Muscle Architecture

Skeletal muscle fibres (cells) are arranged in bundles called fascicles within the muscles. The arrangement of these bundles will affect the muscle’s power and range of motion.There are several types of arrangements of muscle. These are:

Parallel
The fascicles run parallel to the longitudinal axis of the muscle

Convergent / Triangular

Fascicles spread over a broad area and converge at a thick central tendon.




Fusiform – Fascicles are nearly parallel to the longitundinal axis of the muscles. The muscle tapers towards the tendons, and the belly of the muscle is wider, i.e. the biceps muscle.




Pennate Muslces



Unipennate

Fascicles are arranged on only one side of the tendon.

Bipennate

Fascicles are arranged on both sides of a centrally positioned tendon.



Multipennate – Fascicles are attached obliquely from many directions to several tendons, i.e. the deltoid muscle.



It is the arrangement of the fascicle in relation to the tendons which determine the power or range of motion of a muscle.



Pennate muscles have a large number of fascicles distributed over their tendons. This gives these muscles greater power but with less range of movement. The strength of a muscle depends on the total number of fibres it contains.



Parallel muscles have fewer fascicles, and therefore have a greater range of motion but less power. Therefore, the longer the fibres are in a muscle, the greater the range of motion.

The FITT Principles

Principles of Training

When prescribing an exercise prescription to someone, there are certain principles of training that should be taken into consideration. These include:

Frequency
How often should your client workout? A guideline to improve general fitness would be to exercise for 30 minute sessions, 3 times a week.

Intensity
How intense should the workout be? An assessment of the clients current fitness levels will give an indication of the level they should work at, i.e. lower intensity for a beginner, and a higher intensity for someone who already does some form of exercise, such as playing a regular sport.

Type
The type of exercise that should be given to the client. Again, the appropriate exercises should be given depending on whether the client is a complete beginner or not.

Time
Time taken for each period of exercise should also be considered.

Of course, there are other individual differences that should also be taken into account. These include:
• Sex.
• Age.
• Any health problems.
• Any current injuries.
• If the person already exercises regularly or not at all.
• Lifestyle – fitting an exercise regime around work and other commitments.
• Aim – what the client wants to achieve from a regular exercise regime.


Other Considerations

When preparing your exercise programme for your client, you must also take into consideration if they are training specifically for a chosen sport.

The programme should also show progression of exercises to ensure that your clients fitness improves, and more importantly that they can see an improvement as well.

If your client usually exercises regularly but has been unable to due to injury, you must be aware of reversibility. Although your client may have been reasonable fit (they may think that they still are as fit) you must be aware that fitness levels decline during sustained periods of inactivity. (You lose fitness 3 times more quickly than you improve fitness.)

An exercise programme that offers variety will help to prevent boredom while exercising.