Skeletal Muscle: Strength
This week, we’re turning our attention to skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle allows us to move and to lift ourselves and other objects. The two primary features are strength and stamina. Let’s begin with strength.
A simple definition of strength is the most weight you could lift once. That could be as little as a couple of pounds, or it could be as much a thousand pounds as some weight lifters have done. To me, as a minimum, strength is the ability to be able to do everyday tasks. We’ll start with the most fundamental, which would be sitting down in a chair or on a commode and then having enough leg strength to stand up. It would be enough to be able to lift a bag of groceries. To lift a hammer to hit a nail. To hold a hair dryer over your head while you do your hair. You can probably think of a few more.
Years ago, I mentioned to my mother-in-law that most women over 65 can’t lift 10 pounds. We lose strength as we age. She had just gotten back from grocery shopping and she picked up a 10-pound sack of flour. She began lifting it up over her head and back down to her lap and said, “Look Chet, I can do that!” She was in her mid-seventies at the time.
Strength can vary by body joints. With two torn biceps, I don’t have nearly the strength in my arms and shoulders as I used to, but I still have pretty good leg strength and pretty good back strength; my exercise routine includes strength training for all those areas.
How do you increase strength? Challenge the muscles to lift more weight than you currently can for any different set of muscles: your shoulders, your arms, your quads, your calves, and of course, there’s your core. I’ll save that for later in the month. Next time, we’ll take a look at muscular stamina.
What are you prepared to do today?
