Love those Muscles

Muscles. Don't you just love em?
A set of rock hard abs, a broad rippling back, some bulging biceps, a firm, hard thigh...Some pecalcious pecs even?
Yes Please.
Those muscles are easy to love.
But what about your own muscles? You may not think they are quite so lovely. You may only be vaguely aware that you have any muscles at all and yet your muscles really do want you to love them ; all 340 of them, (depending on which anatomy book you read).

Muscles are pretty amazing things when you think about it. They carry us around, allow us to write, type, play music, drive a car, climb to the top of a mountain, stroke a loved one, cuddle a child and we just take them so much for granted. We use them and abuse them OR
don't use them and abuse them until eventually one of the little suckers starts to complain.

So what do muscles really want?
Here's a list written from a muscle's perspective.

WHAT MUSCLES WANT
*Support. If they have to stay in one position or place a long time they need support or they will get overloaded and ache from too much strain. For writers, back support is the most important. There's lots of little tiny muscles linking vertebra to vertebra and some large broad muscles that help to hold you up and they're all much happier with good support.

*Variety of Movement - some muscles are designed to move body parts, some are designed to hold body parts but all muscles work better if they are moved in a variety of ways and positions.

* Stretching. This does not just mean a static held stretch. This is a passive stretch. Muscles also like to be moved actively through a full range of movement to prevent stiffness in the short term and tightening and shortening of a muscle's length in the long term. For example if you only ever take short steps when you walk, the hamstrings at the back of your thighs will get tight. A few hamstring stretches after exercise will help but so will taking long strides, or doing lunges or kicks.

*R&R - Rest & Relaxation - muscles need to return to a relaxed resting state after being held in a contracted position otherwise they remain tight and under chronic strain. The trapezius muscle at the top of the shoulders is the classic example of this. If your shoulders are always hitched up - oh so common when under stress or with poor ergonomics- the muscle never gets a chance to relax fully so its no wonder the poor thing aches.

*Strength - muscles need to be strong enough to carry out the demands placed on them. The old use it or lose it is so true.

* Balance. Muscles generally work in opposite pairs. While the muscle on one side of a limb is contracting (shortening), its corresponding muscle on the other side has to be lengthening. These opposing pairs are called the agonist and antagonist. So far so good. BUT if you sit or move mainly in one direction, the muscles on one side get tight and the muscles on the opposite side get weak. In order to keep a balance between the opposing pairs you need to stretch the tight muscles AND strengthen the weak ones. If you only work on one or the other the imbalance is maintained. It's like two teams playing tug of war, each side needs to be evenly matched or the whole sorry thing gets pulled to one side.

* Oxygen and lots of it is needed by muscle tissue. To get the oxygen in and waste products out, good circulation is essential. Yet another good reason to get up and move around frequently instead of having buttocks fused to a chair.

* Good nutrition - iron, calcium, vitamin C and D are particularly important for muscles to work properly.
Yes vitamin D. A little bit of sunlight is good for vitamin D production as well as to warm the creative hearth. WHich brings me to...

*Warmth - muscles are like modelling clay or plasticine- much more pliable and elastic when they are warm, hence the need to warm up before exercise and why if your desk is under an air conditioning vent your muscles are more likely to stiffen up.

Next blog I will look at what muscles hate but here is my

WRITER'S STRETCH OF THE DAY...Week...Year

DESK BALLET

1) Stand up. Take a few steps back from your desk. Feet a bit wider than shoulders.

2) Lean on your desk. Keep your knees straight and your heels down. You should feel a slight stretch at the back of your calf. If not move further away from the desk until you do.

3) Rise up on your toes and back to your heels.

4) Repeat about 20 x.

Variation - shift weight from one foot to the other
- do 10 on each leg.

This exercise is a great circulation booster, an active stretch for the calf as well as a strengthening exercise for the calf muscles.

It packs lots of BANG FOR YOUR SWEAT.

Don't you love one exercise that works on three things? Your muscles certainly do.