There are over 600 muscles in the body that do everything from pump your blood supply from your heart to your lungs to your muscles.

Some you are aware of controlling such as biceps and abdominals while others act without any conscious thought.
Each muscle is made up of thousands of elastic tissue or fibers. Three types of muscle make up your total muscle mass.

Smooth muscle or involuntary muscle that controls areas like digestive system, bladder, and the muscles that control sight by tightening focus.
Myocardium or cardiac muscle causes the heart to contract pumping blood through your system and then relaxes to draw blood back into the heart.
Skeletal muscles are the muscles we have control over and the groups we build with resistance and interval training.

Getting in shape and Bodybuilding has to do with enlarging and shaping Skeletal muscle.

You don't need to know the names of the separate layers and fibers of muscle structure to understand how to create larger muscle mass but the diagram below will give you an idea of how complex muscles are and just why they can be abused without correct training.

Skeletal Muscles are held to our bones with the aid of tendons and stretch from one attachment, across a bone joint and then attach to another bone.

These muscles vary in shape and size depending on their placement in the body and the job required. Standing erect calls on large effort hence the large muscle area in your back, and neck muscles turn and hold the weight of your head.

Face muscles don’t all attach to the bone as many attach under the skin are small and control eyebrows to lips. The muscle of the tongue is attached at one end only.

Aging decreases muscle mass although the effects of this can be overcome with a program of regular resistance training.

Trauma causes by resistance training or weightlifting as it causes injury in the cellular proteins of muscle. Through cell signaling, the body then calls for satellite cells to begin repair of the muscles and this in turn causes muscle growth.

These satellite cells are stimulated by hormones and anabolic chemicals to merge with the damaged muscle and create part of the repair process.
After each episode of resistance training growth factors begin to regulate the change in protein number and size in the muscle.

Correct exercise in a designed résistance and interval training program can create remarkable changes in the body’s skeletal muscle.

The obvious changes may take some time to become apparent.
Weightlifting is really calling for the muscles to go past normal range until there is managed damage and then to repair themselves into a larger and stronger form.

Each time damage is caused; there are tiny tears in the muscle fiber from extremely small tears to large enough that affect the entire muscle group.

The body repairs these tears by making more and larger proteins and so larger muscles. Some damage is necessary for muscle growth and repair, but not to the point of sever or permanent damage.

Overdoing weights causes inflammation and pain while correct muscle stress will leave a tight, not uncomfortable feel.

After repair, the muscle is not the same. It’s now stronger and bulkier due to the addition of larger cells.

For information on Muscle Groups continue on to Muscle Building and Weight Training

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