Diets-Metabolism   [back to the Category]

Nutrition and muscular activity.   [read the french version]

Author :   Dr Paule Nathan

Nutrition and muscular activity.

Diet plays an important role in physical activity or ballet dancing because food is directly involved in muscular contraction. Good nutrition is essential, not only for those who dance ballet regularly but also, for those who only dance occasionally. It enables them to achieve better form and reduce certain problems such as cramp, tendinitis and tiredness caused by a low hydrous intake, etc.


What role does food play in muscular exercise?

Actin and myosin muscle fibres slide one over the other during muscular contraction, thus creating a shortening of the muscle. This interpenetration of fibres is possible as a result of energy, in the shape of ATP, present in the muscle (this is known as anaerobic exertion). However, this energy is only available for short periods of physical exertion as muscles contain only small amounts of ATP. Thus, when exertion is protracted, muscles find their energy in nutrients; for the most part in carbohydrates and fats but also, on a lesser scale, in proteins (aerobic exertion is carried out via Krebs cycle).