o

Exists only in your heart - Involuntary

Skeletal muscle: Produces movement, maintains posture, stabilises joints and generates heat - Voluntary

Found in the walls of hollow organs Involuntary

Your heart is made of cardiac muscle. This type of muscle only exists in your heart. Unlike other types of muscle, cardiac muscle never gets tired. It works automatically and constantly without ever pausing to rest. Cardiac muscle contracts to squeeze blood out of your heart, and relaxes to fill your heart with blood. It is an involuntary muscles meaning you do not control it.

The tissue most commonly thought of as muscle is skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscles cover your skeleton, giving your body its shape. They are attached to your skeleton by strong, springy tendons or are directly connected to rough patches of bone. Skeletal muscles are under voluntary control, which means you consciously control what they do. Just about all body movement, from walking to nodding your head, is caused by skeletal muscle contraction. Your skeletal muscles function almost continuously to maintain your posture, making one tiny adjustment after another to keep your body upright. Skeletal muscle is also important for holding your bones in the correct position and prevents your joints from dislocating. Some skeletal muscles in your face are directly attached to your skin. The slightest contraction of one of these muscles changes your facial expression. Skeletal muscle generates heat as a by-product of muscle activity. This heat is vital for maintaining your normal body temperature.

Smooth muscle is found in the walls of hollow organs like your intestines and stomach. They work automatically without you being aware of them. Smooth muscles are involved in many 'housekeeping' functions of the body. The muscular walls of your intestines contract to push food through your body. Muscles in your bladder wall contract to expel urine from your body. Smooth muscles in a woman's uterus (or womb) help to push babies out of the body during childbirth. The pupillary sphincter muscle in your eye is a smooth muscle that shrinks the size of your pupil.

Relaxes and lengthens as the agonist contracts

The main muscle that creates movement, also known as the prime mover.-

Muscles which stabilize the origin of the agonist.

Are not directly linked to the agonist or antagonist but help increase the efficiency of the movement

The Insertion - This is the point on the bone which is moving where the muscle is attached. For example during flexion of the elbow the biceps brachii is the agonist and the insertion is in the radius of the lower arm. The bicep brachii pulls on the radius bringing the lower arm upwards.

The origin- This is the other end of the muscle as is at the end where there is no movement. In the case of the biceps brachii this is in the scapula.

Objectives1.Explain the three types of muscle tissueCardiac/Skeletal/Smooth 2.Where would you find examples of all three types 3.Define agonist/antagonist/fixator and synergist 4.Using a sporting example can you explain the agonist/antagonist/fixators and synergists 5.Explain how muscles are joined to the bone via tendons at the origin (non-moving attachment) and the insertion (the moving attachment) 6.Define both the insertion and origin 7.Define concentric/eccentric and isometric muscle contractions 8.Explain when each of the above would occur using a sporting example

A concentric contraction is a type of muscle contraction in which the muscles shorten while generating force. During a concentric contraction, a muscle is stimulated to contract according to the sliding filament mechanism. This occurs throughout the length of the muscle, generating force at the musculo-tendinous junction, causing the muscle to shorten and changing the angle of the joint. In relation to the elbow, a concentric contraction of the biceps would cause the arm to bend at the elbow and hand to move from near to the leg, to close to the shoulder (a biceps curl). A concentric contraction of the triceps would change the angle of the joint in the opposite direction, straightening the arm and moving the hand towards the leg.

During an eccentric contraction, the muscle elongates while under tension due to an opposing force being greater than the force generated by the muscle. Rather than working to pull a joint in the direction of the muscle contraction, the muscle acts to decelerate the joint at the end of a movement or otherwise control the repositioning of a load. This can occur involuntarily (when attempting to move a weight too heavy for the muscle to lift) or voluntarily (when the muscle is 'smoothing out' a movement). Over the short-term, strength training involving both eccentric and concentric contractions appear to increase muscular strength more than training with concentric contractions alone

An isometric muscle contraction, or static exercise, is one in which the muscle fires but there is no movement at a joint. In this type of muscle contraction, there is no change in length of the muscle, and no movement at the joints but muscle fibers fire. An example of isometric exercise includes pushing against a wall. The benefit of isometric exercises are that they can be used for rehabilitation as well as general strengthening without placing stress on the joints. Some sports require a high level of static muscle strength. Gymnastics, yoga, rock climbing, and downhill skiing, for example, all have static strength requirements.