Regular exercise is an important component to your general health and wellness. Different types of exercise produce a range of effects on your body and lead to different demands on your cardiorespiratory system. In particular, regular aerobic exercise and training stress your heart and lungs and can produce significant benefits in cardiorespiratory fitness. However, these benefits do not result in changes in lung capacity.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise -- such as in running, biking or swimming -- occurs with continuous use of your large muscle groups. The increased demand for oxygen from working muscles requires that your heart and lungs adapt, leading to increases in your heart rate as well as breathing rate and depth. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week for adults.

Lung Capacity

Lung capacity can be characterized in several different ways. It is commonly divided into smaller volumes or capacities that relate to physical or physiological function. Total lung capacity is the amount of air in the lungs after a maximal inspiration. The strength of your inspiratory muscles and the physical properties of the lungs and chest wall determine your total lung capacity. A healthy adult male will have a total lung capacity of about 6 liters. The factors contributing to the volume of your total lung capacity also determine your vital capacity. This is the amount of air you can forcefully exhale after a maximal inspiration. These two capacities set the limits of your tidal volume, or the amount of air you breathe in and out with each breath, which is approximately 1/2 liter.

Effects During Exercise

During exercise, the lungs must work harder to supply the increased oxygen required by the working muscles as well as exhale increased carbon dioxide. This is accomplished by increasing both the rate and depth of breathing. The tidal volume increases substantially during strenuous exercise from the resting volume of 1/2 liter to as high as 3 liters. This means that each breath in and out moves approximately six times as much air during exercise as during the resting state.

Training Effects

Regular aerobic exercise has little or no impact on lung function or on your lung volumes as explained by Jeremy Barnes Ph.D., an associate professor at Southeast Missouri State University in “Scientific American.” However, training can increase the strength and stamina of muscles used for breathing. This may lead to decreased fatigue and potentially a small increase in your vital capacity, or the maximal amount of air you can exhale from your total lung capacity.