An increase in functional capacity fo muscles and other bodily tissues as a result of increased stress (overload) placed upon them.
Homeostasis
The automatic tendency to maintain a relavant contstant internal enviornment.
Metabolism
The chemical process occuring within a living cell or organism that are necassary for the maintenance of life. In metabolism some substances are broken down to yield energy for vital processes while other substances, necessary for life, are synthesized.
Anabolism
The building up in the body of complex, chemical compounds from simpler compounds (e.g. proteins from amino acids).
Catabolism
The breaking down in the body of complex chemical compounds into simpler ones (e.g. amino acids to individual proteins).
Metabolic set point
The base rate of metabolism that your body seeks to maintain; results in your basal metabolic rate.
Basal metabolic rate
The minimum energy required to maintain the body's life function at rest. Usually expressed in calories per hour per square meter of the body surface.
Kilocalories
The amount of energy released when food is digested
Calorie
A unit of heat
Thermogenic effect
The heat liberated from a particular food thus a measure not only of its energy content but also of a tendency t be burned as heat.
Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)
The body’s energizer, an organic compound present in muscle fibers that is broken down through a variety of enzymatic processes. The resultant spark of energy released stimulates hundreds of microscopic filaments within each cell, triggering muscle contraction.
Respiratory quotient (RQ)
A method of determining the "fuel mix" being used giving us a way to measure the relative amounts of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins being burned for energy