
Muscles are essential for keeping our bodies healthy. They help us move, sit still, stand up straight, and move our eyes to look around. There are three types of muscle in the body: cardiac muscle, smooth muscle, and skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscles are attached to our bones and help us move around. They are the only muscles that we can move by thinking about them. The brain sends electrical messages to our skeletal muscles, telling them to contract or relax.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| How muscles help the body | Muscles help you move, sit still, stand up straight, look around, speak, breathe, digest food, and pump blood |
| How muscles move | The brain sends electrical messages to skeletal muscles, telling them to contract or relax |
| How muscles are connected to the body | Muscles are attached to bones with a special kind of tissue called a tendon |
| Types of muscle | There are three types of muscle in the body: cardiac, smooth, and skeletal |
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What You'll Learn

How skeletal muscles work
Skeletal muscles are the muscles that you can see when you flex your arm or leg. They are attached to your bones and help you move around. They lie under the skin and work with your bones and joints to give your body power and strength.
Skeletal muscles are the only muscles that you can move by thinking about them. When you want to move, the brain sends electrical messages to your skeletal muscles. These messages tell the muscles to contract or relax. For example, when you want to raise your hand, move your jaw to chew food, or kick a football, your brain sends a message to the relevant muscles to make them contract.
The muscles in your face are also skeletal muscles. They allow you to make dozens of different types of expressions.
Skeletal muscles are made up of fibres. The more a fibre contracts, the shorter the entire muscle becomes. The fibres consist of bundles of myofibril which contains two types of filaments ─ called myofilaments: thin filaments, primarily made of the actin protein, and thick filaments, primarily made of the myosin protein.
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How muscles are connected to bones
Muscles are connected to bones through a special kind of tissue called a tendon. Tendons fix muscles to bones, allowing the muscles to move the bones. This is how muscles help you move, sit still, and stand up straight.
There are three different types of muscle in the human body. The first type is called cardiac muscle, which is found in the heart. The second type is smooth muscle, which lines the stomach and other internal organs. The third type is skeletal muscle, which is attached to bones and helps you move around. Skeletal muscles are the ones you can see when you flex your arm or leg, and they are the only type of muscle that you can move just by thinking about it.
Skeletal muscles lie under the skin and work with bones and joints to give your body power and strength. The brain sends electrical messages to skeletal muscles, telling them to contract or relax when you want to raise your hand, move your jaw to chew food, or kick a ball. The more a muscle fibre contracts, the shorter the entire muscle becomes.
Your face is filled with muscles, which allow you to make dozens of different types of expressions.
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How muscles help you move
Muscles help you move because they are connected to bones with a special kind of tissue called a tendon. There are three types of muscle in the human body: cardiac muscle, smooth muscle and skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscles are the ones you can see when you flex your arm or leg and are the only muscles that you can move by thinking about them. When you want to move your hand, your jaw or kick a ball, your brain sends electrical messages to your skeletal muscles, telling them to contract or relax.
Your heart is made up of cardiac muscle, which can contract all by itself, without directions from the brain. Cardiac muscle is the second type of muscle in the body. The third type is smooth muscle, which lines your stomach and other internal organs.
Muscles get their energy from glucose, which is carried in blood cells through the body. The body also stores glucose in the muscles as glycogen, which is broken down to provide energy when you exercise.
The more a muscle fibre contracts, the shorter the entire muscle becomes. Muscle fibres consist of bundles of myofibril, which contain two types of filaments: thin filaments, primarily made of the actin protein, and thick filaments, primarily made of the myosin protein.
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How muscles help you breathe
Muscles help you breathe by working with your bones and joints to give your body power and strength. A special muscle in your chest called the diaphragm helps the lungs fill with air when you breathe. The diaphragm is connected to your bones with a special kind of tissue called a tendon.
There are three different types of muscle in the human body: cardiac muscle, smooth muscle, and skeletal muscle. Cardiac muscle is found in the heart, smooth muscle lines the stomach and other internal organs, and skeletal muscle is attached to bones and helps you move around. Skeletal muscles are the only type of muscle that you can move by thinking about them. When you want to move your arm, for example, the brain sends electrical messages to your skeletal muscles, telling them to contract or relax.
The heart, which is made up of cardiac muscle, can contract all by itself, without directions from the brain. Muscles get their energy from glucose that is carried in blood cells through the body. The body also stores glucose in the muscles as glycogen. Then, when you exercise, the glycogen is broken down to provide energy.
The more a muscle fibre contracts, the shorter the entire muscle becomes. Muscle fibres consist of bundles of myofibril which contains two types of filaments: thin filaments, primarily made of the actin protein, and thick filaments, primarily made of the myosin protein.
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How muscles get their energy
Muscles get their energy from glucose, which is carried in blood cells throughout the body. The body also stores glucose in the muscles as glycogen, which is broken down to provide energy when we exercise.
The brain sends electrical messages to skeletal muscles, telling them to contract or relax when we want to move. However, some muscles, like the heart, can contract all by themselves without directions from the brain. The heart is made up of cardiac muscle, which is the first type of muscle. The second type of muscle is smooth muscle, which lines the stomach and other internal organs. The third type of muscle is skeletal muscle, which is attached to bones and helps us move around. Skeletal muscles are the only muscles that we can move by thinking about them.
The more a muscle fibre contracts, the shorter the entire muscle becomes. Muscle fibres consist of bundles of myofibril, which contain two types of filaments: thin filaments, primarily made of the actin protein, and thick filaments, primarily made of the myosin protein.
Muscles do a lot to keep our bodies healthy. They help us move, sit still, and stand up straight. They allow us to move our eyes to look around, and they push food through our digestive system. Muscles also pump blood through the heart and blood vessels, and they move air in our bodies so that we can speak and breathe.
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Frequently asked questions
The three types of muscle in the body are cardiac muscle, smooth muscle and skeletal muscle.
Muscles are connected to bones with a special kind of tissue called a tendon.
Tendons are the 'floppy things' that fix muscles to the skeleton.
Muscles get their energy from glucose that is carried in blood cells through the body.










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