The Body Book by Cameron Diaz

Author:Cameron Diaz
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-11-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 19

MUSCLE WOMAN

WHY DO I TRAIN? Because muscles are strength and earning them teaches us that we can create our own strength. Because connecting with your muscles, and understanding which muscles do what, is a part of being conscious and awake in your body. Because muscles can be flexible, and stretching your body helps you walk more freely and stand taller, and shows you that with effort, you can shift the most basic parts of yourself. Because muscles are power, giving you the tools you need to get there, do it, win it, chase it, own it, whatever it means to you. Because muscles are your personal transportation system that get you to your job, where you can earn your keep; to your classes, so you can learn new things; to the airport, so you can go experience new places. Muscles are your heart beating. Your rib cage expanding with every breath you take. They allow you to swim to the edge of the lake. To open a jar without asking for help. To lift and hold a child.

Higher levels of muscle strength are also associated with lower risk of heart disease and chronic diseases, and lower risk of death by any cause. And, people, it is worth the effort! Especially because strength training just two or three times a week benefits your overall health and gives you a chance to get to know your muscles more intimately.

I promise you this: even if right now your muscles feel like wet noodles, you can do this. You can become strong. You can have arms that feel like power tools instead of pasta. You just have to start moving. Which is exactly what your muscles were designed to do .

THE SIX HUNDRED

You have six hundred muscles, and they are the reason you can digest your food, pick things up and put them down, shake your head yes or no, and measure out a cup of rice. Some of them are under your control; they do your bidding, like when you measure out a cup of rice. Some of them do their own thing, like when your body turns that rice into energy after you have cooked and eaten it.

There are four types of muscles:

SKELETAL MUSCLES: Imagine walking across the room, and thank your skeletal muscles. Your skeletal muscles are voluntary—they do what you want them to do. Your skeletal muscles are strengthened by your weight-bearing exercise, strengthening exercise, and cardiovascular exercise.

VISCERAL MUSCLES: See how you are breathing quietly while reading? You aren’t thinking, breathe, breathe, breathe, are you? Thank your visceral muscles, which do their thing independent of your conscious brain. Your visceral muscles are thin sheets that cover your inner organs, and they have secret, silent responsibilities that keep you alive, like contracting your digestive system in rhythmic movements called peristalsis, which is what moves your food from one digestive organ to the next.

CARDIAC MUSCLES: Put your hand over your heart. Your cardiac muscles make your heart beat, and they are found only in your heart.

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