How does weight lifting make you stronger?

Posted by: fcwgroup on June 22, 2014 Under: How Do You Lift |

Question by DudeFlash45: How does weight lifting make you stronger?
I know it might be a stupid question to ask, but how does weight lifting and working out make you stronger? All it does is make your muscles more visible, but in what ways does it increase your strength?

If someone that doesn’t work out at all punches a punching bag, I don’t think that bag will move that much. But if a ripped person punches a punching bag, how would the punching bag move?

And also, at what age should I start to work out? I started to lift weights when I was 14, but I stopped after a few months because I didn’t want to stunt my growth. Now I’m 15, turning 16 and I’m like.. 6 foot tall.

By the way, it would be better if ripped people comment. But other people is also okay.

Thanks for all the advice 🙂

Best answer:

Answer by Emdee
Weight lifting changes the muscle tissue on the cellular level. Inside each muscle is a series of muscle fibers, each of those fibers are made up of a bundle of strands. Each of those strands are made up of muscle cells lined up end to end. A muscle cell is made up of a piston and cylinder like structure. The piston moves in and out of the cylinder because the piston is lined with little feet-like things, and the ctlinder’s inside is pitted, giving the feet like things a foothold.

When the muscle cell contracts, the feet pull the piston inside the cylinder, causing the cell to be shorter and thicker. If the muscle has diffilulty with the ammount of weight, it sends a signal to the brain that the weight is difficult. The brain responds with a signal for the muscle cell to grow more feet, increasing it’s “grip” on the cylinder, thus increasing it’s stregnth. It also sends a signal to the body to build more muscle fibers in that muscle group. So overall the effect is larger, stronger muscles.

Function determines structure. Ask of your body to be able to do something, and it will strive to adapt to fulfill that function.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!