Often times certifications require continued education. I am reading an interesting book for some of my continued education units. I am rather excited about this book and the information because it is CURRENT! So fabulous! So often the materiel used for continued education is YEARS old. I remember the last CEUs I took that were required by one place I taught . . . the material was so old that it was no longer correct! So we were being taught and tested on information that was out of date. One of the reason continued education is required for many certifications is because things change. With new information being learned about the body all the time the way people exercise and train changes. So it is really helpful when the material we are using has current information. This book is from . . . . wait for it . . . 2020! I can barely believe it. Another reason WHY it is so important to have current material is most of the time the studies that the materials reference are already years old. Research and study takes a long time so it can take a long time for information to be published. Another reason I am so excited about this information is that it is pretty interesting. It is about muscle clocks.
You may have heard of an internal body clock, but did you know our muscles have clocks? You may have because it is not really a new idea, but there is just more things proving it. More studies are being done on how it works. It is fascinating . . . at least to me.
Muscle clocks are described as “transcription factors or genes inside each muscle that regulate physiological cycles according to environmental changes and physical activity.”
With the knowledge and understanding of muscle clocks people can plan training to get the most out of it. The idea is that muscles are on a 24 hour clock and if an athlete trains at the same time every day of training then muscles can anticipate the training is coming and perform and reform better. That is the gist, although the book explains there is a lot more to aid in getting muscles to do their best.
Again, this is not a totally new concept it is just that it is being understood better.
Some other things I thought I would share:
—-Skeletal muscles make up about 40-45% of the body’s total mass
—-Muscle is the single more abundant tissue in the body
—-Muscle communicate with other muscles and systems in the body
—-Cardio Training that was done before resistance training showed blood lactate and cortisol levels elevated (these levels should be low)
—-HIIT has been shown to interfere with sleep
—-Muscle clocks can learn to prepare muscles and best results will be achieved from consistently (time of day) scheduled training
—-Sleep quality is very important
The data is showing that muscles are smart. They have their own clocks and can learn when they get resistance training happening at the same time of day. It is like they KNOW they are going to a party and they start getting ready!
I find this pretty interesting. And, as I said, it is not new, so you may have already known about muscle clocks. The new part (and it isn’t even that new because things take a long time for studies to be done and documents) is that they are really beginning to understand them more.
This book is really great, I think. Amy Ashmore lays out what each chapter is about and explains what you will learn in the next chapters. To me that is very helpful. Some books will say something like “well what we are talking about is all based on the blah, blah, blah theory” and they either expect you to know what it is or don’t tell you that they will explain it in subsequent chapter so you might find yourself clicking away to go look for information on the “blah, blah, blah theory” but Amy explains everything. She lets you know when it will be explained and doesn’t leave you hanging. And she also repeats information so it all melds together.
So, have you ever heard of muscle clocks? Does the idea that your muscle can anticipate resistance training intrigue you?
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