Motor Unit Recruitment Analysis

Introduction In this article review I will cover the motor unit recruitment involved in weight lifting. The main factors that I’ll focus on will be the central nervous system, muscle fibers and the size of muscle. I will break down why all of these items are important factors that go into the task of lifting weights. This is important to me because in the future I will be working with athletes that play football. Therefore, weight lifting is a major part of their off season and in season training. Knowing these factors will help me by knowing how to train my athletes to get the maximum amount of use out of their muscles. This will allow me in the future to understand why and when to use different percentages in my cycles, throughout the

A motor unit consists of one motor neuron and all of the muscle fibers it stimulates (Deschenes, 1989). Muscle fibers are the cells or basic building block of the muscle. There are a few different types of muscle fiber, each designed for a specific type of muscle activity. Some muscle fibers are good for endurance exercises, and others work best for the short bursts of strength exercises. The three muscle fibers are Type 1: Slow twitch, Type2 A: Fast Twitch, and Type2 X: Fast Twitch (Willardson, 2016). All of these factors added up are very important for athletes performing weight lifting movements. It starts with the beginning when you’re planning a weight lifting program and one needs to know when the muscle groups need to be worked. Along with this, you would need to know how much rest athletes need between sets to get maximum results. This is why it is essential to know the different type of muscle fibers. Each of the three types of fibers can be used differently depending on the lift that an athlete is doing. Rest

Motor units are typically recruited in the order of smallest to largest as the contraction happens. The more neurons that are activated depend on the amount of fibers that are activated (Deschenes, 1989). This process translates directly to the reason why muscle fibers are important in weight lifting. The bigger the muscle, the more fibers that are activated in the lifting process. This will tell us if every muscle group is getting hit properly. In the long run as the intensity of the lifts increases, athletes will need more rest between sets. They will need this rest so they can get the most accurate result. Another factor that will go into the proper rest is the lift that is being preformed, also what mesocylce that the athlete is in. (DOES THIS NEED TO BE HERE??)

Conclusion

Throughout this paper we learned how motor unit recruitment affects weight lifting. It all starts at the Central Nervous System where the beginning thought of something happens. Then it starts to activate the neurons and speeds up the firing of the neurons in the fibers (Willardson, 2016). There were three types of fiber Type 1 and Type 2 A & X, which all work differently depending on the intensity of the movement that is in effect. The amount of fibers that are built up or being used depends on the size of the muscle