Fitness as Holistic
From bib. source
In our broader and more complete explanation of fitness, the first major concept is that fitness is a whole body process that requires many interacting systems working in concert. Only when these systems are in harmony can true fitness and maximum performance be attained. […]. Each organ system has a specialized role in energy metabolism.
That is, insofar as the whole organism functions to maintain homeostasis, it would seem clear that any given picture of fitness must be compatible with the goal of homeostasis. Which also means that any approach to fitness must take into account all the interacting, specialized organ systems of the human body (LeMond 2015, 9).
Four-way linkage underlying fitness
Does this suggest a four-way link among mitochondrial cultivation / energy optimization, bodily degrees of freedom, likelihood of survival, and homeostasis? Perhaps the relationship between mitochondrial cultivation and homeostasis in particular is mediated or controlled by energy metabolism.
The major organ systems most relevant to athletic performance are (LeMond 2015, 9-11):
- The digestive system and endocrine system (with special emphasis on the liver as well as satiety and stress hormones, the “endocrinohepatic¨ circuit)
- The circulatory system and respiratory system (with special emphasis on the lungs and the heart, the “pulmonocardiac¨ pathway or pulmonary circuit)
- The musculoskeletal system
- The lymphatic system (with special emphasis on immunity)
- The nervous system (with special emphasis on the cerebrum and the coordination of its cerebellum, as well as the peripheral nervous system)
Finally, adipose tissue or body fat, while not an organ system or even an organ, is also relevant as a biofuel storage system of the body and should thus be treated as its own item–in other words, “fat serves many key functions in athletic metabolism¨ (LeMond 2015, 9).
Organ systems as specialized towards different steps or aspects of energy or biofuel metabolism
Perhaps the organ systems should be abstracted in terms of their function in energy or biofuel metabolism, and thus the interactions between these organ system analyzed in terms of contribution to overall energy or bio-fuel metabolism in the effort to maintain homeostasis. The most relevant factors of homeostasis when restricted to the factors or aspects involved in energy or biofuel metabolism is the recovery from the byproduct of fuel usage, namely heat (LeMond 2015, 11). This heat can lead to dehydration (due to the expulsion of water to cool the internal environment and the skin of the body). hypothermia, heat stroke or salt imbalance (Ibid).
The digestive and endocrine system could be seen as systems dedicated to fuel acquisition, simplification, usage and storage (the liver particularly relevant to usage and storage of fuel). After all, “the liver is the hub of metabolism¨ and “the body’s chemical factory¨ (LeMond 2015, 10). Meanwhile, digestive systems transform “bulk food into the simple molecules we can absorb into our blood stream and into our cells¨ (LeMond 2015, 9). Adipose tissue can be seen as the most concentrated bio-fuel reserve storage system for the digestive and endocrine systems: “without energy-dense fat we would only store energy as glucose and glycogen (much greater in volume per calorie) and we would all be truly enormous¨ (LeMond 2015, 10). Then, the circulatory and pulmonary systems can be seen as fuel and reactant distributors, respectively–though done jointly through the pulmonary circuit. As “mitochondria require¨ oxygen and fuel, “[t]he heart beats continuously, pumping oxygen and fuel to the organs and muscles¨ (LeMond 2015, 11). The musculoskeletal system is responsible for mechanical coordination of movement, with muscle in particular expending vast amounts of biofuel as energy in (Ibid). Consequently, in the long-run it can also have the function of consuming adipose tissue (i.e., “burning body fat¨) (Ibid).
biology organ_system organ_systems organs function physiology anatomy sports_science evolutionary_biology athleticism digestive_system endocrine_system endocrinology stress_hormone satiety_hormones lung circulatory_system digestive_system musculoskeletal_system muscular_system skeletal_system pulmonocardiac_pathway endocrinohepatic_circuit peripheral_nervous_system energy_metabolism biofuel_metabolism gastroenterology myology kinesiology cardiology neurology neuroscience pulmonary_circuit hepatology adipose_tissue body_fat biological_economics distribution consumption production heat_stroke salt_imbalance organ_tissue reactants pulmonology
bibliography
- “The Human Machine.” In The Science of Fitness: Power, Performance, and Endurance, 9–38. Waltham, MA: Academic Press, 2015.