Types of Muscle Contractions

 Your muscles produce a lot of diffrenet movements and motions in carrying out their duties during your running and strength training workouts. There's only one way for them to produce those meovements - by contracting. They have to contract but there are several different ways for your muscles to produce those muscle contractions. Here are the types of muscle contractions.

 By Rick Morris

ISOMETRIC CONTRACTIONS

An isometric contraction occurs when there is a contraction of the muscle, but there is no movement. This will happens when you are pushing or pulling on an immoveable object. You also perform an isometric contraction when you tighten your muscles without producing movement or motion.  Competitive body builders will use isometric contractions when striking a pose in competition. Is that case, opposing muscle groups are exerting equal force in opposite directions. Therapists will use isometric exercises for patients that have a restricted range of motion.

CONCENTRIC CONTRACTIONS

When your muscle is producing more force than the resistance you are using, your muscle will shorten. An example of this is the pulling up portion of a bicep curl. This type of muscle action is called a concentric contraction and is the most common type of contraction.

ECCENTRIC CONTRACTIONS

When the resistance used is more than the force produced by the muscle, the muscle will lengthen. The muscle is producing force, but it is “giving in” to the resistance. An example of this is the downward portion of the bicep curl, when the arm returns to its starting position. When you run downhill your quadriceps are contracting eccentrically to control your downward momentum. In that case your quadriceps muscles are lengthening while they contract.