What does it mean that strength is a neuromuscular function?
In: Biology
It means that strength depends on more than just muscle size. Total muscle fiber recruitment and coordination, which rely on the nervous system, are also important.
strength involves both the nerves that activate the muscles and the muscles themselves
Nerves: how many neurons fire to activate muscle, and how frequently they fire to activate the muscle influence strength
Muscle: size, intrinsic ability to maintain muscle tone, varying composition of muscle fibers in the muscle influence strength
Imagine I have ten really strong guys working under me. We want to move a big, heavy thing from point A to point B. Doing so is really simple – have every guy stand around the thing, pick it up at the same time, and move it towards B.
Now imagine not every guy moves to their spot. Or maybe a few of them don’t all pick up the thing at the same time, unbalancing it. Or maybe a few of the guys pick up the thing at the right time, but start trying to move it to point C, instead. It’s going to be a lot harder to move the thing, if moving it is even possible at all.
Your muscles are the guys in this example, and your nervous system is the person keeping them all doing the right thing at the right time. If the guys are weak, it’s hard to move the thing even if the nervous system is keeping them on track. If the nervous system isn’t keeping them on track, it’s hard to move the thing even if the guys are strong.
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