You are familiar with your skeleton. A bony framework that is the root of your body. There are layers of flesh, fat and skin over it that makes you. Have you wondered what helps your body move so smoothly?  Is it the bones? Fat? Skin? Well you all probably know that it is the muscles. Hmm.. What exactly are muscles?

Muscles are these bundles of fiber that surround our body throughout. There are as many as 600 muscles in a human body. The fibers are bulging in the middle and are tapered at the end. These relax and contract to help us move. Muscles are usually in pairs. One pair helps in a bending position and the other pair in the straightening. Apart from movement, they help us digest our food, let our heart pump. Let us explore more.

Do you know that there are three different types of muscles?  Skeletal, smooth and cardiac.

Skeletal muscles are totally under our control. They are also called voluntary muscles. We can move them any time we feel like. Can you guess where these muscles are located? Of course, you can. The leg, hand, neck all have muscles that we can control.

Smooth muscles located in the stomach, intestines or urinary bladder are out of our control. They are also known as the involuntary muscles. They have their special jobs and help in the flow of blood through the artery and the veins.

Cardiac muscles form the walls of our heart. They take a major amount of oxygen and glucose from the blood. Why? Because they work day and night. Remember the heart works round the clock.

Muscles extend all over the body and have three layers. An outer layer that lies under the fat, deep muscle layer that are attached to the skeleton and in between a middle layer of  muscle. Out of the 600 muscles, 50 muscles are on the face. They don’t help you move but definitely helps you to express yourself. Imagine if there were no facial muscles how would you look like? A robot may be.

Did you know?

• The smallest muscle is called stpedius in your ear.
• The largest muscle is the gluteus maximus and is used to jump forward. It is located in your hips.
• The heart muscles are also called myocardium.