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Exercise and Muscle Performance

Exercise and Muscle Performance

Exercise induces a range of adaptations in muscle tissue, depending on the type and duration of activity. Such physical training can be broadly categorized into two types: endurance exercises and resistance exercises.
Endurance exercises
Endurance exercises involve running, swimming, or cycling, which require repetitive movements with low force output. When a person engages in endurance exercise, a few noticeable changes occur in their skeletal muscles. For instance, the number of capillaries...

Skeletal Muscle Anatomy

Skeletal Muscle Anatomy

Skeletal muscle is the most abundant type of muscle in the body. Tendons are the connective tissue that attaches skeletal muscle to bones. Skeletal muscles pull on tendons, which in turn pull on bones to carry out voluntary movements.

Overview of Skeletal Muscle

Overview of Skeletal Muscle

Skeletal muscles are composed of a bundle of muscle fibers and are attached to bones through tendons. Each skeletal muscle fiber is a single muscle cell. The sarcolemma, the plasma membrane of a skeletal muscle cell, consists of a lipid bilayer and glycocalyx that supports muscle fibers. The sarcolemma extends into the muscle cells to form tubular structures called transverse or T-tubules. Each side of the T-tubules consists of a membrane-bound structure called the sarcoplasmic reticulum,...

Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Skeletal Muscles

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...

Generation of Action Potential in Skeletal Muscles

Generation of Action Potential in Skeletal Muscles

Every cell in the body maintains a membrane potential due to an uneven distribution of positive and negative charges across its plasma membrane. The membrane potential is measured in millivolts and quantifies the difference in charge across the membrane.
Like neurons, muscle cells are also regarded as excitable due to their capacity to change in response to stimuli, primarily due to voltage-gated ion channels embedded in their plasma membranes, which get activated by alterations in the...

Relaxation of Skeletal Muscles

Relaxation of Skeletal Muscles

The period of muscle contraction primarily influences the duration of stimulation at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), the presence of free calcium ions in the sarcoplasm, and the availability of energy or ATP to support contractions.
When an action potential reaches the axon terminal, it depolarizes the membrane and opens voltage-gated sodium channels. Sodium ions enter the cell, further depolarizing the presynaptic membrane. This depolarization causes voltage-gated calcium channels to open....

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 19, 2026

A Murine Model of Muscle Training by Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation

A Murine Model of Muscle Training by Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation

Published on: May 9, 2012

Exercise Has a Bone to Pick with Skeletal Muscle.

Frank W Booth¹, Gregory N Ruegsegger¹, T Dylan Olver¹

¹Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.

Cell Metabolism

|June 16, 2016

Summary

Osteocalcin, a bone-derived hormone, enhances endurance exercise performance by improving how muscles use fuel. Supplementation with osteocalcin can reverse age-related decreases in exercise capacity.

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Last Updated: Mar 19, 2026

A Murine Model of Muscle Training by Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation

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Published on: May 9, 2012

Human Skeletal Muscle Biopsy Procedures Using the Modified Bergström Technique

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Published on: January 25, 2018

Area of Science:

Metabolic pathways
Endocrinology
Exercise physiology

Background:

Exercise intolerance and reduced exercise capacity are linked to aging, diabetes, cognitive impairment, and mortality.
Understanding molecular mechanisms underlying exercise capacity is crucial for metabolic and aging research.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of osteocalcin in regulating endurance exercise performance.
To determine if osteocalcin supplementation can ameliorate age-related decline in exercise capacity.

Main Methods:

Assessing endurance exercise performance in relevant models.
Measuring myofiber fuel uptake and utilization.
Evaluating the effects of osteocalcin supplementation on exercise capacity.

Main Results:

Osteocalcin enhances myofiber fuel uptake and utilization, thereby improving endurance exercise performance.
Osteocalcin supplementation effectively reverses the age-induced decline in endurance exercise capacity.

Conclusions:

Osteocalcin plays a significant role in optimizing skeletal muscle energy metabolism for endurance exercise.
Osteocalcin represents a potential therapeutic target for combating exercise intolerance associated with aging and metabolic diseases.