Muscular System

Muscular System

User's Manual
Amazing Facts
Related Links

Smooth vs. Skeletal

Smooth muscles are not attached to bone. Examples of these are the muscles around your digestive tract that squeeze and push the food through your bowels and the all time hardest working muscle in the human body, your heart.

Skeletal muscle like the name implies is the muscle connected to your skeleton. Tendons connect the muscle to the bone. (Ligaments connect bones to bone) You'd be surprised how many skeletal muscles you use for every movement you make throughout the day. Pitching a baseball requires practically every skeletal muscle in your body!

User's Manual: Smooth Muscle

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User's Manual: Skeletal Muscle

Routine exercise is a must for everyone in order to make their bodies resistant to injury.

We recommend an eBook called All Star Trainer’s Secrets. It’s a 250-page book written by 11 world class personal trainers and strength coaches. It provides an entire plan to dramatically transform your body in 30 days and achieve long lasting strength training, fat burning, muscle building success. If you want results we highly recommend reading this ebook along with the information we offer at bodyteen. Please visit the All Star Trainer’s Secrets web site for more information.

When exercising...

  • Warm up with an exercise that breaks a slight sweat, raises the body temperature and makes muscles more flexible and responsive to stretching. Your exercise should work all the muscles you intend to use during your workout so for weight training use a cardio machine that requires force from the legs and arms. If one isn't available try jogging to target your legs, and pushups and pull-ups assisted by a bench to target your arm back and chest muscles.
  • Stretch every muscle you warmed up. Each stretch should be done twice and held for at least 30 seconds each. Never bounce when you stretch (it accomplishes nothing). (see stretching)

Be smart. If you're starting an exercise program you need to ease into it. Most people feel absolutely great the first day of a weight lifting program, so it's easy to strain your muscles without noticing it, until the following day when you're crying for your mommy. The first few weeks you should be very conservative on the weights no matter how many cute girls are watching. If you're starting to run, do not bust out 5 miles the first day because you feel terrific. Running uses a lot more muscles than you think. If you are in fairly good shape try the following "easing in" program...

  • Week 1: 1 mile 3 days a week
  • Week 2: 1.5 miles 3 days a week
  • Week 3: 2 miles 3 days a week
  • Week 4: 2.5 miles 3 days a week
  • Week 5: 3 miles 3 days a week

If you're joining a running club or cross country or track team, take several weeks prior to the first day of practice to run 3 days a week, while steadily and conservatively building up the distance you can comfortably run.

If you ever feel a pain during lifting, even if it's slight, stop the exercise immediately and avoid exercises using that muscle until the pain is completely gone. Mild injuries can become disabling without early rest or treatment.

For muscle soreness heat the area to loosen the muscle, stretch to prevent tightness, then fill a resealable storage bag with a mixture of ice and water and apply it to the area to reduce swelling.

For muscle pulls, when muscle fibers are stretched beyond their limit give yourself a few days of rest. For those sports requiring fast running and acceleration using the legs such as running, basketball and soccer muscle pulls typically occur in the hamstrings and calves. For those sports with rotational movements like golf, softball, baseball, swimming and tennis, pulls generally occur in the back neck and shoulders.

Any pains occurring in tissue other than the muscle should be looked at by a physician or physical therapist.

If at any time you do see a physical therapist or doctor concerning your body, do yourself a favor and listen to what they say and follow their advice and do their recommended exercise or stretching regimens religiously! Or you'll be back in the same chair whining about the same problems. Only this time they'll be a whole lot worse.

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Anatomy

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Amazing Facts

  • You have all the muscle fibers you will ever have at birth. Once damaged they can't be replaced.
  • Arnold Shwarzenaeger has just about as many muscle fibers as you do. They're just thicker.
  • A single muscle cell of the sartorius muscle in the thigh can be more than 12 inches long.
  • There are more than 600 voluntary muscles in the body.
  • The strongest muscle of the body is the masseter muscle used for chewing.
  • Your hand contains 20 different muscles.
  • If all your muscles could pull in one direction you could create a force of 25 tons.
  • Muscles account of 40% of your body weight.
  • It takes 17 muscles in your face to smile, but it takes a whopping 43 muscles to frown.
  • You take 5 million steps per year.

Related Links

All Star Trainer’s Secrets

Strength Building Exercise

Smooth muscle
Heart
Tongue
Muscles within arteries

Skeletal muscle
Facial muscles
Neck
Sternocleidomastoid
Chest
Pectoral muscles
Pecs
Diaphragm
Stomach
Abdominals
Abs
Rectus abdominis
External oblique
Internal oblique
Transversus abdominis
Shoulders
Deltoids
Delts
Arms
Biceps
Triceps
Forearms
Extensors
Flexors
Legs
Thigh muscles
Quadriceps
Quads
Lower leg muscles
Calves
Back
Trapezius
Traps
Latissimus dorsi
Lats
Erector spinae muscles
Correct Posture