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Muscles

Muscles

There are over 600 muscles in the body. They do everything from pumping blood throughout your body to helping you lift heavy objects. You control some of your muscles, while others (like your heart) do their jobs without your even thinking about them at all. Muscles are the tissues in the body that contract and affect the movement of and within the body. Muscle tissue is classified as striated, smooth, or cardiac, according to its structure and function.

Top Questions Asked on ChaCha.com for Muscles

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    Yes, Testosterone pills help improve physical performance, an...

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    Weight training is the quickest way to build muscle mass. Als...

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  1. What is the best way to build muscles?

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  2. What causes muscles to twitch?

    Muscle twitching is the result of minor local muscle contract...

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  4. Does testosterone pills help build muscle?

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  5. What muscles do high knees/butt kicks work in the legs?

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    24 hours to 48 hours after a hard workout, most people begin ...

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    The exercises of high knees/butt kicks work mostly the gluteu...

  3. Does testosterone pills help build muscle?

    Yes, Testosterone pills help improve physical performance, an...

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    When the diaphragm relaxes and moves back up, the elasticity ...

  5. How do strong muscles help you look better and prevent health problems?

    Exercising allows us to maintain muscle strength, coordinatio...

Top Questions Asked on ChaCha Mobile for Muscles

In the Last:
Day | Week | Month

  1. What is the best way to build muscles?

    Weight training is the quickest way to build muscle mass. Als...

  2. How do you work out your back muscles?

    One method is: Hold the barbell with a little more than shoul...

  3. What muscles do you work when running on a treadmill?

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  4. What muscles do a pushup workout?

    Pushups work the triceps, shoulders, chest, trapez (the muscl...

  5. How do I work out my back muscles?

    Back Workout: Close Grip Front Lat Pulldowns Sets: 3 Reps: 8-...

  1. What is the best way to build muscles?

    Weight training is the quickest way to build muscle mass. Als...

  2. What muscles do pull ups work?

    A pull-up is a compound, pull-type exercise which works a lar...

  3. What muscles do push ups work?

    Push ups are compound movements using almost all the muscles ...

  4. What makes muscles grow?

    This is a complex question! Muscles are all made of the same ...

  5. How do you work your pectoral muscles?

    You can do push-ups or bench press to work out your pectoral ...

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    The use of heat to treat sore muscles is a popular and effect...

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    The burn felt during the performance of an exercise is caused...

  3. What is the best way to build muscles?

    Weight training is the quickest way to build muscle mass. Als...

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  5. Does bench pressing work your chest muscles?

    Yes it works your pectoralis muscles. Chacha!

About Muscles

Striated, or skeletal, muscle forms the bulk of the body's muscle tissue and gives the body its general shape. It is called striated because it appears striped (alternating bands of light and dark) when viewed under a microscope, and there is conscious control over most of their striate muscles.

Smooth muscle, which lines most of the hollow organs of the body, is not under voluntary control, but is regulated by the autonomic nervous system. Smooth muscle fibers are spindle shaped, not striated, and are typically arranged in dense sheets. Smooth muscle lines the blood vessels, hair follicles, urinary tract, digestive tract, and genital tract. Its speed of contraction is slower than that of striated muscle, but it can remain contracted longer.

Cardiac muscle is striated like skeletal muscle but, like smooth muscle it is controlled involuntarily. It is found only in the heart, where it forms that organ's thick walls. The contractions of cardiac muscle are stimulated by a special clump of muscle tissue located on the heart (the pacemaker), although the rate of contractions is subject to regulation by the autonomic nervous system.

One statement that appears frequently in lists of surprising facts states that ''the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body,'' but it is difficult to find any definition of strength that would make this statement true. Note that the tongue consists of sixteen muscles, not one.

Related Images

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From L to R: Shodhan Rai, Shakar Gowda and Captain Roshan, bodybuilders from the Indian Fitness And Body Builders Federation from Karnataka, flex their muscles during a photo call in Bangalore on November 24, 2011. The trio hailing from Bangalore will take part in the Mr. Universe 2011 competition to be held in Hamburg, Germany from during November 26-28.

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Muscles