Twitch Muscle Research Paper

Improved Essays
Fast & Slow Twitch Muscle Muscles are the functional units of tissue that move the skeletal system. There are two primary forms of muscle fibers, fast twitch muscles and slow twitch muscles. Fast twitch muscles contract fast and exert large amounts of power in a quick manner.People with high percentages of fast twitch muscles are generally good sprinters and are strong individuals Slow twitch muscles can put out steady power for long amounts of time and perform optimally in endurance training in sports such as cross country.

Muscles are the functional units of tissue and have three main functions, motion, heat production and maintaining posture. There are also three primary types of muscles Skeletal muscle, smooth muscle and cardiac muscle.
…show more content…
Another characteristic is contractility which is where the muscles shorten in length usually picking up objects, such as a bicep curl. Extensibility is the ability for muscle to be pulled and stretched. An isometric contraction is where muscle fibers contract but no fibers are being shortened. An example of which is if one was to carry a weight out in front of the body, the weight pulls are arms down, but the muscles work to keep the weight out in front of the body. Elasticity is when the muscle returns to the original shape and length after contraction or extension. An example of which is the shrinking back to original form after the hamstring muscle has been stretched by touching the …show more content…
The soleus calf muscle has over 70% of type 1 slow twitch muscle composed into the muscle group. The gastrocnemius lateralis contains over 50% type 2 fast twitch muscle. In the study both muscles amplitudes increased above rest levels during short contractions of the muscle. But during lengthened contraction times both forms of muscle decreased well below normal rest values. This shows that hypertrophy of the muscle happening quicker in longer contraction times.What was also found is the fast and slow twitch muscles generate almost exactly the same amount of peak force. The big difference is the rate of transition of power from a low to high force state in a fast twitch muscle shows calcium ion sensitivity seven times greater than slow twitch muscles. Meaning that humans with higher percentage of fast twitch muscles generate higher torque and higher power, but it is not sustainable to great amounts of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The source of energy in muscles is called adenosine triphosphate. The fibers making up the muscles link with adenosine triphosphate to obtain the energy required to allow the muscles to contract and relax (Dickinson, 2000). The fibers after obtaining the energy and receiving the necessary signal, they perform the required action. In the limbs, the signals are to allow movement or stop movement depends on the concentration of the intercellular calcium ions. Around the limbs, the muscles contain a very elastic protein known as titin (Ting, 2012,).…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Unit 3 Muscle Lab

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Pages

    There are three types of muscles in the human body: cardiac muscle, smooth muscle and skeletal muscle. For the purpose of our lab we will be focusing only on skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle is the only voluntary muscle tissue found in the human body. They're attached to bones by tendons and are responsible for all the movements that are consciously controlled such as writing, walking, running, etc. [1].…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    2. Length-tension relationship states the amount of the tension generated by the contraction of the muscle will vary on the length of the muscles at rest. The beginning and end of a contraction will be considered a weak-contraction or too stretched which means the myosin is to close to the Z-discs or the myosin overlaps which does not allow a correct cross-bridge to occur. When the contraction is at regular resting length will produce the greatest force when muscles contract.…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. The number of muscle fibers that are innervated by a motor neuron is dependent on what muscle it is. Fine motor movements, such as typing, would need only a few muscle fibers. This means that the thumb has only a few fibers, but the thigh, back, and biceps have many. These need a lot more force to be exerted, which is why they need more muscle fibers.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Grip Strength Exercise

