Muscular development

“ The Muscular System.—The bony skeleton forms simply the framework of the body, and, while it determines the general outlines and height for the most part, the weight and general size of the body depend upon the muscular development and the amount of adipose tissue. The bones are not only padded about with muscles, but the muscles are inserted into the bony sheaths in such a way that a development of the muscles causes a development of the bones as well. ”

“ There is a little tell-tale muscle in the inner corner of the eye, which, if you question it, will deliver a report into your looking-glass touching the state of the whole muscular system which lies elsewhere hidden in your body. When it is pale, it praises you. Muscular development is, by all means, to be kept down. ”

“ To train all the muscles of the body uniformly as a beginning of muscular or physical development, prepares a foundation for any special muscle training that may be desired, and guarantees success where failure would most undoubtedly result from the special training first. All the muscles of the body are interdependent. One of them cannot be trained alone without affecting another one, or drawing upon it for material to supply the waste already spoken of. But when all are trained, then it is easy to pass to the training of any special muscle. ”

“ It is very evident, however, that the growth and development of a baby is something different from the growth and development of a child; and the growth in the child is very different from that in the youth and that of the youth from that of the adult. In the baby the vital organs are growing faster. In the young child the muscular system is coming to the front, and he runs and plays and through the stimulus of that muscular exercise he brings out every organ in the body and gains that magnificent health which he so much needs. ”

“ It may be true, it certainly is true, that if an individual's energies are concentrated in the direction of development of one system of the body, the other systems to some extent suffer. A great and constant devotion to the development of the muscular system will produce very powerful muscles, and great muscular energy, with a strong tendency to, and pleasure in exercise. ”

“ It necessitates careful diet and constant exercise for a long period, and proves equally beneficial to both sexes. This book has been written in vain if the reader has not grasped by now that the activity of the muscles implies the activity of all the organs in the body. Accordingly, the whole muscular system is by appropriate methods given frequent exercise: gentle at first; never exhausting; but constantly increasing as the strength grows. The result is a general development of the organs throughout the body, which will in time work a complete metamorphosis in the individual’s physique. ”

“ With mankind the differences between the sexes are greater than in most species of Quadrumana, but not so great as in some, for instance, the mandrill. Man on an average is considerably taller, heavier, and stronger than woman, with squarer shoulders and more plainly-pronounced muscles. Owing to the relation which exists between muscular development and the projection of the brows,378 the superciliary ridge is generally more strongly marked in man than in woman. His body, and especially his face, is more hairy, and his voice has a different and more powerful tone. ”

“ The senses are not stimulated, the emotions and feelings not aroused, by mathematical problems or astronomical calculations. The muscular tissues are much more easily trained, disciplined, and educated than the nervous tissues. In the former we see immediate results. There is a pleasure in the pursuit, a palpable satisfaction in watching the muscular action and physical development. The most agreeable part about that kind of exercise, training—or education if you choose—is that it is easily acquired and soon put in practice, and much admired. ”

“ The statues which exhibit strength and vigour, have always as an attribute a powerful development of the muscular forms. When the brain acts upon these muscles with energy they are capable of extraordinary motions. I shall not relate examples of the astonishing efforts of which they are susceptible. Haller and others have cited many of them, either in the muscles of the back in carrying burdens, or in the muscles of the superior extremities in raising great weights, or in the inferior extremities in leaping or in order to preserve attitudes which suppose enormous resistances to be overcome. ”

“ After general growth is finished in length, our organs then increase in thickness; and it is especially in the muscles that this phenomenon is remarkable. To the slender and delicate body and round forms of the youth and young man, succeeds a large, strong and thick body with well developed forms. The muscles can be traced414 through the integuments, eminences and depressions are observed in them; different depressed lines serve as limits to various prominent ones. The animal muscular system is then more prominent in a state of repose, than it is in youth in its greatest motions. ”

“ The fact that the flexor muscles of the forearm of a new-born infant show such remarkable strength while the other parts of the muscular system are so conspicuously weak and flaccid,—that they are able to perform a feat of muscular strength that will tax the powers of many a healthy adult,—can be explained only on the theory of inherited instinct from simian ancestors that lived in trees. ”

“ When the increase of the undifferentiated protoplasm has gone on far enough, the injured muscle will produce again the muscular substance proper—the contractile fibrils. Muscular fiber, in other words, can be regenerated by itself. ”

“ MUSCULAR PREPARATION.—Especially should parents cultivate their muscular system preparatory to the perfection of this function, and of their children; because, to impart strength and stamina to offspring they must of necessity both possess a good muscular organization, and also bring it into vigorous requisition at this period. For this reason, if for no other, let those of sedentary habits cultivate muscular energy preparatory to this time of need. ”

“ The muscles should be used, in order that the size and strength of these organs may be adequate to the demand made upon them. It is a law of the system that the action and power of an organ are commensurate, to a certain extent, with the demand made upon it; and it is a law of the muscular system that, whenever a muscle is called into frequent use, its fibres increase in thickness within certain limits, and become capable of acting with greater force ”

“ In the lines of junction between the plates layers of connective-tissue cells appear, which form the commencements of the intermuscular septa.
The growth of the plates is very rapid, and their upper ends [Pg 673] soon extend to the summit of the neural canal, and their lower ones nearly meet in the median ventral line. The original band of muscles, whose growth at first is very slow, now increases with great rapidity, and forms the nucleus of the whole voluntary muscular system (fig. 380, mp ́) . ”

