Unit 7 reflection

Transitioning for our last unit on bones, this unit hit on major muscle, how they function, and how our bodies can be influenced by substances. A few of my favorite muscles we learned include the latissimus dorsi which is located along the side of the rib cage, and triceps brachialis which is the antagonist of the biceps, because I do many bodyweight exercises. I’ve been trying to learn how to muscle-up which requires both strong lats, and strong triceps. All movement requires muscle contractions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuIFXY2uwaM&feature=youtu.be.This unit also targeted what our muscles can do. What I remember the most is stretching our muscles and how flexibility is key. Our muscles can move and stretch, but some more than others. As we get older, our muscles become less flexible. Stretching our muscles aligns the collagen fibers in the connective tissue with the tension. Each sarcomere is being pulled to its limit, and the the connective tissue are pulled as well. I think of ballerina dancers and how they are so agile and flexible. I wonder what kind of mental dedication and strength they have to reach such high levels of flexibility and to maintain it. I really related to this subtopic because of my injuries with my hamstrings and how I rehabbed to gain my flexibility and strength back. To further our knowledge muscles and where they are located, we did a chicken dissection which ran smoothly. Group work is a big aspect of the class, and I’ve really began to understand how to make things work. Flexibility is not only important for your muscles but also as a person; If someone else wants the same position, we have to learn to step aside at times. On the topic of stepping aside, I do believe that my orginal new year's goal will have to be alternated due to my schedule with track. I don't have much time to lift on my own, so I highly doubt I will be reaching my deadlift goal, but as for my grades I’m doing well. Through this unit and 20 time I have learned a great deal about management. Juggling my time with various activities and duties makes it hard during the week to balance everything. The more I took on the more lost I felt; however, I came across a quote that reads “Do not pray for an easy life,pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” -Bruce Lee

HIIT the perfect spot

Like many others, picking up the jumprope was influenced by my desire for greater fat loss. I had previously heard about programs and how they could “transform” you in 30 days. After jumping for a few weeks and trying a variety of workouts, I found the perfect HIIT. HIIT(high intensity interval training) is found to be more effective in burning fat than standard steady-rate cardio. It works by quickly alternating from high intensity to low intensity (i.e. sprinting for 30 seconds then jogging for 15 seconds) which can even burn fat hours after the workout. HIIT workouts aren’t long, so you get a little pain for a lot of gain. Through this type of training, I have seen an increase of my v02max from 49.18 ml/kg/min to a current 53.37 ml/kg/min; I hope to continue increasing my v02max, and to have a better performance on the track. For my jump roping, I’ll be showing tricks and routines that I have learned in the upcoming weeks. Getting better at any skill isn’t easy, so remind yourself keep going and push through the days where you don’t want to put in work.

Just Do(pe) it! performance enhancing

Some people believe that steroids don't cause "roid rage" or that they aren't addictive, but both of those facts are true. Infact steroids are so commonly used that in highschool, 2.1-6.1% (1991-2011) of students are using steroids. Although people use performance enhancing drugs, they are banned in sports and some are illegal. Depending on the substance there can be a wide range of negative effects, such as shrinking testes and breast enlargement in men. It is shocking and concerning how even in major league sports, steroids are still illegally used. Some common methods can be dangerous such as gene doping, while others can be almost harmless such as carboloading.

TIme to hop in (20 time)

Its been a few weeks, and I'm trying to find a balance of not too much jumpropping so I'm not dead sore, but also enough so that I'm improving my skills. Jumpropping may seem like one of the easiest skills that anyone can do, but when you continuously jump for 10 minutes, it can be hard, and I'm just trying to get the basics. While it has been a little rainy recently, jumping rope is something I can do basically anywhere, so that helped me greatly. I am trying to jump more everyday, so I can learn more complicated skills and tricks(crossing, or backwards jumping), while boosting my stamina and increasing my V02max; however, I cannot jump as much as I would like to everyday since I'm also in track. My body physically can't sustain so much impact and exercise daily without rest days, and on top of that I also have to keep my legs healthy. Balance is the biggest issue and that's something we all face everyday, such as balancing our time. Sometimes we wish we could go back in time, or have more, but instead, we just need to learn how to manage the time we get.

Chicken Dissection Analysis

In our chicken dissection, we dissected a chicken and identified its muscles while comparing them to our own muscles. In the chicken, when we moved the wings we noticed that the latissimus dorsi was contracting, and so we can tell that the movement of the wings is partly controlled by the lats. At the pectoralis major, it connects to a tendon near the gluteus maximus. There the color changes from white to tan, and also the muscles moves from the origin and not the insertion. The human pectoralis major is proportionally a lot smaller than the chicken’s pectoralis major. Another size difference was the heart; while the heart is about the size of our fist, a chicken’s heart is even smaller. For its legs, the chicken was very similar to a human in that the muscle groups such as hamstrings, biceps femoris, and semimembranosus were all very close and connected.

What happens when you stretch?

What Happens When You Stretch

Author: NA

Relate and Review

Everytime you stretch a muscle, it starts with  the sacromeres. Within each individual sacromere, the myosin and actin are pulling further apart until they can no longer elongate, then the tension moves onto connective tissue. When stretching it is harder to get full effects of stretching the muscle if it is contracting, and so to combat this for example, if you are stretching the calf, you want to contract the antagonists, which would be the shins, by flexing the foot. But by flexing the foot, this also works the hamstring, and so to relax the hamstring you flex the quadriceps. To reach the end goal of stretching your calf, you would have to flex the foot and contract the quads by keeping the leg straight. So much of movement is related to stretching that flexibility is a pretty big deal, and that related to posture. Bent over backs from working at a desk at day over time not only builds bad posture obviously, but also builds muscle tightness. The body becomes stiff and loses important range of motion. Although this is just one connection, anatomy and physiology is really about the whole body itself, and almost everything is relevant to many other parts or functions.


inspiring quotes/ phrases

1.(the lengthening reaction) is powerful enough to overcome the signaling of the muscle spindles telling the muscle to contract.

That stuck with me because I'm also in ap bio and we learned about cell signalling. Our bodies have crazy functions at the molecular level that are incredibly specific, and hard to learn.

2. (stretching/ realignment) is what helps to rehabilitate scarred tissue back to health.


I've been injured so many times in the leg, I've had dreams about getting prosthetics. I've been through the process a few times now of getting equal range of motion on both legs before strengthening. It's incredibly frustrating and slow. It has truly taught me the patience is key.

3. (flexing muscles with little to no contraction) provides the opportunity for the greatest gains in flexibility, it also provides the greatest risk of injury if used improperly.


I am flexible and I had the flexibility to do the splits both ways except down the middle. I no wonder after coming back from injury if I even desire to be overly flexible.