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 LearningMethods Downloads
Articles on Muscle Changes and Adaptation:
Length/Flexibility – Strength/Mass – Speed/Endurance
This page brings together numerous articles and scientific papers on how muscles respond to the ways we use ourselves in daily life and how we exercise or train. These adaptations include changes in strength (muscle bulk) as well as changes in length (stretching and flexibility) and changes in muscle type (between the fast, powerful-but-fatiguing
Type II muscle fibres and the red slower, less-powerful-and-less-fatiguing Type I fibres). All these adaptations are inter-related and have profound implications for our freedom, ease,
and health, as well as how we function...
These articles (and recordings) are copyright by their authors — I have only gathered them together
here and formatted them for easy reading and/or printing. In most cases the original Internet
URL is in the document.
1. Articles on adaptations of strength (building muscle mass)
2. Articles on adaptations of length (gaining range and flexibility)
3. Articles on adaptations of muscle sub-type (red-white fibre changes)
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Instructions: To
download any of the files below:
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 Windows
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 Mac
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Right-click on the link(s) below and
choose
either "Save Target As", or "Save Link As"
(or similar, depending on your browser).
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Hold down the Control key <CTRL>
when clicking on the links and select
"Save" from the menu.
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Then in the resulting dialog box (both
Windows and Mac),
you can choose the folder in which to put the downloaded files (e.g. Desktop).
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1. Adaptations of muscle mass (strength and power)
Use It
or Lose It - by William Evans  PDF file
(29 Kb)
An interview with William Evans, one of the top muscle
physiologists in the world, on how we begin to lose muscle mass from our 20's onwards, how this
affects us, and what it takes to keep ourselves in shape...
Muscle, Genes and Athletic Performance (Scientific American Sept 2000) PDF file
(353 Kb)
A broad summary of how muscles adapt in strength and muscle
sub-type. While this article focuses on changes in athletic performance and training it is
relevant to us all in our everyday lives. Quite readable and highly recommended...
Action Replay Revives Wasted Muscle - by Helen Saul PDF file (18 Kb)
"Stimulating weakened muscles with the same pattern of electrical signals produced by healthy muscles may encourage them to regenerate and dramatically improve their function..."
Read more about this research into how muscles respond and adapt to how we use them...
Summary of Research on Muscle Training PDF file (642 Kb)
Skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue in the human body and also one of the most adaptable. Vigorous training with weights can double or triple a muscles size, whereas disuse, as in space travel, can shrink it by 20 percent in two weeks. The many biomechanical
and biochemical phenomena behind these adaptations are enormously complex, but decades of
research have built up a reasonably complete picture of how muscles respond to athletic
training... continue reading...
Muscle Repair Depends on Multiple Cell Types PDF file (A4-size) (33 Kb)
Muscle Repair Depends on Multiple Cell Types PDF file (8.5x11-size) (33 Kb)
Article about research on how stem cells act to repair muscle after damage. "The new discoveries show that the developmental fate of a given satellite cell depends on its physical orientation immediately after cell division. A skeletal muscle fiber is sheathed
in a tube of collagen. Each fiber has several hundred satellite cells, which sit between the
muscle fiber and the collagen. When a muscle is injured or stressed, these cells are activated
and help in repair. As satellite cells divide and develop into healthy new muscle, they also
give rise to a fresh population of satellite cells that stand by, ready to respond to future
damage." Continue reading...
2.
Adaptations of muscle length (stretching, range and flexibility)
Stretching the Truth
- by Doug Richards
 streaming video file (45 minutes)
An easy-to-follow and informative video from TVO (TV Ontario – Ontario Public
Broadcasting) on the mechanics and physiology of stretching by well-known muscle physiologist Doug Richards from the University of Toronto. It will almost certainly pop some of your myths about stretching and exercise — it did for me. There is also a downloadable audio version of this lecture below as well as a related print article by a different author...
Stretching the Truth - by Doug Richards
 MP3 audio file (45
minutes, 13Mb)
An audio-only downloadable version of the above video lecture...
Stretching the Truth – Does Stretching Work? -
by Paul Rogers PDF file (8.5x11-size, 40 Kb)
Stretching the Truth – Does Stretching Work? -
by Paul Rogers PDF file (A4-size, 40 Kb)
A short article about stretching before and after exercise and
sport (warm-ups and warm-downs) — do they work, what is best?
3.
Adaptations of muscle sub-type (red-white fibre shift)
Collected Articles--Red-White Muscle Adaptation.zip  Zip file containing all nine files
listed below. (1.5 Mb)
1. Brains Behind the Brawn - by Geoffrey Goldspink PDF file (309 Kb)
2. Muscle Adaptation
- by Geoffrey Goldspink PDF file (179 Kb)
3.
Gene Expression in Skeletal Muscle - by Geoffrey Goldspink
PDF file (109 Kb)
4.
Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 and Muscle Growth - by Geoffrey Goldspink PDF file (114 Kb)
5.
Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Tissue Adaptation and Repair PDF file (149 Kb)
A collection of short papers from a symposium honouring Goldspink
on the occasion of his retirement. Many are technical and involve research on animals, but
several are relevant to us including one by Goldspink himself.
6. Other Links and Extracts on the work of Geoffrey Goldspink PDF file (102 Kb)
"Stimulating weakened muscles with the same pattern of electrical signals produced by healthy muscles may encourage them to regenerate and dramatically improve their function..."
Read more about this research into how muscles respond and adapt to how we use them...
7. Action
Replay Revives Wasted Muscle PDF file (18 Kb)
"Stimulating weakened muscles with the same pattern of electrical signals produced by healthy muscles may encourage them to regenerate and dramatically improve their function..."
Read more about this research into how muscles respond and adapt to how we use them...
8. Summary of Research on Muscle Training PDF file
(642 Kb)
"Skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue in the human body and also one of the most adaptable. Vigorous training with weights can double or triple a muscles size, whereas disuse, as in space travel, can shrink it by 20 percent in two weeks. The many biomechanical
and biochemical phenomena behind these adaptations are enormously complex, but decades of
research have built up a reasonably complete picture of how muscles respond to athletic
training..."
A summary of research on muscle adaptation and rehabilitation. This article is related to the above but by different authors.
9. 'Marathon Mice' Elucidate Little-known Muscle Type PDF file (A4-size) (32 Kb)
'Marathon Mice' Elucidate Little-known Muscle Type PDF file (8.5x11-size) (32 Kb)
Article about research on a new fourth sub-type of muscle, type IIx, which seem to have the oxidative metabolism of slow-twitch fibres mixed with the biophysical properties of fast-twitch fibres giving them an efficient way of generating energy
combined with higher work loads.
Directions for printing PDF files
Steps to print from Adobe Acrobat:
1. Choose "Page Setup" from the "File" menu and select the correct "Paper Size"
from the drop-down list, e.g. A4-size for Europe or 8.5"x11" (letter-size) for North America, and then
click on "OK".
2. Choose "Print" from the File menu and make sure the "Fit to Page" or "Scale
to Page" box is checked. The other boxes in the same area should be unchecked.
3. Make sure your printer is on and has the correct paper loaded, then click
on OK. That's it.
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