MyoBravo Bedienungsanleitung / Operators Manual
58
Trainings Effect to the Muscular Fibres
Enhancement of physical capabilities by training or electrical stimulation can be
related back to the fact, that the human body is able to adjust to a certain extent
to changing environmental conditions.
If the stress to a muscle is increased beyond a threshold value, a corresponding
adaptation process will ensue. The increase of muscular power is initially due
to improved intro-muscular co-ordination, which means that for one movement
more fibres will be activated simultaneously than before. Only in the second
step will the muscular mass be increased. Whether this occurs exclusively due
to hypertrophy of the muscular fibres (meaning the enlargement of the fibre
diameter) or if it is the result of hyperplasie ( meaning the increase of muscular
fibres) is scientifically not proven. It is probable that both phenomena concur-
rently are responsible for the muscular growth.
The aforementioned training effects to the muscular system can be attained in a
more passive way by electrical stimulation. One should not make the mistake
of neglecting the physical training for the better of the electrical stimulation. A
movement, as the aim of almost every sporting activity, consists of a finely
tuned response of different muscles or groups of muscles. Flowing movements
will only be achieved through an optimum of co-ordination of the flexing of the
active muscles (agonists) and relaxing of their opponents (antagonists). The
flowing movements are the unalterable pre-requirements for sporting success.
The therefore necessary neuromuscular co-ordination processes cannot be
trained with this kind of muscle stimulation. To avoid muscular imbalances, it
is urgently advisable to apply strengthening programmes for both the agonists
and the antagonists in equivalent amounts.
Besides the strengthening of the muscles, is the furtherance of the muscular
blood circulation an additional main aim of the electrical stimulation. A higher
capillary density enable the improved blood circulation. Hence an increase
supply of nutritive substances, especially oxygen, is made available and the
aerobic metabolism especially benefits. Electrical stimulation not only allows
an improvement of the supply, but also furthers the fast disposal of metabolic
waste products like lactic acid, or carbon dioxide. Of vital importance to the
efficiency of a sportsmen is the speeding up of the physical regeneration
especially in phases of stress due to training or competition.