eli5 how does more muscle make you able to lift heavier stuff
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Muscles are composed of fibers, which in turn are bundles of specialized cells, vascular tissue, nerves and connective tissue. The part that makes the muscle move is a sort of biological machine, fibers of a protein called actin which interact with an other protein called myosin. When the signal to contract comes through nerves, the myosin motor proteins “walk” along the actin filaments, and this causes a muscle to contract.
These structures act in concert, some muscle groups relaxing and others contracting, to allow us to do… anything, including lifting weight. It’s amazing, but it’s still basically a very sophisticated machine, a given amount of muscle can exert only so much force! Up to limits set by the other tissues involved, such as tendons, ligaments, and the bones they anchor to, more muscle and denser muscle tissue allows you to exert more force with a contraction of that tissue.
More force = more lift.
The strength of a muscle is determined by its cross sectional area because the muscle fibers thicken up and they’re all pulling in the same direction in any given muscle.
Essentially what skeletal muscles do is bend joints. If you cannot generate enough torque (because the muscle pulls a little past the fulcrum of the joint, this it is measured with torque) with your muscle to overcome the opposite torque of the heavy object then you won’t be able to move it. If you have bigger muscles you have bigger muscle fibers which can generate more torque.
Muscles are composed of fibers, which in turn are bundles of specialized cells, vascular tissue, nerves and connective tissue. The part that makes the muscle move is a sort of biological machine, fibers of a protein called actin which interact with an other protein called myosin. When the signal to contract comes through nerves, the myosin motor proteins “walk” along the actin filaments, and this causes a muscle to contract.
These structures act in concert, some muscle groups relaxing and others contracting, to allow us to do… anything, including lifting weight. It’s amazing, but it’s still basically a very sophisticated machine, a given amount of muscle can exert only so much force! Up to limits set by the other tissues involved, such as tendons, ligaments, and the bones they anchor to, more muscle and denser muscle tissue allows you to exert more force with a contraction of that tissue.
More force = more lift.
The strength of a muscle is determined by its cross sectional area because the muscle fibers thicken up and they’re all pulling in the same direction in any given muscle.
Essentially what skeletal muscles do is bend joints. If you cannot generate enough torque (because the muscle pulls a little past the fulcrum of the joint, this it is measured with torque) with your muscle to overcome the opposite torque of the heavy object then you won’t be able to move it. If you have bigger muscles you have bigger muscle fibers which can generate more torque.
Muscles are composed of fibers, which in turn are bundles of specialized cells, vascular tissue, nerves and connective tissue. The part that makes the muscle move is a sort of biological machine, fibers of a protein called actin which interact with an other protein called myosin. When the signal to contract comes through nerves, the myosin motor proteins “walk” along the actin filaments, and this causes a muscle to contract.
These structures act in concert, some muscle groups relaxing and others contracting, to allow us to do… anything, including lifting weight. It’s amazing, but it’s still basically a very sophisticated machine, a given amount of muscle can exert only so much force! Up to limits set by the other tissues involved, such as tendons, ligaments, and the bones they anchor to, more muscle and denser muscle tissue allows you to exert more force with a contraction of that tissue.
More force = more lift.
One person might struggle to lift a heavy box, while 7 people working together will lift it easier. More muscle = more muscle fibers = more little microscopic people all helping you lift a box (metaphorically speaking anyways).
One person might struggle to lift a heavy box, while 7 people working together will lift it easier. More muscle = more muscle fibers = more little microscopic people all helping you lift a box (metaphorically speaking anyways).
One person might struggle to lift a heavy box, while 7 people working together will lift it easier. More muscle = more muscle fibers = more little microscopic people all helping you lift a box (metaphorically speaking anyways).
The strength of a muscle is determined by its cross sectional area because the muscle fibers thicken up and they’re all pulling in the same direction in any given muscle.
Essentially what skeletal muscles do is bend joints. If you cannot generate enough torque (because the muscle pulls a little past the fulcrum of the joint, this it is measured with torque) with your muscle to overcome the opposite torque of the heavy object then you won’t be able to move it. If you have bigger muscles you have bigger muscle fibers which can generate more torque.
When you lift a heavy object, your muscles contract to generate the force required to move the weight. The amount of force your muscles can produce is determined by the size and strength of the muscle fibers.
Muscles are made up of many muscle fibers, which are like tiny strings. When you lift weights or engage in resistance training, you create tiny tears in these muscle fibers. As your body repairs these tears, the muscle fibers grow larger and stronger.
So, the more muscle fibers you have, and the larger and stronger they are, the more force your muscles can produce. This increased force allows you to lift heavier weights. In addition, having more muscle mass also means that the weight is distributed across more muscle fibers, reducing the strain on any one individual fiber and making it easier to lift the weight.
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