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Related Concept Videos

Muscle Coordination and Action01:24

Muscle Coordination and Action

Muscle coordination is a complex and finely tuned process essential for smooth and purposeful movements like flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, and rotation. The human body orchestrates the actions of various muscles working in concert, each with a specific role. Four functional types describe how muscles work together: agonist, antagonist, synergist, and fixator.
Agonists
Agonist muscles, often called prime movers, are the primary muscles responsible for producing a specific movement.
Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Skeletal Muscles01:20

Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Skeletal Muscles

Excitation-contraction coupling is a series of events that occur between generating an action potential and initiating a muscle contraction. It occurs at the triad, a structure found in skeletal muscle fibers that comprise a T-tubule and terminal cisternae of the sarcoplasmic reticulum on each side. These triads are visible in longitudinally sectioned muscle fibers. They are typically located at the A-I junction — the junction between the A and I bands of the sarcomere.
When an action potential...
Motor Unit Stimulation01:20

Motor Unit Stimulation

When the neuron of a motor unit fires an action potential, it triggers a series of events, leading to a twitch contraction in the muscle fibers. The process of excitation-contraction coupling is crucial in relaying the action potential to the muscle fibers.
The latent period of contraction marks the onset of excitation-contraction coupling, when the action potential propagates across the sarcolemma, preparing the muscle fibers for contraction. As the fibers enter the contraction phase, the...
Cross-bridge Cycle01:26

Cross-bridge Cycle

As muscle contracts, the overlap between the thin and thick filaments increases, decreasing the length of the sarcomere—the contractile unit of the muscle—using energy in the form of ATP. At the molecular level, this is a cyclic, multistep process that involves binding and hydrolysis of ATP, and movement of actin by myosin.
Muscle Contraction01:10

Muscle Contraction

In skeletal muscles, acetylcholine is released by nerve terminals at the motor endplate—the point of synaptic communication between motor neurons and muscle fibers. The binding of acetylcholine to its receptors on the sarcolemma allows entry of sodium ions into the cell and triggers an action potential in the muscle cell. Thus, electrical signals from the brain are transmitted to the muscle. Subsequently, the enzyme acetylcholinesterase breaks down acetylcholine to prevent excessive muscle...
Muscle Contraction01:15

Muscle Contraction

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Investigating Motor Skill Learning Processes with a Robotic Manipulandum
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Muscle coordination while pulling up during cycling.

G Mornieux1, A Gollhofer, B Stapelfeldt

  • 1Universität Freiburg, Institut für Sport und Sportwissenschaft, Freiburg, Germany. guillaume.mornieux@sport.uni-freiburg.de

International Journal of Sports Medicine
|September 10, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The pull up action in cycling enhances pedaling effectiveness during the upstroke by altering muscle coordination. This technique may optimize performance and reduce extensor muscle strain.

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Area of Science:

  • Sports Science
  • Biomechanics
  • Exercise Physiology

Background:

  • Cycling performance relies on efficient pedaling mechanics and muscle coordination.
  • Understanding muscle activation patterns is crucial for optimizing cycling technique.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of the pull up action on pedaling mechanics and muscle coordination in elite cyclists.
  • To analyze changes in muscle activity and timing during the pedal stroke with and without the pull up action.

Main Methods:

  • Nine elite cyclists performed pedaling at 320 watts using their preferred technique and a pull up technique.
  • Electromyography was used to measure muscle activation patterns, specifically focusing on biceps femoris, tibialis anterior, and gastrocnemius lateralis.
  • Pedaling effectiveness was assessed based on muscle coordination and joint stiffening.

Main Results:

  • The pull up action significantly improved pedaling effectiveness during the upstroke and at the bottom dead center.
  • Muscle coordination changes included enhanced biceps femoris activity, earlier tibialis anterior activation, and delayed gastrocnemius lateralis activation.
  • Increased co-activity between the tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius lateralis, and between biceps femoris and tibialis anterior, was observed to stiffen the ankle and power the upstroke.

Conclusions:

  • The pull up action optimizes muscle coordination, leading to improved pedaling effectiveness during the upstroke.
  • This technique may potentially increase oxygen consumption but could relieve hip and knee extensors during the downstroke.
  • Training the pull up action could be beneficial for enhancing cycling performance and optimizing muscle recruitment patterns.