In my post of June
30, I said the Ghost Blood Vessels video said that the calf is the
biggest muscle in the body, but my brother wrote me and challenged
that. So I went back and watched the video again to see what they
actually said. What they actually said was that we think of the
heart as the most important mover of blood, but the calves also play
an important role in blood circulation. They didn’t say anything
about how big the calf muscle is. Ooops.
Remember from your
middle school biology that, while the heart pushes blood through the
circulatory system, flow is very much assisted by the flexing of
muscles. Blood vessels are designed such that blood can only move in
one direction, so that each muscle can serve as a sort of booster
pump. Flexing muscles squeeze the blood vessels and force the movement of blood, but it can only move one way--the direction the heart is working to push it. This is why we stretch when our body wants to increase blood
flow.
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