AQA GCSE PE Applied anatomy and physiology: a complete overview of the body systems and energy

Applied anatomy and physiology is the foundation of AQA GCSE PE Paper 1. It explains how the body is built and how it works during physical activity. This guide maps the six areas of the topic and how they connect.

The body systems

Four body systems work together to keep you moving in sport.

The skeletal system supports and protects the body, allows movement through joints, makes blood cells and stores minerals. You must know the major bones, the structure of a synovial joint, and the joint types (ball and socket, hinge) and the movements they allow, such as flexion, extension, abduction and adduction.

The muscular system produces movement. Muscles work in antagonistic pairs, where one muscle (the agonist) contracts while its partner (the antagonist) relaxes, for example the biceps and triceps at the elbow. You must know the major muscle groups and the types of contraction.

The cardiovascular system transports oxygen, nutrients and waste. The heart is a double pump, blood travels through arteries, veins and capillaries, and the system responds to exercise by raising heart rate and redirecting blood to the muscles.

The respiratory system supplies oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. Air passes through the trachea, bronchi and bronchioles to the alveoli, where gaseous exchange happens by diffusion across a large, thin, moist surface.

Energy and exercise

The effects of exercise

The short-term effects are immediate: a faster heart rate, deeper and faster breathing, a higher body temperature, sweating and muscle fatigue. The long-term effects are adaptations to regular training: muscle hypertrophy, cardiac hypertrophy, a lower resting heart rate, a larger stroke volume, and stronger bones and ligaments. Always link an adaptation to the benefit it gives in performance.

How to revise this topic

1. Learn the named parts of each system and where they are.
2. Memorise the definitions of gaseous exchange, antagonistic pairs, hypertrophy and the energy equations.
3. Apply to sport: for every fact, have a sporting example ready.
4. Link adaptations to performance in long-answer questions.
5. Practise the worked questions on each dot point page.