Muscles aren’t just about looking good post regular workouts (though no one’s complaining if you do), they also play a vital role in the overall health of your body. All your movements depend on them, and they are critical in maintaining bone strength, body weight, and resistance to disease and stress.
1. Their name comes from mice. In Latin, the word ‘musculus’ means ‘little mouse’. Early linguists thought that some muscles in the body looked like tiny mice scrambling under the skin, hence the rather repulsive title.
2. Muscles make up around 40% of your body weight. If you have a lean physique, this can go up to 45%. The rest is constituted from bones, fat and the organs in your body.
3. Your heart is the hardest-working muscle. It’s the one muscle that never rests. It has been beating since it was formed in your mother’s womb, and will continue till you die. The constant beating of your heart pumps blood throughout your body at a steady, unrelenting pace.
4. Your fingers have no muscles. There are only tendons attached to the bones, which connect with muscles in your palm and wrists. These manipulate the actions of your fingers, much like puppeteers do with puppets on strings.
5. Muscles have stored memory. Scientific research says that when you exercise and build muscle, new structures called nuclei are formed, which can make more muscle later on. If you stop exercising, the nuclei still remain, making it easier to rebuild and giving you a head-start once you begin training again.