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Furthermore smooth muscles lack striations, due to the absence of the…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Due to the fact that one of the two ways to increase the strength of a muscle contraction is to increase the frequency at which the motor units fire in order to create a summed effect, it is expected that the shorter the time interval between consecutive stimuli, the greater the force of contraction. If there is a greater amount of time between the stimuli, the muscle would be able to relax before the next stimulus is fired. However, as that time decreases, the individual twitches begin to overlap and produce a stronger contraction. If a skeletal muscle is stimulated before it is able to fully relax, the sarcoplasmic reticulum will continue to release more calcium ions, more cross-bridges will form, and the muscle will contract again under…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A muscle tear refers to muscle fibers being damage (Virginia 2013). A tear in the gastrocnemius can cause great risk of injury since the gastrocnemius is located between the knee and ankle joint (Virginia 2013). This can be cause by direct trauma to the calf region or sudden landing on the foot (Medial Head Gastrocnemius 2006). This injury is common in tennis players due to the constant motions of jumping and lunging (Medial Head Gastrocnemius 2006). In the first degree of gastrocnemius tear, the individual will experiment pain but the tendon will not be lengthened (Medial Head Gastrocnemius 2006).…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Bufo Marinus Lab Report

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The ventricle and atrium were weighed separately in triplicate. Following this, the mean muscle ratio of the ventricle and atrium were calculated and the results were graphed…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The cardiac muscle compared to the smooth muscle is also an involuntary muscle. The cardiac muscle is unique in itself because it stimulates itself to contract. The…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Muscles of the lower limbs include: sartiorius, rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior/the Soleus. The similarities of the upper and lower limb muscles are relatively large on both sides of the limb to control the motion in the part of the limb closest to the abdomen. The second stage of each limb tends to only have a large muscle on one side of the limb reflecting the limited range of motion attributed by the elbow and knee joints. The differences consist of the lower leg muscles are larger and stronger due to the greater load bearing capabilities. Muscles of the upper limbs such as the deltoid muscle in the arm does not have a direct analogy in the leg since the leg does not have a greater range of motion compared to the arm as the muscles of the hip joint does not require the exertion efforts in as many directions as the shoulder requires (Sdmiramar,…

    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cover Letter: I chose the muscle cell because I was interested in it. I wanted to learn how muscle growth happens and how muscles get damaged. I also wanted to learn what a muscle looks like and what types of muscles there are. I wanted to learn how it is built too.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Introduction Some people believe that we have only one type of muscle in our bodies that help us with all different types of tasks, however; not only do our bodies have different muscle types, they also contain different muscle fibers that are used for different activities. Skeletal muscle contain three types of muscle fibers: slow twitch, fast twitch oxidative, and fast twitch glycolytic. Most muscles in our bodies have different combinations of these muscle fibers, although our body recruits different muscle fibers for different activities. The first muscle fiber to be recruited are slow twitch fibers, are also known as Type I. “Slow twitch muscle fibers are the smallest in diameter, contain the least amount of actin and myosin, and allow…

    • 2096 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Lou Gehrig's Disease

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Running Head: FROM THE OUTSIDE IN 2 ABSTRACT ALS also known as Lou Gehrig's, is a disease where your body attacks its own muscles. This research project will explain a lot of information on the terrifying disease of ALS. It will include the signs and symptoms of the disease, and the risk factors it takes to get ALS. It will also explain how and if the disease can be diagnosed by different test and when these test occur.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Muscle Fatigue Analysis

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Fatigued muscles contract weaker than rested muscles (Saladin, 2012). This is especially evident when maximum isometric force is measured in repeated tetani and reveals the there is an improved decline that is obvious even on the second tetanus of the series (Allen, Lamb, & Westerblad, 2008). Other parts of muscle performance are altered during fatigue. One such example is the shortening velocity reduction and the time course of slowed relaxation. Almost every activity that humans participate in depends on the power output of the muscles involved and, since power output is the result of both force and shortening velocity, the decrease in performance can be bigger than the decrease in isometric force (Allen, Lamb, & Westerblad, 2008).…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Muscle Fatigue Lab Report

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages

    INTRODUCTION The proteins actin and myosin is the caused of excitement of skeletal muscle. It can be made chemical, electrical and mechanic. When the muscles are use many times to the maximum force, the muscle will decline. That decline is called muscle fatigue.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics