Dynamic characteristics of ventilation, heart rate, and gas exchange in response to sinusoidally varying work loads were analyzed in four male subjects, exercising in the upright position on a bicycle ergometer. Mean work-load and sinusoidal amplitude were about 1.5 and 0.9 W/kg, fat-free mass), respectively. Seven different frequencies were used, the periods ranging from 12 to 0.75 min. To further investigate the linearity of the variables under study, 10-s impulse loads were also applied to three of the four subjects. Harmonic analysis of the sine-wave data and comparison of the sine-wave fundamental responses with the impulse frequency responses showed that only O2 uptake behaves in a linear fashion. Ventilation and CO2 production showed quasi- to nonlinear behaviors, whereas the responses of heart rate and alveolar partial pressures were clearly dependent on the type of forcing used. By means of mathematical parameter identification techniques, it was found that the individual frequency responses of O2 uptake could be almost completely described by a four-parameter transfer function with parameter values showing second-order underdamped to critically damped dynamics.