Last week, for one of my courses, I was researching biomechanics for a presentation. It’s not often school and blogging overlap for me, so I was really excited about the topic I was assigned: The Role of Muscle Injury in Performance Improvement and Adaptation
I thought it would be interesting to share what I learned on Eat Clean Live Green 
First up – How Do Muscles Work?
Muscles alternate contraction and relaxation, working in pairs
- A stimulated muscle contracts and becomes shorter, moving the bone it is attached to
- An antagonistic muscle relaxes, becomes longer and thinner
Muscles work by pulling as they contract – a muscle is unable to do work by pushing or elongation.
Contraction occurs within the sarcomere: the functional unit of the muscles. As the muscle contracts, the I band narrows and the z-lines move closer together.
This movement is stimulated first from your neurons (nerve cells) and then by calcium within the muscle fibres. (Calcium: it’s not just for bones!)
There are three main types of muscle contraction:
- Concentric contraction: A muscle shortens in length and develops tension
- Eccentric contraction: A muscle lengthens and develops tension
- Isometric Contraction: Static tension (ie. Pushing against a solid object)
Next in the Muscle Science series: why are your muscles so sore after a new or harder workout?
If I haven’t scared you off with my nerdyness, that is 
Also – up next in my 30 Days of Blogging Dinner challenge: another amazing blueberry breakfast!
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
No I love the nerdy-ness! But that is from one nerd to another
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Let me comment by saying . . . Allison you are way smarter than me!
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ahhhh this brings me back to biomechanics class in college. The labs were acutally really interesting, we did all sorts of things from measring our heel to toe gait, performing exercises with our eyes closed and e-stim. Thanks for sharing!!!
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Biomechanics was my favorite class my sophmore year of college. It was fascinating!
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