Muscles: The More You Know

It's an extraordinary thing, the feeling that comes with empowering yourself by expanding your knowledge base.

As they say, when you know better, you do better.

The way I see it, we're all souls having human experiences, and when we learn more about anything at all, it widens our worldview. And when we learn more about something that's directly related to upping our self-care game?

Well, look out world...

Learning how to better care for yourself is always worth your time, and one way to do that is to become familiar with the names and specific functions of your muscles.

​It's one of the very first steps of cultivating any meaningful relationship, learning a name, so knowing what each body part is called is a positive step towards a friendly relationship with your body.

​Additionally, in order to have a full appreciation of why it's important to take care of ourselves, we need to understand what exactly we're caring FOR. 

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That's why, every time we add a workout to a Soul Fitness program or the Soul Fitness blog, we include which muscle and/or muscle groups are being strengthened.
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That's also why we've created this always-growing, easy-to-reference index of those same muscles.

As we continue to add and diversify our workouts, we'll continue to update this post.  

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Soul Fitness Muscle Index

Abdominals

• ​Obliques
  • The muscles on either side of your core; your waist
  • There are two kinds: Internal and External​
  • The internal obliques attach to the rib cage and the pelvis, and to either side of the rectus abdominis.
  • The external oblique muscles are attached to the sides of the spine and help rotate the spine and maintain proper posture.
• Rectus Abdominis
  • ​the wall of abdominal muscle that connects to the lower rib cage and hips. 
  • helps with stabilization of your body as well as your balance
• Transversus Abdominis 
  • a muscle layer of the anterior (front) and lateral (side) abdominal wall, layered below your internal oblique muscle.

Adductor Muscles

• The muscles of your inner thigh
• The muscles in this group are:
  • adductor brevis 
  • adductor longus 
  • adductor magnus - the biggest and strongest of the bunch
  • gracilis - also affects your knee
  • pectineus

Biceps 

• This muscle rests on top of the humerus bone, your upper arm.
• It rotates the forearm and also flexes the elbow.

Calf Muscles

• Aka the Gastrocnemius and Soleus muscles.
  • These muscles attach near the knee joint on top then taper and merge to combine at the Achilles tendon to attach to the heel on the bottom.
  • They cooperate to "plantar flex" your ankle, which means to lift your heel off the floor.​

Core Muscles

• This refers to the deep muscle layers that lie close to the spine and provide structural support for the entire body
• Includes the pelvic floor muscles, the abdominals, the spinal extensors, the diaphragm, latissimus dorsi, gluteus maximus, and trapezius. 

Deltoid

• The largest of the shoulder muscles. 
  • This large triangular muscle gives the shoulder its rounded-off shape.  
  • stretches across the top of the shoulder from the clavicle in the front to the scapula in the back, then stretches downward to near the center of the humerus bone. 
  • Different fibers of the muscle are responsible for different actions, including raising the arm and assisting the pectoralis muscle in the chest.
  • One important function of the deltoid is preventing joint dislocation when a person carries heavy objects.

Erector Spinae

• Muscles that span the length of your back on both sides of your spine, attaching to various structures therein.​ 
• Specifically, there are three muscles in this group:
  • iliocostalis 
  • longissimus  
  • spinalis 

Gluteus Muscles

• ​There are three muscle parts that make up your backside:
  • gluteus maximus - the largest of the glute muscle groups 
  • gluteus medius - the medium muscle and primary hip abductor
  • gluteus minimus - the - you guessed it! - smallest muscle here

Hip Flexors

• This refers to the group of muscles that work together to pull the thigh and the torso toward each other, enabling you to do things like lift your knee and bend at the waist  
• The group of muscles are:
  • the iliacus and psoas major muscles, also known as your iliopsoas
  • the rectus femoris, which is part of your quadriceps
• The psoas major - a deep-seated core muscle connecting the base of the spine to the thigh bone - is the biggest and strongest player in the group

Hamstrings

• The back of your thigh
• There are three hamstring muscles:
  • Semitendinosus
  • Semimembranosus
  • Biceps femoris

Latissimus dorsi

• This broad, flat rectangular muscle of the back lies just beneath the skin and covers the trapezius
• helps the arms rotate as well as move away from and closer to the body.

Pectoral muscles

• They connect the front of the chest with the bones of the upper arm and shoulder.
  • Pectoralis major: This large fan-shaped muscle stretches from the armpit up to the collarbone and down across the lower chest region. It connects to the sternum (breastbone).
  • Pectoralis minor: The smaller of the pectoralis muscles, this muscle fans out from the upper ribs up to the shoulder area.

Pelvic Floor

• This refers to the muscles that extend across the pelvic region, supporting the uterus, bladder, and bowels. 
• The pelvic floor muscles are relatively thin and under constant use, so it is important to keep them healthy to prevent serious problems.

Posterior Chain

• This phrase refers to the structures at the back of the leg and spine.
• The main muscles that make up the Posterior Chain are the calf muscles, hamstrings, gluteus maximi, latissimus dorsi and the erector spinae muscles.
• These muscles are important in many forms of movement, such as activities requiring running, jumping, and changes of direction.

Quadriceps 

• The four main muscles that comprise the front and side of your thigh
  • rectus femoris - occupies the middle of the thigh, covering most of the other three quadriceps muscles. 
  • vastus lateralis - on the outer side of the thigh, extending from the top of the thigh bone to the kneecap
  • vastus medialis - on the inner side of the thigh
  • vastus intermedius - on the front of the thigh, under the rectus femoris, between the vastus lateralis and vastus medialis​​

Rotator Cuff

• Stabilizes the shoulder and holds the head of the upper arm bone into place to maintain the principal shoulder joint.
• Muscles that comprise the area:
  • Infraspinatus: helps with the raising and lowering of the upper arm
  • Teres major: helps rotate the upper arm
  • Subscapularis: a large triangular muscle near the humerus and collarbone that helps rotate the humerus
  • Supraspinatus: a small muscle located at the top of the shoulder that helps to raise the arm away from the body.​  

Triceps 

• large muscle in the back of the upper arm
• helps straighten the arm 

Trapezius

• ​the upper back of the shoulders and neck ​​

Hooray for knowledge that strengthens your self-care! ​

It's simple, really: the more you get to know the parts and pieces that comprise your beautiful body, the more likely you'll be to cultivate a loving friendship with that body.

And THAT is the ultimate in self-care. 

xo.
Coach Alex