Weight Lifting Exercises & Their Affect
On Different Muscle Fibers
Weight lifting exercises cause your muscles to
generate heat and strength. Your muscles need
to be strong, in order to help you move, breathe
and so on.This article on weight lifting exercises
will look at the relationship between the exercises
you use when weight lifting and your muscles.Your
actual muscle tissue is made up of 2 types of
muscle fibers, actin, which are a slim fiber and
myosin which are substantially thicker. Both of
these fiber types help to give your muscles a
striated look about them.
When performing any exercises
used in weight lifting the muscle being exercised
must be able to contract properly. To do this
they need to become stimulated by motor neurons.
These are simply nerves.One motor neuron and the
muscle fibers stimulated during exercises used
during weight lifting activities are called a
motor unit. These motor units or muscle fibers
play a large part in the force your muscles can
produce during a contraction.The more motor units
you can activate during your weight lifting exercises
the stronger the contraction.
Meaning you'll be able to lift a greater amount
of weight for an increased number of repetitions.Your
muscle fibers are categorized as Type I, Type
IIa and Type IIb muscle fibers. The more common
term for muscle fibers are "fast" and "slow" twitch.When
performing high rep weight training exercises
it's your slow twitch muscle fibers (Type I) that
will be recruited to do the majority of the work.
Your body uses this type of muscle fiber when
endurance activities, aerobic activity or high
rep sets are used.
Fast twitch muscle fibers (Type
IIa and Type Iib) are used by your body during
explosive contractions. It's these fibers that
have the greatest potential for growth resulting
from the weight lifting exercises you perform.Your
body will used fast twitch muscle fibers during
high-intensity, short-duration exercises such
as weight lifting exercises that use heavy weight
for very low reps, or sprinting.
People who seem
to be able to build muscle at will when performing
almost any weight lifting exercises, usually will
have an unusually large number of fast twitch
muscle fibers in their body.In the majority of
people the muscle fiber make-up in each muscle
group will be relatively equal in most muscle
groups.
Therefore you need to recruit both slow twitch
and fast twitch fibers at some point in your exercise
program.One exception to the rule of equal types
of muscle fibers is when it comes to your hamstrings.
The hamstring muscles in the vast majority of
people tend to be made up of mostly fast twitch
muscle fibers.For that reason, when performing
weight exercises for your hamstrings, you should
try to use heavier weights for a lower number
of reps.Now, when executing any weight training
exercises your muscles will go through a few different
actions.
There are isometric, eccentric, concentric,
and isotonic portions of most weight lifting exercises;Isometric
contractions can best be described as the same
stress your muscle would go through when pushing
against a wall.The lifting portion of weight training
exercises such as a dumbbell bicep curl is known
as the concentric contraction. Lowering the dumbbell
in a controlled fashion is the eccentric portion.
The
more common terms for this part of weight training
exercises are positive (concentric) and negative
(eccentric).The fourth type of contraction that
can occur during weight exercises is the isotonic
contraction. This can occur more commonly during
plyometric training.Patrick Mckeeman has very
quick, easy & effective health & fitness
solutions for you.
|
