Posts tagged with 'muscle'

 

The body is a system of systems. It is a system of systems that “gravitates ” towards homeostasis. Like other physical systems, the parts of each systems in the body are at a state of potential and kinetic energies That is, they are storing and utilizing work. Sometimes like a compressed spring, other times like a spring that’s been let go and moves. You eat food that you measured in many ways but one way it’s measured as calories. Calories are a measure of heat generating potential. A cupcake has a lot of heat generating potential. So does fatty things. Meat-like things have 1/2 as much work potential as sugar or fat, but they perform rebuilding work in the body through chemical reactions. Water breaks protein down into amino acids which reconstruct muscle, nerves and much more. But they just sit there as food until you eat them. You eat. Your digestive system digests. Sugar is used almost immediately. Fat is like a storage battery for work potential but it’s activated by your body’s backup systems for energy production. Two parallel systems to turn potential energy into kinetic Energy. Work creates heat. Temperature rises. Your brain is a kind of fat. Hot fat is liquidy. Colder fat is more gel like, more solid. When your brain is hot, potential turns into kinetic energy very quickly because the medium the nerves are suspended in is liquidy and loose. Less gets in the way of the work. But work makes temperature rise more. If you allow a hot brain to stay hot without cooling it down, it can get hotter and hotter and hotter. Faster thinking and amazing lateral connections can become Disorganized thinking if allowed to continue for too long. All of the systems that are turning potential energy into kinetic energy – creating heat and work break constantly. This is not a disaster. This is normal. Parts of the systems continually break and reconstructed as the day goes on. But like rolling a ball down the hill, pushing it back up, rolling it back down again, over and over, The systems that do the repairs in the body reach a point that even they have used up their potential energy and need to be repaired themselves. Because the body is a system of systems that attempts to stay at equilibrium – too many depleted repair systems convert the body out of balance. They’re not doing work anymore. They’re not generating heat. Other systems in the body might be generating heat but they aren’t. Repair systems repair the repair systems and you sleep. Close enough for me. G’nite.

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The body is a … [read full article]

 

TIL: a) “Type IIb” muscle fibers don’t exist in humans, although old literature calls them that. They’re better called “Type IIx”. b) This type of muscle is also known as FF or “Fast Fatigabe” c) I *expected* it to be called “Explosive Power” because it seems to be a type of muscle I have a lot of. Just look at the weight capabilities under “Fast Fatigable”. 50kg for this particular outer hip muscle? d) As a kid, I had large calf muscles and was the fastest sprinter in 3rd/4th/5th grade, always on top of the lists for sprinting in my elementary school. But I’d be way in the back of the line for 1/4 mile/endurance runs. e) I knew about this type of muscle but then I’d put it aside as I moved on to other subjects. Then I would relearn about it, then forget about it. But in none of the time did I make the connection that I was probably loaded with the “Type IIx” muscle fibers which allowed me to sprint so quickly. f) It also explains my “overhead press” mystery: Why could I lift heavy weights in a “Clean and Jerk” competition (3rd place in the state of New Jersey) in high school and yet at a regular overhead press machine at a gym my arms would just “die” after only 7-8 reps? Mystery solved.

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TIL:
a) “Type IIb” … [read full article]