There are more than 600 skeletal muscles in the human body making up 40 to 50 percent of the body weight in an average adult. Skeletal muscles consist of individual muscle cells. Muscle cells are stimulated by the corresponding nerve cells, causing the muscle as a whole to contract. Muscles cross over joints and attach to bones, creating purposeful movement when the muscle contracts.
Step 1
Visit ptcentral.com and select the region of the body you wish to review. Read through the table of each region to find out the origin, insertion, blood supply and nerve of the particular muscle.
Step 2
Make a list based on the location of the muscle. Divide the body into segments--head, neck, back, chest, abdominal, pelvic, arms, forearms, hands, buttocks, thighs, legs and feet. Start with the larger muscles. According to the American Council on Exercise's "Personal Trainer Manual," the gluteus maximus is the larger of the glute muscles, just above the smaller gluteus medius and gluteus minimus muscles.
Step 3
Note muscles according to their primary action. Visit the University of Michigan Medical Center's anatomy.med website for a list of the muscles of the hand including the actions performed by each muscle. Bend your fingers toward you to engage your flexor digitorum superficialis--these are muscles which shorten the angle between your fingers and your palm.
Lift your right leg out to your side then draw it across your left leg to activate your adductor magnus, adductor longus and adductor brevis muscles, which bring your leg toward or across the midline of your body.
Step 4
According to "Anatomy & Physiology," muscles may be identified by their shape. Shrug your shoulders toward your ears to work your trapezius muscle--a muscle shaped like a trapezoid. Close your eyes to work your orbicularis oculi, the circular muscle around your eyelids and under the surface of your eyebrows.
Step 5
Write down the muscles according to the number of heads. Bend your elbow to draw your hand toward your shoulders, engaging your biceps brachii, a muscle with two divisions. Straighten your elbow to activate your triceps brachii, a muscle with three heads.
Step 6
List muscles based on the direction of their fibers. Suck your navel toward your spine to work your transverse abdominis, a muscle running parallel to your shoulders from the left side of your trunk to the right side. Perform basic crunches to engage your rectus abdominis, a muscle which runs in a straight line from your rib cage to your pelvis.
Things You'll Need
- Paper
- Pencil
References
- "Anatomy & Physiology"; Gary Thibodeau, Ph.D. and Kevin Patton, Ph.D.; 2007
- "Personal Trainer Manual"; American Council on Exercise; 1997
