Good muscle tone improves coordination. When muscles are slightly contracted, they can react more rapidly if and when greater exertion is necessary. Muscles with poor tone are usually soft and flabby, but exercise will improve muscle tone.
There are two general types of exercise: isotonic and isometric. In isotonic exercise, muscles contract and bring about movement. […]

Muscles are arranged around the skeleton so as to bring about a variety of movements. The two general types of arrangements are the opposing antagonists and the cooperative synergists.
Antagonists are opponents, so we use the term antagonistic muscles for muscles that have opposing or opposite functions. The biceps brachii is the muscle on the front […]

Multiple studies have now shown that people who maintain appropriate body fitness, using judicious regimens of exercise and weight control, have the additional benefit of prolonged life. Especially between the ages of 50 and 70, studies have shown mortality to be three times less in the most fit people than in the least fit. But […]

As much as a 5- to 10-pound weight loss has been recorded in athletes in a period of 1 hour during endurance athletic events under hot and humid conditions. Essentially all this weight loss results from loss of sweat. Loss of enough sweat to decrease body weight only 3 per cent can significantly diminish a […]

Muscle Blood Flow. A key requirement of cardiovascular function in exercise is to deliver the required oxygen and other nutrients to the exercising muscles. For this purpose, the muscle blood flow increases drastically during exercise. A recording of muscle blood flow in the calf of a person for a period of […]

Oxygen Consumption and Pulmonary Ventilation in Exercise. Although one’s respiratory ability is of relatively little concern in the performance of sprint types of athletics, it is critical for maximal performance in endurance athletics. Normal oxygen consumption for a young man at rest is about 250 ml/min. However, under maximal conditions, this can be increased to […]

In addition to the large usage of carbohydrates by the muscles during exercise, especially during the early stages of exercise, muscles use large amounts of fat for energy in the form of fatty acids and acetoacetic acid, and they use to a much less extent proteins in the form of amino acids. In fact, even […]

There are few stresses to which the body is exposed that even nearly approach the extreme stresses of heavy exercise. In fact, if some of the extremes of exercise were continued for even moderately prolonged periods, they might be lethal. Therefore, in the main, sports physiology is a discussion of the ultimate limits to which […]