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Hamilton Personal Trainers Ask…If You Know?? (Part One)
By murray | April 2, 2009
WHAT ARE YOU MADE OF ?: Let’s start with the 101. You have three types of muscles: the cardiac muscle found in your ticker, the smooth muscle that lines such organs as your stomach and esophagus, and skeletal muscle, which attaches to your bones via tendons.
MASS MOVEMENT: Skeletal muscles are the ones you use to suck in your stomach at the beach or load a new plasma TV into your car – in other words, the kind that you’re most aware of as you go about your day. They make up 30 to 
40 percent of your body mass and are largely voluntary, meaning you make them move – minus the occasional involuntary blip when someone scares the crap out of you.
MUSCLE MARINARA: Grab a handful of dry spaghetti. This is what a skeletal muscle looks like: Each strand of spaghetti represents a muscle fiber. These fibers are bundled together – larger muscles, such as your quads, can pack up to 150 in one bunch – and huddle with other bundles to make up the entire muscle.
GROW WHAT YOU’VE GOT: The number of muscle fibers you have was already determined by the time you dumped your middle-school boyfriend. “The number may increase early in life, but it becomes set at puberty,” says C. David Geier Jr., M.D., director of sports medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. What you can control, how big the fibers get, which determines how tight and strong you look.
HURTS SO GOOD: When you cut your finger, your body heals, but it often overcompensates by leaving a scab. Something similar happens with your muscles. Hoisting a barbell, or a baby, can cause microscopic tears in the fibers. As a result, your muscles send a signal to nearby cells to swoop in. The cells trigger the formation of proteins at the “boo-boo” site, and that increases the size of the muscle. After weeks of dedication to a solid workout, you’ll see results.
WE’RE BE-TWITCHED: All muscle fibers are not created equal. Slow-twitch fibers are like you mom’s speed- walking club; They’re perfect for endurance but don’t pack a lot of power. Fast-twitch fibers do the opposite, they offer bursts of rapid-fire energy, but only for a short time. Your genes control how much of one type or the other you have. If you’re looking to jack up your endurance for a marathon, hone your slow-twitchers by lifting two to three sets with lighter weights, eking out 12-15 reps, suggests Jason Conviser, Ph.D., president of JMC & Associates, a fitness consulting group in Glencoe, Illinois. If you want to improve your 5-K kick, try cranking out two to three sets of six to eight reps at a heavier weight instead.
SAY WHA???: The scientific word for muscle growth is hypertrophy. Use it with your trainer – “I’m really pleased with my hypertrophy late” – and watch his jaw drop “and know it took hundreds of muscle fibers for it to do so).
YOUR MUSCLE HAS AND IQ: When you fire a power punch in kickboxing class, your brain sends a signal down a nerve cell, telling certain muscle fibers in your arms, back, core, andlegs to contract. After a series ofmicroscopic chemical reactions – BAM!! – you deliver the blow. As you practice, your brain and muscles learn to communicate more efficiently and you become more coordinated.
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