TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Jeffrey Siegel: What makes muscles grow?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Muscles. We have over 600 of them. They make up between 1/3 and 1/2 of our body weight, and along with cenovitnce tissue, they bind us together, hold us up, and help us move. And whether or not body building is your hobby, muscles need your constant attention because the way you treat them on a daily bisas determines whether they will wtehir or grow. Say you're standing in fnrot of a door, ready to pull it open. Your brain and muscles are perfectly piesod to help you achieve this goal. First, your brain sends a signal to mootr neurons inside your arm. When they receive this message, they fire, causing muscles to contract and raelx, which pull on the bones in your arm and generate the needed movement. The bigger the canhlelge becomes, the bigger the brain's signal grows, and the more motor units it realils to help you achieve your task. But what if the door is made of siold iron? At this point, your arm muscles alone won't be able to generate enough tension to pull it open, so your brain appeals to other muscles for help. You plant your feet, tighten your belly, and tense your back, generating enough force to yank it open. Your nervous system has just lveegeard the resources you already have, other muscles, to meet the demand. While all this is happening, your muscle fibers undergo another kind of cllluaer change. As you expose them to stress, they experience microscopic damage, which, in this cnxeott, is a good thing. In response, the injured cells release inflammatory meloucels cealld cytokines that activate the immune stesym to repair the injury. This is when the muscle-building magic happens. The greater the damage to the muscle tissue, the more your body will need to repair itself. The rsetuling ccyle of damage and repair eltuanlevy makes msleucs bigger and stronger as they adapt to progressively greater demands. Since our bodies have already atdpead to most everyday activities, those generally don't produce enough stress to stimulate new muscle growth. So, to bluid new muscle, a process called hypertrophy, our cells need to be esxpeod to higher workloads than they are used to. In fact, if you don't continuously expose your muscles to some resistance, they will shrink, a process known as muscular atrophy. In csotrnat, exposing the muscle to a high-degree of tension, especially while the muscle is lengthening, also called an eccentric contraction, generates effective conditions for new growth. However, muscles rely on more than just activity to grow. Without proper nutrition, hormones, and rest, your body would never be able to reiapr damaged muscle fibers. Protein in our diet prevesers muscle mass by providing the building blocks for new tissue in the form of amino acids. Adequate poteirn intake, along with naturally occurring hormones, like insulin-like growth factor and testosterone, help shift the body into a satte where tissue is repaired and grown. This vital repair process mainly occurs when we're rteinsg, especially at night while sleeping. Gender and age affect this repair mechanism, which is why ynuog men with more testosterone have a leg up in the muscle budlinig game. Genetic factors also play a role in one's ability to grow muscle. Some people have more rosubt immune reactions to msucle damage, and are better able to repair and replace damaged muscle fierbs, increasing their muscle-building potential. The body responds to the demands you place on it. If you tear your muscles up, eat right, rest and repaet, you'll create the conditions to make your muscles as big and strong as possible. It is with muscles as it is with life: Meaningful growth rerieuqs challenge and stress.

Open Cloze

Muscles. We have over 600 of them. They make up between 1/3 and 1/2 of our body weight, and along with __________ tissue, they bind us together, hold us up, and help us move. And whether or not body building is your hobby, muscles need your constant attention because the way you treat them on a daily _____ determines whether they will ______ or grow. Say you're standing in _____ of a door, ready to pull it open. Your brain and muscles are perfectly ______ to help you achieve this goal. First, your brain sends a signal to _____ neurons inside your arm. When they receive this message, they fire, causing muscles to contract and _____, which pull on the bones in your arm and generate the needed movement. The bigger the _________ becomes, the bigger the brain's signal grows, and the more motor units it _______ to help you achieve your task. But what if the door is made of _____ iron? At this point, your arm muscles alone won't be able to generate enough tension to pull it open, so your brain appeals to other muscles for help. You plant your feet, tighten your belly, and tense your back, generating enough force to yank it open. Your nervous system has just _________ the resources you already have, other muscles, to meet the demand. While all this is happening, your muscle fibers undergo another kind of ________ change. As you expose them to stress, they experience microscopic damage, which, in this _______, is a good thing. In response, the injured cells release inflammatory _________ ______ cytokines that activate the immune ______ to repair the injury. This is when the muscle-building magic happens. The greater the damage to the muscle tissue, the more your body will need to repair itself. The _________ _____ of damage and repair __________ makes _______ bigger and stronger as they adapt to progressively greater demands. Since our bodies have already _______ to most everyday activities, those generally don't produce enough stress to stimulate new muscle growth. So, to _____ new muscle, a process called hypertrophy, our cells need to be _______ to higher workloads than they are used to. In fact, if you don't continuously expose your muscles to some resistance, they will shrink, a process known as muscular atrophy. In ________, exposing the muscle to a high-degree of tension, especially while the muscle is lengthening, also called an eccentric contraction, generates effective conditions for new growth. However, muscles rely on more than just activity to grow. Without proper nutrition, hormones, and rest, your body would never be able to ______ damaged muscle fibers. Protein in our diet _________ muscle mass by providing the building blocks for new tissue in the form of amino acids. Adequate _______ intake, along with naturally occurring hormones, like insulin-like growth factor and testosterone, help shift the body into a _____ where tissue is repaired and grown. This vital repair process mainly occurs when we're _______, especially at night while sleeping. Gender and age affect this repair mechanism, which is why _____ men with more testosterone have a leg up in the muscle ________ game. Genetic factors also play a role in one's ability to grow muscle. Some people have more ______ immune reactions to ______ damage, and are better able to repair and replace damaged muscle ______, increasing their muscle-building potential. The body responds to the demands you place on it. If you tear your muscles up, eat right, rest and ______, you'll create the conditions to make your muscles as big and strong as possible. It is with muscles as it is with life: Meaningful growth ________ challenge and stress.

