Muscles

What are muscles?

Muscles are made up of specialised
cells called muscle fibres.
These fibres have the ability to
contract.
Muscles are attached to our bones and
are also found in our stomach and
heart. Even our tongue is a muscle!
Why do we need muscles?
Your body needs muscles for
movement and posture.
 Your heart is a ball of muscle that
pumps blood around your body.
Without muscles you would not be
able to swallow or digest food.
How do muscles work?
Muscles are attached to bones by Tendons.
When we want to move our brain tells the
muscles to contract.
The muscles then contract and get shorter
As the muscles get shorter they pull the
bones in different directions (depending on
the type of joint that the bone has) causing
our body to move.
What types of muscles are there?
Skeletal Muscles-
These are the muscles that are attached to our bones that
are responsible for moving our body (we will be mainly
focussing on this type).
Smooth Muscle-
This type of muscle is found in our digestive system and is
responsible for moving food through our stomach and
intestines.
Cardiac Muscle-
Our heart is made up from this type of muscle. It contracts
(beats) automatically to pump blood around our body.
What are the main muscles in my body?
There are over 600 muscles in our
body.
Each muscle is responsible for
moving different body parts, for
example- our biceps are responsible
for bending our arms.
Quiz time
1. How many muscles do we have?
2. What are the 3 different types of muscles?
3. Which muscle bends our arm?

Have a guess.....
4. Which muscle is the only muscle attached at one
end?
5. Which muscle is the strongest?
6. Which muscle is the biggest?
Answers
1. Over 600
2. Skeletal Muscle, Smooth Muscle and Cardiac Muscle
3. The biceps

Have a guess.....
4. The tongue
5. The tongue (in proportion to its size)
6. Gluteus Maximus (glutes)