| Course | EF205 Principles of Exercise Science |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 2 |
| Paper type | Cardiovascular response paper |
| Length | About 1,110 words, 7 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health Science |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for EF205 Unit 2
Seventy-Six to One Hundred Fifty-Two in Sixteen Minutes: A Unit 2 Paper on the Cardiovascular Response to Exercise, Read From My Own Walk Test
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
EF205: Principles of Exercise Science
Unit 2 Cardiovascular Response Paper
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The student and her measurements are composite; the physiology and studies cited are real.
The Data
I did the walk on a flat quarter-mile track at a local high school, wearing a chest-strap heart rate monitor paired with my phone, and checked the reading against a fifteen-second pulse count at the finish. Resting heart rate, taken seated before warming up, was 76. At the end of the mile it was 152. One minute after stopping it was 128, and two minutes after, 112. My estimated maximum heart rate, using the formula 208 minus 0.7 times age, which Tanaka et al. (2001) developed from a large meta-analysis and laboratory study as a more accurate alternative to 220 minus age, is about 185. So at the end of the walk I was working at about 82 percent of my estimated maximum.
Why Heart Rate Rises
When I started walking briskly, my leg muscles needed far more oxygen than at rest. The body meets that demand by increasing cardiac output, the amount of blood the heart pumps each minute, which is heart rate multiplied by stroke volume, the amount pumped with each beat.
Heart rate rises first through withdrawal of parasympathetic, or vagal, activity, which at rest slows the heart, and then through increased sympathetic activity, which speeds it further and strengthens each contraction. Within the first minutes of walking my heart rate likely climbed well above 100, and it kept rising gradually as the pace stayed brisk and my body temperature rose.
Why Stroke Volume Rises
Stroke volume also increases at the start of exercise. More blood returns to the heart as working muscles squeeze the veins and breathing deepens, so the heart fills more fully and, by the Frank-Starling mechanism, contracts more forcefully. Sympathetic stimulation adds to the force. In untrained people, stroke volume tends to level off at moderate intensities, so further increases in cardiac output come mostly from heart rate. That likely explains why my heart rate climbed so high on a walk: my stroke volume has room to improve with training.
My heart reached 152 on a walk because it is making up with speed what it cannot yet do with volume.
Getting More Oxygen Out of Each Liter of Blood
Delivering blood is only half the story. Working muscles also pull a larger share of the oxygen out of the blood flowing past them than they do at rest, widening what physiologists call the arterial-venous oxygen difference. Blood flow is redirected toward the active muscles and away from the gut and kidneys, and the small vessels in the muscles open up. Together, more cardiac output and more extraction allow oxygen uptake to rise many times above resting levels. The highest rate a person can reach is their maximal oxygen uptake, or VO2max, a standard measure of cardiorespiratory fitness.
What Happens to Blood Pressure
During rhythmic exercise like walking, systolic pressure rises because the heart pumps more forcefully, while diastolic pressure stays about the same or falls slightly because vessels in the working muscles dilate. I did not measure blood pressure during the walk, but this pattern is normal; a fall in systolic pressure as effort increases would be a warning sign that calls for stopping and seeking medical advice.
What Recovery Tells Me
My heart rate fell 24 beats in the first minute of recovery, from 152 to 128. A quick early drop reflects the return of vagal activity to the heart, and faster recovery generally accompanies better fitness. Mine is reasonable but should improve as I train.
Estimating My Fitness From the Walk
The walk I did is the Rockport one-mile walk test, which Kline et al. (1987) developed and validated against measured VO2max. Their equation uses walking time, ending heart rate, age, sex and body weight. With my numbers, it estimates my VO2max at about 30 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram per minute, which falls below the middle of common norm tables for women in their thirties. I will report that result in full in the fitness assessment unit.
What This Means for Training
The physiology points to three things. First, steady aerobic training at moderate intensity should increase my stroke volume and the capacity of my muscles to extract oxygen, so the same pace will produce a lower heart rate over time. Garber and colleagues' exercise guidance calls for moderate aerobic work on most days, or vigorous exercise on fewer, for healthy adults (Garber et al., 2011). Second, because my walking pace already took me above 80 percent of my estimated maximum, I should start running with short intervals rather than continuous running. Third, I can use my heart rate and its recovery as a simple way to track progress across the course.
How Training Will Change These Numbers
The physiology also predicts what should change as I train. Over several weeks of regular aerobic exercise, the heart's left ventricle can fill more fully and pump more blood with each beat, so stroke volume at a given pace rises and heart rate at that pace falls. Blood volume tends to increase in the first weeks, which also helps the heart fill. In the muscles, the number of small blood vessels and of mitochondria, the parts of cells that use oxygen to make energy, increases, so the muscles extract oxygen more efficiently. Resting heart rate often falls as a result. If these changes happen, my retest at week eight should show a faster walk time, a lower finishing heart rate and a quicker drop in the first minute of recovery. These are the specific predictions I will check, which turns this paper from a description into a hypothesis about my own body.
