Fitness on The Wire with Jerry Vance: Understanding Muscles
Submitted by Jerry Vance on Thu, 10/28/2010 - 1:51pm
This week the focus is on the muscles in your body, what they do and how to strengthen them for better workouts.
• Muscles that are used often will react safely to extended use, but those of you who are new at fitness may find a different reaction to muscle usage. The tired, sore muscles that you feel after your first try at fitness can cancel all your desire to be fit. How do you plan a workout without at least one sore spot? Well-you can't.
Tightening and stretching any muscle group will create structural changes within those muscles that will cause tenderness. Learn to separate muscle soreness from joint and muscle pain. One is the result of healthy use and the other is a warning sign of possible injury. Your muscles will eventually react to a workout in three ways, with increased strength, endurance and flexibility.
• Muscle strength relates to the amount of weight your muscle can lift with one solid single lift. When you do a push up, for example, you are lifting a set amount of weight, and you can do that lift only so many times. If you applied an extra weight to your body gradually over a month, you would be able to increase your lift load and hence your muscle strength.
• Muscle strength movements are largely anaerobic, meaning they are performed by the fast twitch muscles and do not require a high level of aerobic capacity. These muscle groups are set aside for one strong movement. The supporting muscles need interval time to rest between this type of workout. So, most workout programs that incorporate a heavy lifting pattern are scheduled on an "every other day" basis.
• Muscle endurance relates to repetitions. And is mostly performed by the slow twitch muscles and needs the steady breathing practices of aerobic conditioning. Three to five times a week is a good workout schedule to accomplish maximum results. Running, jumping rope and lap swimming use large muscle groups, (30 to 50 repetitions), and is a definition of endurance training of that particular muscle group. It has little correlation to the amount of weight lifted with one singular movement as in muscle strength.
• When you undertake any new exercise sport, you will have sore muscles. Work on using those muscles constantly with added strength and endurance training to keep them from getting sore again and don’t forget the ending stretch for flexibility.
— Carson City fitness writer Jerry Vance is a regular contributor to Carson Now