“ The muscles and nerves which are instrumental in this functional life are said to be dead. It is true that the muscle-fibre does not develop fresh fibres. But it is equally true that the protoplasm of muscle does not alone execute muscular contraction. ”

“ The muscles require to be educated, or trained. The power of giving different intonations in reading, speaking, singing, the varied and rapid executions in penmanship, and all mechanical or agricultural employments, depend, in a measure, upon the education of the muscles. In the first effort of muscular education, the contractions of the muscular fibres are irregular and feeble, as may be seen when the child begins to walk, or in the first efforts of penmanship. ”

“ Of course this possibility of variation is of great advantage in our use of our muscles. It depends upon the very large number of individual fibers of which even our smallest muscles are made up. Whenever any single fiber contracts, it pulls to its full extent; if only a few become active, the pull of the whole muscle will be slight; as more come into action, more force will be exerted; the muscle will show its utmost power when all the fibers are contracting at once. We are conscious of greater mental effort when we make a powerful muscular contraction. ”

“ The muscle-engine, in like manner, deteriorates if it is allowed to stand idle. Sometimes this occurs in disease. In paralysis the limb cannot move, and the inactive muscles waste, become thin and flaccid, and undergo curious molecular changes, converting the muscular matter into fatty-like particles. ”

“ And here we have the reason why children should learn dancing, riding, swimming, calisthenics, every form of activity which requires a training of the muscles, at an early age: the fact being, that muscles and joints have not merely to conform themselves to new uses, but to grow to a modified pattern; and this growth and adaptation take place with the greatest facility in early youth. Of course, the man whose muscles have kept the habit of adaptation picks up new games, new muscular exercises, without very great labour. ”

“ Further, inasmuch as muscular movement is one of the chief ends, or the most important means to the chief ends of animal life, we find the animal body abounding in motor mechanisms, in which the prime mover is muscular contraction, while the machinery is supplied by complicated arrangements of muscles with such indifferent tissues as bone, cartilage, and tendon. ”

“ Taking into account, then, this adaptive process, continually aided by the survival of individuals in which it has taken place most rapidly, we may expect, on tracing up the evolution of the vertebrate axis, to find that as the muscular power becomes greater there arise larger and harder masses of tissue, serving the muscles as points d’appui ”

“ The well-trained muscles contain only healthy protoplasm, and give off but a small percentage of nitrogenous decomposition products. Let the well-fed person who takes but little exercise, run half a mile, or play a simple game of ball, and the following day the muscles will be stiff and sore; this unusual exertion has caused the breaking down of much loosely organized tissue which could have been made firm and healthy by daily muscular activity. ”

“ There are three kinds of muscle cells in our bodies. The simplest are those that are found in the wall of the stomach and intestines and other internal organs that are capable of movements; the next kind is found only in the heart; the third, and most complex, makes up the bulk of our muscular tissue; it is the muscle that moves the bones. The first kind, because it shows no particular markings when examined through the microscope, is usually called smooth muscle ”

“ These cases are generally accompanied by round shoulders and flat chest, protrusion of the abdomen, and rotation of the vertebræ.
A muscle can be developed only by the active contraction and relaxation of its fibers. Continuous tension quickly tires and lowers its tone, so that exercises given for increasing muscular power should be comparatively quick and frequently repeated, while those that aim at the stretching of muscles and ligaments should be slow and long maintained. ”

“ The general muscular system very evidently forms two great divisions, differing essentially from each other, by the vital forces that animate them, by their external forms, by their mode of organization, and especially by the parts they perform, the one in animal life, and the other in organic. We shall not then consider them together. Let us begin by the examination of the muscles of animal life; these are spread out in great number in the human body. ”

“ But the very constitution of the germ-plasm and its relation to the body absolutely forbids the transmission of acquired somatic characteristics and of the special effects of use and disuse. Muscular activity promotes general health, and might thus conduce to better-nourished germ-cells and to more vigorous and therefore athletic descendants. The exercise of the muscles might possibly cause such a condition of the blood that the portion of the germ-plasm representing the muscular system of the next generation might be especially nourished or stimulated. ”

“ From these facts, as well as from the great force with which the muscle contracts, one must conclude that the muscle is a transformer of energy—that within its protoplasm, chemical changes take place whereby the potential energy of oxygen and food is converted into the kinetic energy of motion.
Fig. 113—Capillaries of muscles. Plan of Using Muscular Force.—Two difficulties have to be overcome in the using of muscular force in the body. The first of these is due to the fact that the muscles exert their force only when they contract. They can pull but not push. ”

“ That the production of contractile tissue in certain localities, is due to the more frequent excitement in those localities of the contractility possessed by undifferentiated tissue in general, is a view harmonizing with traits which the differentiated contractile tissue exhibits. These are the relations between muscular exercise, muscular power, and muscular structure ”

“ A stronger muscle must have a stronger bone to resist its contractions; must have stronger correlated muscles and ligaments to secure the neighbouring articulations; must have larger blood-vessels to bring it supplies; must have a more massive nerve to transmit stimulus, and some extra development of a nervous centre to supply the extra stimulus. The question arises, then,—do variations of the appropriate kinds occur simultaneously in all these co-operative parts? Have we any reason to think that the parts spontaneously increase or decrease together? ”