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NewsTarget.com
April 17, 2005
Exercise increases muscles' ability to resist damage
Exercising muscles improves their ability to absorb damage caused by exertion, according to a research study performed at Ohio State University. The study examined aerobic exercise by horses, and found that horses that were given regular workouts showed less damage than horses that did not receive regular exercise. Be sure to read the related article, The Atkins Diet Food Guide Pyramid, Part 4: The Importance of Exercise.
Overview:
* Researchers now have the physical evidence to show why it's important for older people to exercise.
* And it comes with the discovery that, in aging racehorses, regular aerobic workouts decreased the prevalence of muscle damage that can be caused by exertion.
* Mammalian skeletal muscle tissue is the same regardless of which species of mammal it is in, said Steven Devor, the study's lead author and an assistant professor of exercise science education at Ohio State University.
* He and his colleagues studied the effects of aerobic exercise -- in this case, galloping on a treadmill -- on small sections of skeletal muscle tissue taken from the limbs of retired racehorses.
* The findings support a "use-it-or-lose-it" philosophy: After 10 weeks of regular workouts, the horses' muscles showed fewer signs of damage caused by exertion, even after the horses worked out at their maximum capacity.
* Some minor muscle damage is normal after a new or a particularly difficult workout.
* He was part of a team that found that this damage happens when tiny skeletal muscle segments called sarcomeres -- the smallest units of contractile muscle -- pull apart as a muscle lengthens.
* Contractions that lengthen muscles are particularly damaging to sarcomeres.
* And lengthening contractions are some of the most common type of contractions humans do -- leg muscles contract and lengthen as we sit down or walk and run, and arm muscles contract and lengthen when we lower heavy objects.
* The six quarter horses in the current study ranged in age from 23 to 30 years, which made the animals elderly by horse standards.
* The researchers increased the speed and resistance of the treadmill during each session, and the animals spent about 15 minutes of each workout exercising at a relatively high intensity.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050323151009.htm
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