exercise plan would you recommend to get her started? How would you explain to her the beneï¬ts of such a plan? After the initial couple of weeks, would you recommend any changes that might help her with her long-term ï¬tness goals?
3. Compare and contrast the three major muscle ï¬ber types in terms of their metabolism and fuel preference.
4. You are a graduate student working in an exercise physiology lab. You see a claim in a bodybuilding magazine about a supplement that rapidly increases power, strength, and muscle mass. How would you set up an experiment to test whether these claims are true?
5. Obesity is now considered by some to be reaching epidemic proportions. What is contributing to this trend, and what can be done?
Chapter 3
1. Compare and contrast the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
2. What is meant by allostatic load, and how does it differ from stressing over a single test?
3. Explain three ways drugs can affect the signals transmitted by nerve cells.
4. How might exercise lessen the effects of stress?
5. Describe some of the theories that attempt to explain the bodyâs paradoxical response to exercise.
6. What are the key physiological changes that occur during the ï¬ght or ï¬ight response? How do they help in survival?
Chapter 4
1. What is meant by âbeta-blockers with ISAâ? What advantages might these drugs have? Disadvantages?
2. What property makes some beta-blockers cardio selective?
3. What are the effects of beta-blockers on exercise physiology?
4. A serious walker (5 miles/day) notices that she has stopped losing weight since starting her new prescription of propranolol (non-cardio selective, without ISA). She also fatigues more quickly than she used to. What can you offer her as an explanation?
5. The NCAA and USOC have banned beta-blockers from many types of com-petition. Why?
Chapter 5
1. Bill, a deconditioned, recently divorced 50-something exec driving that new BMW, wants to drop some weight and look good. He has high blood pressure. What kind of exercise regime would you recommend?
2. Why do calcium channel blockers mostly affect smooth muscle, with little effect on skeletal muscle?
3. How do calcium channel blockers reduce blood pressure?
4. Mary enjoys running and likes to compete in 10K races and half marathons. She also is diagnosed with high blood pressure. What are her options for regulating her blood pressure while maintaining a training schedule and remaining competitive?
5. How do ACE inhibitors affect blood pressure?
6. How do ARBs affect blood pressure?
