An example of that would be when we try to grip on something as hard as we can, our hands would shake.
In: 221
Generally speaking we have two different kinds of muscle fibers, slow and fast. The slow ones allow us to do precise work, like threading a needle, but they aren’t very strong. The fast ones on the other hand are really strong, and will let us do things like remain standing when we jump down from a height.
Usually when we do something, we use just the right combination of slow and fast fibers, allowing us to use the precision we need while still getting the strength we need. At max effort however, *all* fibers will be used and it becomes very obvious that the fast fibers aren’t that precise.
Your muscles are made up of lots of little velcro like hooks and loops called actin and myosin fibers. These work together to make a muscle contract, but each individual fiber can only contract for a small period of time (usually much less than a second), so in order to make a smooth movement your brain and nerves tell a small number of them to contract at a time, then the next few, then the next few, and so on. For movements requiring only a small amount of strength, this works fine. However, when you are straining you “use up” a large portion of your muscle fibers contraction ability all at once, so there aren’t any fibers left to make the muscle movement smooth, causing the shaking you notice.
Your brain sends electrical pulses, not a steady stream. Like little waves on a river. Your muscles generally account for smoothing it out, like a pile of rocks at the end of that river.
If you try to move all the rocks at once, you still only have access to the waves. You can’t make a rushing torrent of water, so the rocks fly everywhere each time a giant wave hits.
Since this is pretty much answered, I’d like to know the answer to a follow up question:
How do we reduce this? Strength training?
I’ll do you all one better.
The human body is actually capable of tearing itself apart. The only thing stopping it is your sympathetic nervous system has “limiters”. When you’re doing something rigorous and you begin to shake, this is your body reaching that limiter. Without that limiter, essentially, you could tear your own arms off.
Human muscle fibers (like most animals) have a number of inhibitory reflexes that prevent them from operating at 100% power. This is because a maximally contracting muscle can easily injure itself or its tendons, opposing muscles, or nearby joints.
In addition, human exercise physiology is heavily optimized for endurance over peak power, so we likely have some inhibitory reflexes to lower energy use and increase endurance.
So when you are close to your limit on exercise, your muscles shake because your spine and/or brain are literally telling those muscles to stop working so hard.
Extreme emotional or physical events can sometimes overcome these inhibitory reflexes, causing phenomena like “hysterical strength” where a mother lifts a car off their child, a psychotic or intoxicated person performs extreme feats of strength/agility, or a person attacked by a wild animal kills it with their bare hands.
You have many smaller muscles that are used for stabilization, and if those aren’t worked out to the level you need them, you will feel that shaking.
As you strength train more those muscles become stronger and so you have more control.
What about when you exert yourself for hours and then shake when doing little tasks like lifting a drink for about up to 6 hours after?
An example of that would be when we try to grip on something as hard as we can, our hands would shake.
In: 221
Generally speaking we have two different kinds of muscle fibers, slow and fast. The slow ones allow us to do precise work, like threading a needle, but they aren’t very strong. The fast ones on the other hand are really strong, and will let us do things like remain standing when we jump down from a height.
Usually when we do something, we use just the right combination of slow and fast fibers, allowing us to use the precision we need while still getting the strength we need. At max effort however, *all* fibers will be used and it becomes very obvious that the fast fibers aren’t that precise.
Your muscles are made up of lots of little velcro like hooks and loops called actin and myosin fibers. These work together to make a muscle contract, but each individual fiber can only contract for a small period of time (usually much less than a second), so in order to make a smooth movement your brain and nerves tell a small number of them to contract at a time, then the next few, then the next few, and so on. For movements requiring only a small amount of strength, this works fine. However, when you are straining you “use up” a large portion of your muscle fibers contraction ability all at once, so there aren’t any fibers left to make the muscle movement smooth, causing the shaking you notice.
Your brain sends electrical pulses, not a steady stream. Like little waves on a river. Your muscles generally account for smoothing it out, like a pile of rocks at the end of that river.
If you try to move all the rocks at once, you still only have access to the waves. You can’t make a rushing torrent of water, so the rocks fly everywhere each time a giant wave hits.
Since this is pretty much answered, I’d like to know the answer to a follow up question:
How do we reduce this? Strength training?
I’ll do you all one better.
The human body is actually capable of tearing itself apart. The only thing stopping it is your sympathetic nervous system has “limiters”. When you’re doing something rigorous and you begin to shake, this is your body reaching that limiter. Without that limiter, essentially, you could tear your own arms off.
Human muscle fibers (like most animals) have a number of inhibitory reflexes that prevent them from operating at 100% power. This is because a maximally contracting muscle can easily injure itself or its tendons, opposing muscles, or nearby joints.
In addition, human exercise physiology is heavily optimized for endurance over peak power, so we likely have some inhibitory reflexes to lower energy use and increase endurance.
So when you are close to your limit on exercise, your muscles shake because your spine and/or brain are literally telling those muscles to stop working so hard.
Extreme emotional or physical events can sometimes overcome these inhibitory reflexes, causing phenomena like “hysterical strength” where a mother lifts a car off their child, a psychotic or intoxicated person performs extreme feats of strength/agility, or a person attacked by a wild animal kills it with their bare hands.
You have many smaller muscles that are used for stabilization, and if those aren’t worked out to the level you need them, you will feel that shaking.
As you strength train more those muscles become stronger and so you have more control.
What about when you exert yourself for hours and then shake when doing little tasks like lifting a drink for about up to 6 hours after?
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