WEEK 2 (Final Term)

STRESS BREAK
Muscular Strength and Endurance:
Participating in
physical activities Never before have the benefits of muscular strength and muscular endurance
that improve your been so accepted and so frequently recommended by experts as being an
self-esteem is a important part of your physical fitness plan. Experts today have concluded that
through the use of weight (resistance) training, building muscular strength and
great way to deal
endurance is an integral part of good health and fitness for all ages. Simple
with stress. The
everyday life activities such as climbing a flight of stairs, lifting a backpack full of
better you feel
books, practicing good posture, or any number of running and
about yourself, the jumping activities can become easier and more efficient if weight
less likely your are training is a part of your fitness plan.
to be sensitive to
the opinions of Muscular Strength is the maximum amount of force a muscle
others. A few or muscle group can exert against an opposing force. Ex. The
simple changes amount of weight a muscle group can lift one time (bench press)
such as increased
muscle tone, weight Muscular Endurance is the ability of the same muscle or muscle group to
loss, improved contract many times without fatigue or hold a single contraction for an
posture can have a extended period of time. Ex. The number of times a muscle group can repeat an
huge impact! Do exercise without tiring (sit-ups) or how long a muscle group can hold a contraction
(planks)
something good for
yourself, start a Both components of fitness are important to you now and for the future. The
regular training sooner you get started with a training program, the sooner you will protect your
program. You will body against problems associated with poor strength and endurance.
see positive Weight/Resistance training is a safe and popular way to incorporate strength and
physical changes endurance into your life but, before beginning a training program you must first
and may see a understand how muscles work. Muscles are one of those things that most of us
pleasant change in take completely for granted, but they are incredibly important for two key reasons:
your attitude too 
1) Muscles are the "engine" that your body uses to propel itself. Although they
work differently than a car engine or an electric motor, muscles do the same thing -
- they turn energy into motion.

2) It would be impossible for you to do anything without your muscles.

Absolutely everything that you conceive of with your brain is expressed as
muscular motion. The only ways for you to express an idea are with the muscles of
your larynx, mouth and tongue (spoken words), with the muscles of your fingers
(written words or "talking with your hands") or with the skeletal muscles (body
language, dancing, running, playing to name a few).

Because muscles are so crucial to us, they are incredibly sophisticated. They are
efficient at turning fuel into motion, they are long-lasting, they are self-healing and
they are able to grow stronger with practice. They do everything from allowing you
to walk to keeping your blood flowing
 There are 3 different types of muscles in your body
Smooth- involuntary muscles found in the lining of the hollow organs like
your stomach, intestines, bladder and even blood vessels
Cardiac- involuntary (don’t have to think about it) found in the heart
Skeletal- Voluntary muscles (your brain has to tell them to get to work!)
Connected to bones and allow the body to move

We will only focus on skeletal muscle in this unit. When skeletal muscles contract,
they force bones and joints to move. Other connective tissues connect the
muscles and bones together allowing them to move efficiently. Connective tissues
include tendons (connecting muscle to bone), ligaments (connecting bone to bone)
and cartilage (located in the joints that serve as a cushion between bones).

How a muscle works:

The basic action of any muscle is contraction. For example, when you think about flexing
(bending) your arm, your brain sends a signal down a nerve cell telling your biceps muscle to
contract. The amount of force that the muscle creates varies -- the muscle can contract a little
or a lot depending on the signal that the nerve sends (ex. picking up your backpack when it’s
full vs. when it is empty)

2 TYPES OF MUSCLE CONTRACTIONS:

1. Isotonic Contraction 1. Isometric Contraction
1. Isotonic contractions are those which cause the muscle to change length as it
contracts creating movement at a joint. The muscle will either shorten (concentric) or
lengthen (eccentric) as your body moves.

• Concentric: A concentric contraction is a type of muscle contraction in which the

muscles shorten while generating force. An example is bending the arm (flexion),
as when performing a “Biceps Curl” movement, taking the hand from your hip to
your shoulder, causing a concentric contraction of the Biceps muscle. This is
sometimes referred to as “positive” work.
 Concentric muscle contraction- the bicep
muscle is shortening while contracting

Concentric contractions are the most common type of muscle contraction within the

body and occur with general movement.

4 • Eccentric: During an eccentric contraction, the muscle lengthens as it contracts.

Eccentric contractions normally occur as a braking force in opposition to a
concentric contraction or gravity, to protect joints and muscles from injury. Using
the same example as “biceps curl”- as you lower the weight from your shoulder to
your hip, the bicep muscle now lengthens to prevent the weight from dropping too
fast (due to gravity) Another example, your quadriceps lengthen to control the
speed of a “squat” exercise to oppose gravity pulling down (and so you don’t fall
to the floor). When eccentric contractions are performed in strength training
exercises, they are normally referred to as "negatives", as generally it involves a
slow lowering of the resistance / weight – examples would be lowering the bar
slowly to the chest during the bench press exercise, or the down part of a sit-up.
Muscle work during the eccentric phase is necessary for development of muscle
strength. Most weight training programs include both types of isotonic
contractions.

Eccentric muscle contraction- the bicep

muscle is lengthening while contracting

Eccentric muscle contraction will result in a greater increase in muscle strength,

while also resulting in great muscle soreness.

5 2. Isometric Contractions: Isometric contractions occur when the muscle develops

tension to overcome a resistance but without any change in length, i.e. the muscle
attachments remain the same distance apart (example= abdominal muscles during the
plank exercise)

A number of gymnastic movements, such as the Iron Cross, where the body’s
muscles are under considerable strain, yet are fully static in movement, are
good examples of isometric contractions.

A more common, everyday example is grip strength, such as holding a bag of

groceries. There will be no movement in muscles of the joint of the hand, but
yet the static contraction keeps the bag within your hand.

Isometric exercises are often used in rehabilitation to get a muscle working even if the
injured athlete isn’t supposed to be “moving” the injured area. Ex. “Squeezing” the
quadriceps after knee surgery.
6 Training for Strength vs. Endurance
:
Exercises used to develop muscular strength and endurance differ only in the number of
repetitions (how many times you can do the exercise) and amount of resistance
(weight/intensity). Building strength requires a high resistance which means you can
only do a few repetitions (ex. Squat with heavy bar). Building endurance requires a
higher number of repetitions but using less resistance (ex. Sit-ups)

Types of Movements

a. Flexion—decreases angle of joint; brings bones closer together; in hinge joints and some
ball and socket joints.

b. Extension—Increases angle of joints; bones get farther apart such as straightening the knee
or elbow. If angle is greater than 180o, it is called hyperextension.

c. Rotation—movement of bone around its longitudinal axis; shaking head “no”

d. Abduction—moving the limb away from the midline or medial plane; arms out
e. Adduction—move limb toward the midline; arms hanging
f. Circumduction—proximal end stationary, distal end moves in a circle
g. Dorsiflexion—lifting foot so its superior surface approaches the shin; standing on heels.
h. Plantar flexion—pointing toes

i. Inversion—Turn sole medially

j. Eversion—Turn sole laterally

k. Supination—palm or thumb up
l. Pronation—palm or thumb down; radius rotates over ulna
m. Opposition—thumb can touch each finger on the same hand due to saddle joint of thumb