What happens to your muscles when you work out?

Asked by Mr_Saturn512 (558

) April 14th, 2014

Specifically down to your muscle fibers. I only vaguely remember glossing over this in class years ago. I’m particularly interested in what happens to them when you work out and what it means when you’re sore, also what happens to them after you DON’T work out for a while and your muscles “shrink” back to normal.

I was under the impression that these muscle fibers snap when you work out and get sore, and your body “ties” them together again but this time makes them bigger so it doesn’t tear again. But I’m not sure if that’s an accurate visual.

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5 Answers

It seems like you have a nice elementary memory of what’s going on.

GloPro (8404

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It would be nice to go more specific than that though. . .

Mr_Saturn512 (558

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You are absolutely right. Muscles are made of proteins and water. Once it get sour, more protein needed to repair it which add size and mass.

debrastaphan (44

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This video is an excellent visual representation of what’s going on. Sorry for not being more detailed.

GloPro (8404

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When muscles get smaller it is because the demand has been less on them or the person might not be eating well and the demand for amino acids in the body is being taken from their own muscle.

Soreness after workouts is partly from acid gathering in the muscle. If you stretch after a workout the soreness will be greatly reduced or nonexistent depending on your muscles and the activity that was done. Stretching before exercise does nothing for this. Some stretch before when you are warm can help avoid pulls, which is a totally different thing.

JLeslie (65419

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