The Science of Working Out Part One
When you work out or train you are working with your biology to encourage your body to adapt and grow. For this reason a good understanding of that biology can help to make the whole process much easier, and the most successful bodybuilders and fitness trainers will be the ones who understand how their body utilises energy and builds their muscles.
The first part of that equation is the energy, and understanding how your body gets and uses energy can help you to keep your workouts at a high intensity without ‘burning out’.
All living beings use a substance called ‘ATP’ to get their energy. This stands for ‘Andenosine Triphosphate’, which relates to the fact that it is made up of three separate phosphates powerfully bonded together. To utilise ATP for its energy, the body then breaks these bonds which releases the energy holding them together and results in the by-products ADP and AMP (andenosine diphosphate and andeonsine monophosphate, made up of two and one phosphate(s) respectively). The body stores a certain amount of this ATP in the muscles ready for easy access, and this is its first port of call for quick explosive movements.
The muscles however only contain enough ATP for about 3 seconds of use. Once the body has used up this supply of ATP then it will then begin to ‘recycle’ the ADP and AMP to recombine them using the supply of creatine phosphate produced in the kidneys (this is why bodybuilders take creatine for extra energy). This again however will only supply an additional ten seconds of energy meaning that the system of localised ATP, known as the ‘phosphogen’ system can only be used for 13 seconds. This system then can only be used alone for short sets and is the method of energy used by powerlifters.
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