Limits
A predicted maximum heart rate can be off by a handful of beats in either direction, and my chest-strap reading may differ slightly from a laboratory measurement. One test on one day is a snapshot, affected by sleep, caffeine and weather. The paper describes typical responses; individual responses vary.
Conclusion
On a brisk one-mile walk, my heart rate doubled because my heart, blood vessels and muscles worked together to deliver and extract more oxygen. My high walking heart rate and modest recovery suggest an untrained cardiovascular system with room to adapt. That shapes how I will train: gradually, with intervals at first, and with my own heart rate as a guide.
References
Garber, C. E., Blissmer, B., Deschenes, M. R., Franklin, B. A., Lamonte, M. J., Lee, I.-M., Nieman, D. C., & Swain, D. P. (2011). Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: Guidance for prescribing exercise. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(7), 1334-1359. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e318213fefb
Kline, G. M., Porcari, J. P., Hintermeister, R., Freedson, P. S., Ward, A., McCarron, R. F., Ross, J., & Rippe, J. M. (1987). Estimation of VO2max from a one-mile track walk, gender, age, and body weight. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 19(3), 253-259. https://doi.org/10.1249/00005768-198706000-00012
Tanaka, H., Monahan, K. D., & Seals, D. R. (2001). Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 37(1), 153-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0735-1097(00)01054-8
The Purdue Global EF205 Unit 2 instructions
Unit 2 usually asks students to explain how the cardiovascular system responds to exercise, often using their own heart rate data. Expect to cover heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, oxygen extraction and blood pressure, and to explain the mechanisms behind each change. Instructors look for application: the physiology should explain specific numbers from the student's own test, such as how high heart rate rose and how quickly it recovered. A method for estimating maximum heart rate should be named, with its limits. Many prompts also ask what the response means for training. Predictions about how the numbers should change with training make the paper stronger, because they can be checked later in the course. Measurement details, such as the device used and how readings were checked, belong near the start.
Inside the EF205 Unit 2 example
The paper opens with the data: resting, finishing and recovery heart rates, and the percent of estimated maximum using Tanaka and colleagues' formula. Sections explain why heart rate rises, why stroke volume rises and levels off in untrained people and how muscles extract more oxygen, with a highlighted line that her heart made up with speed what it lacked in volume. Blood pressure and recovery are explained. A section identifies the walk as the Rockport test and estimates her VO2max. Training implications follow, drawing on Garber and colleagues. A section predicts what training should change by week eight. Limits of age-predicted maximum and single tests close the analysis before the conclusion.
Where the points sit in the EF205 Unit 2 rubric
Points in this unit go first to accurate physiology and then to how well it explains the student's own numbers. Each mechanism, from autonomic control of heart rate to stroke volume and oxygen extraction, should be correct and connected to the data. Graders reward naming the method for estimating maximum heart rate and its error. Recovery heart rate interpretation shows depth. Training implications should follow logically from the physiology. Testable predictions earn credit for scientific thinking. Measurement methods should be described so the test could be repeated. The heart rate formula study, the walk test validation and the exercise guidance belong in an APA 7 list.
EF205 Unit 2 help from the desk
Cardiovascular papers often recite textbook definitions of cardiac output and never mention the writer's own heart rate. Another common error is treating 220 minus age as exact. Some writers confuse stroke volume and cardiac output, or describe blood pressure falling during exercise as normal. Papers without training implications miss the course's purpose. Leaving out how heart rate was measured makes the data impossible to judge. Before writing, record your resting heart rate, your heart rate at the end of a brisk mile and one and two minutes after. Send those numbers and we can build the explanation from them.
Get an EF205 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
Share your data, the topic and the instructions with the rubric. A custom paper explains the cardiovascular response with your numbers. Turnaround is 24-48h, free the first time. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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EF205 Unit 2 questions, answered
What happens to the heart during exercise?
Heart rate and stroke volume rise, increasing cardiac output to deliver more oxygen to working muscles.
What is VO2max?
The maximum rate at which the body can take up and use oxygen, a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness.
Can I use a fitness watch for heart rate?
Yes, though checking against a manual pulse count is wise.
Where can I find a free EF205 Unit 2 sample paper?
The complete EF205 Unit 2 cardiovascular response paper is on this page, explaining a student's heart rate rise from 76 to 152 during a one-mile walk test.
Why did heart rate rise so high on a walk in the EF205 Unit 2 sample?
In an untrained person stroke volume levels off early, so the heart raises cardiac output mainly by beating faster, pushing a brisk walk above 80 percent of estimated maximum.