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Exercise and Muscle Mass

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Exercise and Muscle Mass

"Voluntary movements are how we interact with the world. The organization of the motor system has implications for how we move, and the types of movements we can make. This module we'll start to explore the organization of the motor system, from neurons to muscles. This module contains a lot of material, so be sure to start early so that you have time to finish!"

Learn how the nervous system produces behavior, how we use our brain every day, and how neuroscience can explain the common problems afflicting people today. We will study functional human neuroanatomy and neuronal communication, and then use this information to understand how we perceive the outside world, move our bodies voluntarily, stay alive, and play well with others.

Skills You'll Learn

Brain, Neurological Disorders, Neurobiology, Neurology

Taught By

Peggy Mason
Professor

Transcript

[MUSIC]

So how does exercise impact how we recruit our, motor units?

And it has a big effect.

Strength training, lifting weights immediately starts to increase

the likelihood that fast fatiguable motor units will be recruited.

So, whereas if you haven't exercised in a while

you lead a sedentary life maybe 60% of your fast

fatiguable motor units will be recruited if, if asked

to, to make a strong a muscle contraction as possible.

But after a single bout of lifting weights you're going to get much closer to 100%.

In addition, the ability of these fast fatiguables

the, the firing pattern of them will change.

So that for every, so that the likelihood that more force happens, is increased.

And that is essentially through a firing pattern whereas

instead of doing this, there's an action potential like that.

There are these doublets.

And two action potentials right next to each other.

Instead of producing, if this produces increases in strength that go

like this, this produces increases of strength that go like that.

So the doublets produce more force for than single action potentials.

Now all of these things are short term.

They happen pretty immediately.

They last for about three weeks.

What happens in three weeks?

Well, muscle mass.

So, you sort of get this transition from

neural mechanisms of strength to muscle mechanisms of strength.

The muscle fiber itself can grow.

And that increases the force that the muscle fiber produces.

And so in about three weeks, it's the muscle

fiber that is, has grown, and now these, these, the

recruitment stays but, some of these other, short term

adaptations pale in comparison to the increase in, in muscle size.

So the muscle mass grows.

And the contractility of the muscle also can change.

So, short term, thereâs a lot of neural effects.

And then more long term, get a lot of muscle effects.

[MUSIC]

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