This has got to be my all-time favorite system in the human body: The Muscular System!
Why is it my favorite, you ask? Well I’d be happy to tell you!
Why am I so excited to write about it? So that I can spread my message: this is the best system in the human body.
Let me prove it to you:
An Introduction To Our Topic
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I guess first thing is first:
In this article series I’m going to go into the basics of human anatomy. The goal is to teach everyone general information about things they might have missed in school or might never have been taught in the first place.
None of these articles will go deeply into any specific topic but I encourage you to let your curiosity drive you and look up more in-depth into all of this!
As a fitness and fighting nerd, the muscles have become my favorite for the simple reason that they look cool! But there are actual reasons, too:
The whole syste of muscles are responsible for movement and stability; they maintain our posture, and do plenty of other things, too.
There are over 600 muscles in the human body, and they are all connected and working together to enable a wide range of movements. Over. Six. Hundred.
Following along so far? Then check this out:
The Three Types Of Muscles
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The muscular system is composed of three types of muscles: skeletal, smooth, and cardiac.
- Skeletal muscles are attached to bones and are responsible for our voluntary movements like walking, jumping, and lifting.
- We find smooth muscles in the walls of internal organs such as the stomach and intestines and are responsible for involuntary movements such as peristalsis.
- Now the cardiac muscle is found only in one place and that’s the heart. It’s responsible for pumping blood throughout the body.
How Every Muscle Should Function
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Each muscle is made up of muscle fibers. I mean obviously, right? We’ve all heard of muscle fibers, even if we didn’t quite know what they were. To clarify: they’re long, thin cells that contract and relax to create movement. They are organized into what you might call bundles”, but are named called fascicles. Each fascicle is surrounded by a connective tissue layer, to which its name is the perimysium.
The entirety of the muscle is surrounded by a connective tissue layer called the epimysium. This tissue layer has one of the most important functions in this system – maybe one of the most important in the whole body – it shields the bone from friction. Without that magic tissue, thing’s literally would not go so smoothly for us.
Muscles attach to bones via tendons – which are strong, fibrous cords that connect muscle to bone. These guys are really important when it comes to putting lots of stress on them. Powerful weightlifters, for example, sustain severe injuries because they have big muscles, but too often their tendons and ligaments go neglected, leading to tendons separating from bone under immense stress.
I know… yikes.
So many people have talked about working out to be healthy, but do you remember anyone stressing the importance of strengthening your tendons because of their connectivity to the bone? If you’re going to be a buff stud, make sure you’re keeping those tendons taken care of. And if you need help in learning how to do that, try taking a look through the rest of this website – we’ve got plenty of helpful articles that include the right ways to exercise!
When a muscle contracts, it pulls on the tendon, which then pulls on the bone, creating movement. Did you know we have a sort of built-in pulley system?
Muscles also work in pairs, with one muscle contracting while the other relaxes. For example: the biceps and triceps muscles work together to bend and straighten the arm.
Why Is It So Important?
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You need to understand, the muscular system is essential for maintaining overall health and wellness.
Regular exercise and physical activity help to keep the muscles strong and healthy, and strong muscles are important for maintaining good posture and preventing injury.
We also know (though the information should be more widespread, in my opinion) that the muscular system regulates body temperature and supports the immune system. What can’t this system do??
When we sustain injuries that affect the muscular system, it can have a significant impact on overall health and quality of life. Now, this is true with plenty of other fascets of our bodies but especially true for muscles – since they’re so much bigger and cover the entirety of our bodies – they take the hit for us when we encounter injury.
I hope this article was helpful and as fun for you as it was for me!
To learn about the rest of the human body and all its systems, check out To Help You Along.com.
Have a great day!