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 ctnneoicve tussie, they bind us together, hold us up, and help us move. And whether or not body blduniig is your hboby, 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 sniagl to motor neurons inside your arm. When they receive this mesgsae, they fire, causing muscles to contract and ralex, 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 raliles to help you avechie 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, teithgn your blely, and tense your back, generating enough force to yank it open. Your nervous system has just leveraged the roercesus you already have, other msceuls, 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 mpcoicsiroc damage, which, in this context, is a good thing. In response, the injured clles release imoafntlmray 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 rlsutnieg cycle of damage and repair eleltnauvy makes muscles bigger and stronger as they adapt to psrsiegevolry greetar demands. Since our bodies have already adapted to most everyday activities, those generally don't poucdre enough stress to siltaumte 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 ciontoslnuuy 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 etcerincc contraction, generates effective conditions for new gorwth. However, muscles rely on more than just activity to grow. Without proper nirouttin, hormones, and rest, your body would never be able to repair dgamead muscle friebs. Protein in our diet preserves muscle mass by providing the building blocks for new tissue in the form of animo aicds. auteqade protein intake, along with naturally occurring hormones, like insulin-like growth fatocr 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 nihgt while sleeping. gdener and age affect this repair mechanism, which is why young men with more testosterone have a leg up in the muscle building game. Genetic fcarots also play a role in one's ability to grow muscle. Some people have more robust immune reactions to mcluse 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 cindotinos 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.

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 __________ ______, they bind us together, hold us up, and help us move. And whether or not body ________ is your _____, 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 ______ to motor neurons inside your arm. When they receive this _______, they fire, causing muscles to contract and _____, 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 _______ to help you _______ 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, _______ your _____, and tense your back, generating enough force to yank it open. Your nervous system has just leveraged the _________ you already have, other _______, 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 ___________ damage, which, in this context, is a good thing. In response, the injured _____ release ____________ 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 _________ cycle of damage and repair __________ makes muscles bigger and stronger as they adapt to _____________ _______ demands. Since our bodies have already adapted to most everyday activities, those generally don't _______ enough stress to _________ 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 ____________ 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 _________ contraction, generates effective conditions for new ______. However, muscles rely on more than just activity to grow. Without proper _________, hormones, and rest, your body would never be able to repair _______ muscle ______. Protein in our diet preserves muscle mass by providing the building blocks for new tissue in the form of _____ _____. ________ protein intake, along with naturally occurring hormones, like insulin-like growth ______ 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 _____ while sleeping. ______ and age affect this repair mechanism, which is why young men with more testosterone have a leg up in the muscle building game. Genetic _______ also play a role in one's ability to grow muscle. Some people have more robust immune reactions to ______ 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 __________ 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.

Solution

inflammatory
cells
tighten
night
building
eventually
progressively
amino
greater
resources
eccentric
rallies
connective
hobby
achieve
factor
signal
gender
fibers
damaged
message
continuously
nutrition
growth
relax
stimulate
produce
acids
tissue
microscopic
muscles
belly
conditions
factors
resulting
muscle
adequate

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
affect
age
amino
appeals
arm
atrophy
attention
basis
belly
big
bigger
bind
blocks
bodies
body
bones
brain
build
building
called
causing
cells
cellular
challenge
change
conditions
connective
constant
context
continuously
contract
contraction
contrast
create
cycle
cytokines
daily
damage
damaged
demand
demands
determines
diet
door
eat
eccentric
effective
eventually
everyday
experience
expose
exposed
exposing
fact
factor
factors
feet
fibers
fire
force
form
front
game
gender
generally
generate
generates
generating
genetic
goal
good
greater
grow
grown
grows
growth
happening
higher
hobby
hold
hormones
hypertrophy
immune
increasing
inflammatory
injured
injury
intake
iron
kind
leg
lengthening
leveraged
magic
mass
meaningful
mechanism
meet
men
message
microscopic
molecules
motor
move
movement
muscle
muscles
muscular
naturally
needed
nervous
neurons
night
nutrition
occurring
occurs
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
undergo
units
vital
weight
wither
workloads
yank
young