Question

Describe the relationship between cardiac output (Q), stroke volume (SV) and heart rate (HR) in trained verses untrained individuals.

Answer 1

Cadiac output is perhaps defined as the product of stroke volume and heart rate. This means that an increase in stroke volume or heart rate or a combination of both will eventually lead to an increase in cardiac output. When a graph is compared between trained and untrained athletes, it can be seen that the overall cardiac output is higher in trained than the untrained. This has primarily happened due to the fact that there is a significant increase in heart rate of trained athletes while the stroke volume in trained athletes has only increased a little as compared to the untrained ones.