When people think of fitness and not muscle health, they typically refer to strength, conditioning, flexibility,endurance, and cardio – things accomplished in a gym or yoga classes.
Is the reason why fitness doesn’t contain health.
As a yoga therapist, what I am observing is that there is a missing component to determine if a muscle is healthy or has proper function.
There are some myths –
1 – A Muscle Should Be Hard.
Muscles should always be elastic, which is soft, uniform, and consistent. The only time a muscle should be tight is when it is in a contracted state, but it has to be smooth actually (i.e., when it is actively flexed).
We never make efforts to extend muscles. Hence in the name of type of stretching there is again contraction of muscles hence injuries happen and repetitive contraction of muscles from the joints leads towards muscle stiffness in both type of bodies one with flexible joints and another with normal joints. Hence suffering us common.
When a muscle is hard , then even in a relaxed state, the muscle fibres have gone into a chronically contracted state and are incapable of relaxing. At night, people have discomfort and sometimes pain, or in the morning, they have pain that subsides after movement. This shows how bad your musculature and skeleton structure are.
In this process, distortion in our skeleton system happens, which also distorts soft tissues of inner organ spaces and soft tissues of blood and lymph vessels leading us to diseases.
This is the reason why sedentary and active fit both these lifestyles have the same issues.
A muscle in this state will hurt and feel stiff because of the strain it puts on joints and the lack of elasticity within the tight muscle fibers.This leads towards injuries,like muscle tear, ligament tears,reduced spaces in the joints, inflammation and osteophytes process of degeneration of joints and soft tissues continues leading towards tumors and state of cancerous tissues.
2 -Stretching Will Decrease Muscle Tightness.
When tight muscles feel stiff, people have the urge to stretch, not realizing that conventional or dynamic stretching only stretches apart the healthy fibers – the fibers that are capable of elongating – but not those fibers that are hard and in a constantly hard state. Because such type of stretching method again again contraction of muscles from joints where range of movement of muscles never happens.
3 – 0verstretching. Of muscles –
Contraction of one side of muscles assuming that the opposite side will get stretched, which is tightened / hardened , this type of overstretching hard muscles will cause more harm.
4 – Can muscle turn into fat?
A common misconception is that muscle turns into fat.
No. Muscle does not “turn into fat”.It’s absolutely not true.
Fat cells and muscle cells are different structures and are not interchangeable. It would be like an orange turning into an apple. It’s not possible.
There is no process in the human body by which muscle transforms itself into adipose (fat). The human body, no matter how amazing it can be at times, can not magically turn one tissue into another.
5 – Hypertrophy is not property of healthy muscles.
No, this is not properly healthy muscles
For example, a muscle will enlarge or undergo hypertrophy with increased workload but on the other hand, it can go into atrophy or waste away if deprived of work.
Both hypertrophy and atrophy both are wrong adaptation as in this hardening of musculature leads to arthritis and decreases bone density and also leads to hardening of inner soft tissues of organ systems.
There are 5 major properties to the muscular system
Excitable or irritable: Muscles are excitable or irritable. This means that they are capable of receiving stimulation and responding to stimulation from the nerves.They contract.
Contractible: They are contractible. After receiving stimulation, they are capable of contracting or shortening.
Extensible: Being extensible means a muscle can be extended without damage by the application of force.
Elasticity: With elasticity, a muscle is able to return to its original resting shape and length after being extended or contracted.
Adaptability: The muscular system is adaptable in that it can be changed in response to how it is used. Therefore, to enhance, we have to learn not to reflex actions but synchronization of the flow of movement of Musculature with joints in one direction in any form. Fractional variations in muscle spindles are the key to making them elastic.
For example, a muscle will enlarge or undergo hypertrophy with increased work, but on the other hand, it can go into atrophy or waste away if deprived of work.
Both hypertrophy and atrophy both are wrong adaptation as in this hardening of musculature leads to arthritis and decreases bone density and also leads to hardening of inner soft tissues of organ systems.
The skeletal muscles are responsible for body movements such as typing, breathing, extending the arm, writing, etc. The muscles contract, which pulls the tendons on the bones and causes movement.
The body posture is maintained by the skeletal muscles. The gluteal muscle is responsible for the erect posture of the body. The Sartorius muscles in thighs are responsible for body movement.
The skeletal muscles protect the internal organs and tissues from any injury and also provide support to these delicate organs and tissues.
These also support the entry and exit points of the body. The sphincter muscles are present around the anus, mouth, and urinary tract. These muscles contract, which reduces the size of the openings and facilitates the swallowing of food, defecation, and urination.
The skeletal muscles also regulate body temperature. After a strenuous exercise, the body feels hot. This is due to the contraction of skeletal muscles, which converts energy into heat.
The purpose of this article is to draw attention to very commonly made assumptions about muscle health that don’t address the full picture of what is happening in the body.
I urge you to notice what I’ve outlined here as you engage in your daily activities.
Your muscles should be soft and elastic if they are healthy. When you notice some parts of the muscle that feel hard to touch while in a relaxed state, try expanding both these muscles and see and feel if they expand up.
What you’ll find is that conventional stretching is useful for existing healthy fibres, but it will do nothing for tight, hard fibres. The best way to address these particular fibres, which cause pain and stiffness, is with direct, organized pressure.
Expansion of musculature, you will notice that the muscles feel softer, more elastic, flexible, and you will have more strength and better growth and function of the muscle. Focus on your muscle health now to avoid future issues.
In my experience, people who use the way to expand up these particular, tight fibres using direct systematic pressure, most people think of foam rolling or massage. While these techniques feel good, they actually do very little to decompress or relax or expand tight tissue. My clinical observation among patients that have utilized foam rolling or massage to get rid of their tightness/ hardness is that the muscle still feels hard and maintains symptoms of pain and stiffness.
The reason these techniques are ineffective is because they merely move superficial muscles merely from the superficial surface of the body and don’t penetrate deep into the tightness/ hardness and don’t hold the fibers in a stretched position long enough to have lasting, effective impact.
No Pain or Stiffness Equals No Problem.
Repetitive motion and sustained contractions cause muscles to get tight/ hard over time. People spend years exercising and using their muscles while sitting at a desk, and then one day, it seems as if an injury or pain just happens. There is a certain threshold of tightness needed to have any symptoms of pain and stiffness. Being below this threshold gives the perception that there is no problem accumulating.
As the fibers continue to tighten, harden due to use,overuse, misuse,abuse an injury or pain appears to spontaneously occur, when in reality, there are years or even decades of tightness/ hardness that has been developing within the always remember nothing happens suddenly in our body where health is concerned.
Conclusion –
The purpose of this article is to draw attention to very commonly made assumptions about muscle health that don’t address the full picture of what is happening in the body.
I urge you to notice what I’ve outlined here as you engage in your daily activities.
Your muscles should be soft and elastic if they are healthy. When you notice some parts of the muscle that feel hard to touch while in a relaxed state, try expanding both these muscles and see and feel if they expand up.
What you’ll find is that conventional stretching is useful for existing healthy fibres, but it will do nothing for tight, hard fibres. The best way to address these particular fibres, which cause pain and stiffness, is the expansion of muscles like pulleys and strings in the right direction. Flow of movement of Musculature should be conscious with gravitational and antigravitational direction, which are opposing direction with outward expansion where joints are for change of direction but with synchronization with muscular movement.
Expansion of musculature, you will notice that the muscles feel softer, more flexible, and you will have more strength and better growth and function of the muscle. Focus on your muscle health now to avoid future issues