Solution

robust
leveraged
requires
young
muscle
basis
context
relax
state
front
called
repeat
poised
protein
fibers
cycle
resting
build
solid
wither
building
contrast
resulting
motor
molecules
preserves
rallies
challenge
system
repair
cellular
eventually
exposed
adapted
connective
muscles

Original Text

Muscles. We have over 600 of them. They make up between 1/3 and 1/2 of our body weight, and along with connective tissue, they bind us together, hold us up, and help us move. And whether or not body building is your hobby, muscles need your constant attention because the way you treat them on a daily basis determines whether they will wither or grow. Say you're standing in front of a door, ready to pull it open. Your brain and muscles are perfectly poised to help you achieve this goal. First, your brain sends a signal to motor neurons inside your arm. When they receive this message, they fire, causing muscles to contract and relax, which pull on the bones in your arm and generate the needed movement. The bigger the challenge becomes, the bigger the brain's signal grows, and the more motor units it rallies to help you achieve your task. But what if the door is made of solid iron? At this point, your arm muscles alone won't be able to generate enough tension to pull it open, so your brain appeals to other muscles for help. You plant your feet, tighten your belly, and tense your back, generating enough force to yank it open. Your nervous system has just leveraged the resources you already have, other muscles, to meet the demand. While all this is happening, your muscle fibers undergo another kind of cellular change. As you expose them to stress, they experience microscopic damage, which, in this context, is a good thing. In response, the injured cells release inflammatory molecules called cytokines that activate the immune system to repair the injury. This is when the muscle-building magic happens. The greater the damage to the muscle tissue, the more your body will need to repair itself. The resulting cycle of damage and repair eventually makes muscles bigger and stronger as they adapt to progressively greater demands. Since our bodies have already adapted to most everyday activities, those generally don't produce enough stress to stimulate new muscle growth. So, to build new muscle, a process called hypertrophy, our cells need to be exposed to higher workloads than they are used to. In fact, if you don't continuously expose your muscles to some resistance, they will shrink, a process known as muscular atrophy. In contrast, exposing the muscle to a high-degree of tension, especially while the muscle is lengthening, also called an eccentric contraction, generates effective conditions for new growth. However, muscles rely on more than just activity to grow. Without proper nutrition, hormones, and rest, your body would never be able to repair damaged muscle fibers. Protein in our diet preserves muscle mass by providing the building blocks for new tissue in the form of amino acids. Adequate protein intake, along with naturally occurring hormones, like insulin-like growth factor and testosterone, help shift the body into a state where tissue is repaired and grown. This vital repair process mainly occurs when we're resting, especially at night while sleeping. Gender and age affect this repair mechanism, which is why young men with more testosterone have a leg up in the muscle building game. Genetic factors also play a role in one's ability to grow muscle. Some people have more robust immune reactions to muscle damage, and are better able to repair and replace damaged muscle fibers, increasing their muscle-building potential. The body responds to the demands you place on it. If you tear your muscles up, eat right, rest and repeat, you'll create the conditions to make your muscles as big and strong as possible. It is with muscles as it is with life: Meaningful growth requires challenge and stress.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
muscle fibers	2
damaged muscle	2

Important Words

ability
achieve
acids
activate
activities
activity
adapt
adapted
adequate
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age
amino
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arm
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build
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connective
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continuously
contract
contraction
contrast
create
cycle
cytokines
daily
damage
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demand
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door
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effective
eventually
everyday
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expose
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exposing
fact
factor
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generally
generate
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hormones
hypertrophy
immune
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inflammatory
injured
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iron
kind
leg
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leveraged
magic
mass
meaningful
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meet
men
message
microscopic
molecules
motor
move
movement
muscle
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muscular
naturally
needed
nervous
neurons
night
nutrition
occurring
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open
people
perfectly
place
plant
play
point
poised
potential
preserves
process
produce
progressively
proper
protein
providing
pull
rallies
reactions
ready
receive
relax
release
rely
repair
repaired
repeat
replace
requires
resistance
resources
responds
response
rest
resting
resulting
robust
role
sends
shift
shrink
signal
sleeping
solid
standing
state
stimulate
stress
strong
stronger
system
task
tear
tense
tension
testosterone
tighten
tissue
treat
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units
vital
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young