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Truly Huge Fitness Tips
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FITNESS TIPS FOR 5/29/2001
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Basic Muscle Anatomy and Physiology for Bodybuilding
by Tracy Anderson
www.tkalfn.homestead.com
This month we'll cover some basic concepts about muscle anatomy
and physiology. This will lead to an understanding of the adaptive
response of muscle to exercise, so you can better design an
effective program to achieve your bodybuilding and fitness goals.
First off, you should realize that there are three basic types of
muscle tissue in the human body. Skeletal muscle, also called
striated muscle, is attached by tendons to the skeletal bones.
Usually the two ends of a skeletal muscle are attached to two
different bones across a joint. The only thing a muscle can do
is contract, and when it contracts (shortens) it brings the two
bones closer together. This causes movement of the skeleton
at the particular joint spanned by the muscle. Thus the function
of skeletal muscle is to move the skeleton. Other skeletal
muscles, such as those between vertebrae and between the
ribs, play more of a structural role, helping the skeleton to
maintain its proper shape. Notably, skeletal muscle is under
voluntary control, which means that you control when a
skeletal muscle contracts.
Another type of muscle tissue is smooth muscle, called that
because it lacks striations. Probably the best example of
smooth muscle is the stomach and intestines. Your digestive
tract is a huge muscular tube which propels food from your
mouth to the other end. Your intestines are ringed by circular
bands of muscular tissue which squeeze the food through
the tube when they contract. This is called peristaltic
contraction, and is the same kind of contraction that propels
food down your esophagus when you swallow. Smooth
muscle is not under voluntary control, but instead is
controlled by the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic
nervous system receives input from the brain, but at the
subconscious level. The autonomic nervous system has
two divisions: the parasympathetic division which speeds
up movement of food through the digestive tract, and the
sympathetic division which slows down movement. The
parasympathetic nervous system is sometimes referred to
as the resting and digesting nervous system and the
sympathetic nervous system is often refereed to as the
fight and flight nervous system. Of interest, the intestines
have their own nervous system built right into the intestinal
wall, between muscle layers. It's called the myenteric
nerve plexus, and integrates information from the
intestines with input from the autonomic nervous system
to precisely control digestion and food movement. Most
people don't realize that there are nearly as many nerve
cells in their intestines as in their brains. The complexity
of this system has only become understood in the past
couple of years. It's what gives us the freedom to think
about other things instead of having to constantly be
worried about consciously controlling the movement of
food through the gut.
The third type of muscle tissue is cardiac muscle, found
exclusively in theheart. It's somewhere between striated
muscle and smooth muscle. It does have striations like
skeletal muscle but the fibers are arranged more like
smooth muscle, so it has elements of both. Cardiac
muscle is referred to as an involuntary muscle, but it can
be influenced through internal factors. For example,
being nervous or scared will speed up your heart rate,
while relaxing will slow down your heart rate. This too
is mediated by the autonomic nervous system. Here,
the sympathetic division speeds up heart rate while the
parasympathetic division slows it down. Heart muscle
has some very special properties which allow it to do
its job. For one thing, it has a built in pacemaker which
causes the heart to spontaneously contract all by itself.
It is called the sinoatrial node and is located in the right
atrium. You can cut all the nerves going to the heart
and it will still beat just fine. (This is what makes the
heart transplants possible.)
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