Here’s the step by step guide to the blood flow through the body; explained in a simple way for your Level 2 and Level 3 Anatomy Revision.
You’ll discover:
- Why FitPros find the heart and circulatory system hard to revise
- How Does Blood Flow Through The Body?
- How many questions you will have in your exam
- How to learn with simplicity for the rest of the modules
- Three Example Mock Question about the blood flow through the body
Why FitPros find the heart and circulatory system hard to revise
The Heart and Circulatory system is notoriously claimed to be one of the hardest modules within the Level 3 Anatomy and Physiology syllabus, so you are not alone if you find this area difficult to understand.
Unlike other areas of anatomy (like muscles), we never get to see our heart move, which makes it feel theoretical. It may also feel like this is less directly related to training clients as a FitPro.
Although you might not actually be quoting the heart valves and circulation with your clients, the knowledge of this is foundational and absolutely crucial in order to understand the demand and stress we place on the heart in exercise.
How Does Blood Flow Through The Body – A Step by Step Guide
Below I’ll outline the exact route a red blood cell will take from the:
Lungs to the heart
the Heart around the body
finally, the heart back to the lungs.
When it comes to remembering this… it’s kinda like a map.
Imagine a car that leaves London and heads for Birmingham and then Manchester.
Once the car arrives in Manchester. It turns around and heads back to Birmingham and ends back in London.
There’s a specific route to each destination. Along the way, you stop at specific places.
London represents the Lungs
Birmingham is the Heart << after-all, Birmingham is in the center of the UK. Just like the heart is in the center of the body.
and Manchester represents the body’s muscles.
The car is the red blood cell.
so let’s go on a journey:
Oxygen binds to a red blood cell at the lungs.
next we travel in the pulmonary VEIN and take a short ride to enter the heart [Birmingham] in the left atrium.
*VEINs always go INto the heart.
It’s the Ve-IN
from here we drop into the left ventricle. This is the powerhouse chamber of the heart. As the heart contracts it forces blood at high pressure on its next journey.
we’re now heading towards Manchester aka. the bodies muscles.
We head away from the heart via the Aorta and arteries.
*Arteries always go away from the heart.
A for Away.
En-route the journey road gets narrower and narrower. Specifically,
- ↓ Aorta < about the thickness of your thumb
- ↓ Arteries
- ↓ Arterioles
- ↓ Capillaries < 1-cell thick under a microscope.
Once we reach the Capillaries, the oxygen is dropped off into the bodies muscles.
Aka. Manchester.
The oxygen is now used in the muscle to create energy.
At the same time we drop off the oxygen we pick up carbon-dioxide from the muscle.
We now take a return trip. Leaving the muscles and heading back to the heart aka. Birmingham. Via,
- ↓ Capillaries
- ↓ Venules
- ↓ Veins
- ↓ Vena Cava
The route back to the heart is called venous return.
The Vena-Cava delivers deoxygenated blood into the right atrium of the heart.
Now we’re back in heart [Birmingham] we drop down in the right ventricle.
Here, the right ventricle makes a forceful contraction.
Pumping deoxygenated blood into the pulmonary artery.
*remember A for away = arteries.
We now make our final journey back to the lungs [London] where carbon dioxide is dropped of at the lungs.
and we pick up oxygen to start the journey all over again.
Remembering the flow of blood is crucial for your exam.
You’re guaranteed to get 5 to 8 questions on the heart and circulatory system.
Throughout all the revision boot camps I’ll make reference to metaphors, analogies and acronyms that are easy to link complex topics to.
meaning you can break complex topics down and more importantly remember them come exam day.
The two most popular revision bootcamps are
The moment you link something tough and hard to grasp to something you already know
[like London, Birmingham and Manchester] learning become tons easier.
I’ve done the heavy lifting here and constantly link to things you already know throughout each revision bootcamp.
In summary
- The Blood Flow Through The Body is like a car travelling from London, to Birmingham, to Manchester and back again
- Veins go IN TO the Heart
- Arteries go Away from the Heart,
- Here’s what Lydia had to say about the A&P Revision Mastery Bootcamp 👇 👇 👇
I can’t recommend Parallel Coaching enough their learning material is fantastic and definitely was a huge factor in me passing my A&P level 3.
Lydia
Test your knowledge with today’s mock questions:
[NOTE: The answers are below the 3rd questions]
1. Which blood vessel carries oxygenated blood to the Left Atrium?
A. Pulmonary Vein
B. Pulmonary Artery
C. Vena Cava
D. Right Ventricle
2. What name is given to the blood vessel that carries deoxygenated blood to the lungs?
A. Pulmonary Vein
B. Pulmonary Artery
C. Vena Cava
D. Aorta
3. Which valve is responsible for preventing backflow between the aorta and the left ventricle?
A. Mitral Valve
B. Aortic Valve
C. Bicuspid
D. Pulmonary Valve
What’s the CORRECT answer?
Answers to the mock questions are :
Question 1= A, Question 2 = B, Question 3 = B
If you want more mock questions like this, then you can download more Free Mock Questions: DOWNLOAD NOW
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Dedicated to More
Hayley “blood flow” Bergman
Parallel Coaching
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