Strength training anatomy

No matter what your fitness level, everyone can benefit from a lesson in strength training anatomy. It is important to learn how muscles function so you can perform exercises properly and safely. Understanding strength training anatomy will help you work out more efficiently and get the most benefits from your exercise routine.

Once you know that strength training anatomy, you can tailor an exercise program to help you reach your goals. Familiarize yourself with the proper names of the major muscles, where they are located in the body and how they create movement. This will give you a better idea of how and where you should feel each exercise that you perform.

There are 3 different type of muscle contraction: Concentric (the muscle shortens), eccentric (the muscle lengthens) and isometric (muscle is held actively at a fixed length). All 3 of these are important in your strength training anatomy. All muscle contractions occur in every exercise for each muscle group. For example, in a leg curl, you are shortening the hamstring muscle when you curl the leg and you are lengthening the muscle when you are straightening the leg.

It is also important to the specificity of exercises. In order to increase size of strength or any muscle group, you muscle cause damage to that group. For example, if you want to increase the size of your biceps, you would do bicep curls, not leg extensions. Muscles also need adequate time for recovery (about 48 hours) and should be stretched for 30-60 seconds at the end of your workout.