Muscles are truly a fascinating bodily tissue. They can exert an amazing amount of force in a fraction of a second, they can be strengthened or stretched in order to become specialized to specific activities or movements, and are basically at our beckoning call. Now what you do with all this power is up to you, but in order to get the most out of your muscles you’ll need to have some basic knowledge as to how they work.

1.) Muscle Contraction is the primary function of your muscles and is what gives you the ability to move. You see this clearly when you do a bicep curl and that little bump forms on your upper arm. Believe it or not, that is one of 3 basic types of contractions that your muscles can perform. So here is the contraction types and what they are best for.

• Concentric Contraction is where a muscle shortens, just like what your bicep does during a curl. Performing this movement can help build overall Strength of that muscle.
• Eccentric Contraction is the opposite of concentric. That is, the ability for a muscle to lengthen in a slow and controlled manner. This is also where most of the micro tears in your muscle fibers happen. (Sounds bad but it doesn’t have to be. I’ll explain why if you continue reading.)This type of contraction is more linked to building muscle Hypertrophy (Which means size). Do not get strength and size confused as they do not necessarily mean the same thing. Granted a large muscle is a strong one but a small muscle can be a powerful one as well.
• Isometric Contraction or a muscles ability to hold a position without any movement. If you’ve been keeping up with my blog, a good example of an isometric move is the wall sit or plank (shown on my 15 minute office workout). This type of contraction is good for building Strength at a specific position. For example if your a downhill skier it would be smart for you to do a squat and hold the position similar as to what you would perform while competing. By practicing this type of movement often you can train your legs to be excellent at holding that position for long periods of time without fatiguing.

2.) Why do I get Sore? Many people have been told that the soreness you experience the day (or few days) after a workout is due to a buildup of lactic acid. This is an older method of thought and we have actually proved otherwise. What actually happens is micro-tears in individual muscle fibers, caused by eccentric contractions, lead to inflammation, tenderness, and a constant dull pain.

Here’s an example to help you imagine this: Think of your arm as a guitar with 100’s of strings. When your are playing your guitar (exercising) many of those strings may break but not enough to stop you from playing since there are 100’s more that will be able to take up the slack. When you are finished there are dozens of strings that need to get repaired. This may take a while and will cause some slight inflammation and pain but it’s all part of how your body functions. Once your body has repaired those broken strings they will come back stronger and a little larger than before. Now if you pull too many strings you’ll experience what we call a torn or pulled muscle. These are never fun but just ice it and leave it alone for 9-12 days to recover.

3.) How Can I Develop My Body To Make It Look Exactly How I Want It Too? A lot of muscle size and shape is determined by genetics. Some of us have big legs others have chicken legs. So to some extent you cannot control what type of body your parents gave you. Don’t call them up and curse them for knocked knees just yet since you can do plenty of things to give yourself the best body possible. Focus on what you want to improve and alternate days where you use high and low repetitions. It also helps to work muscles at different angles by using different exercises often. Depending on what you wanted I could spill out a detailed plan but it may not work for everyone. So instead try out a completely customized fitness system that I have designed and use every day. Go to www.therpmsystem.com and type in the code: 346976698 to try it risk free for 1 week. 

I know I’ve just thrown a lot of information your way and it may take some time to process. There is so much more behind how the muscles work together, but I’ll save that for another time. If you have any questions or think I may have missed something important please shoot me an email and I’d love to help you any way that I can.

Justin Didlott

jdidlott@therpmsystem.com