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The Human Engine - How Your Body Works

Ravenbeauty Posts: 3,755 Joined: 2002/09/24	2005/08/25, 01:14 AM THE HUMAN ENGINE We are just like cars. Here is a simple way of understanding how the human body works, using a simile to the motor car. Athletes and coaches often have difficulty in understanding the physiology of the human body, that is, understanding how all our insides work. This simile of the car engine and the human body will help many people better understand the processes going on within the body, using your knowledge of how a car works. The human body and a car are similar in many ways. Both the human body and a car need a continuous supply of fuels (petrol or food) and the supply of oxygen for combustion. In the car, the starter motor kicks over the engine before the oxygen using fuels can take over, just like the anaerobic energy processes in the body. Both processes also require the stored energy to be replaced (car battery and in the body ATP and CP stores). Both the car and human body convert chemical energy (in the petrol and food) to kinetic energy (movement) and heat. In the car, the energy released by the combustion of fuel causes the pistons to move, which then cause the motion of the vehicle. In the human body, the energy from the food is used in making the muscle fibres contract, resulting in motion of the body. The heat produced by the combustion of fuels needs to be removed. The motor is cooled by water flow around the engine, the body cooled via blood circulating to the skin. Both the car and the human body need to expel waste products, the car via the exhaust, the body via the bloodstream, respiration and other processes. Next time you are taking your car in for its regular tune up, think about how long it has been since you had your own tune up. Probably not as regularly as your car. -------------- Bettia.... The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ravenbeauty@freetrainers.com
princesslodgey Posts: 1,748 Joined: 2004/02/21	2005/08/25, 03:17 PM Good posts - you're on a roll!
myoung6470 Posts: 75 Joined: 2003/10/30	2005/10/07, 07:51 PM Raven, you are another professional here that really makes this community a great place to be. Thanks for your thoughtfulness and hard work. We all benefit from your effort! -------------- Happy trails, Mike Young "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." — Aristotle
Ravenbeauty Posts: 3,755 Joined: 2002/09/24	2005/10/13, 01:44 PM Thank you Mr. Young, always happy to oblige and help others out. Just returning the thoughfulness others have given me throughout these years here. :) -------------- Bettia.... You will only be remembered for the things that you finish, not the things that you start! ravenbeauty@freetrainers.com
ari99 Posts: 11 Joined: 2007/08/27	2007/09/28, 01:34 PM Good to know.. thanks for posting it!
koya1893 Posts: 19 Joined: 2008/03/12	2008/04/03, 08:34 AM Raven. I have sat through conference, briefing and listen to speakers about fitness. Never I heard it explain that way and made a senario that make sense. I am new here since I made it a quest for me to educate the general public about fitter life style I've been recommending this site so they can absorb attitudes like yours to change their life. Wonderful thread and great reading.
	2008/09/17, 10:40 AM Whats good for the pain when you get started? I've been doing sit up's and my body achs lol.
Ravenbeauty Posts: 3,755 Joined: 2002/09/24	2008/12/12, 03:48 PM Bump for the newbies.... -------------- Bettia Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It is all about timing. -Stacey Chapman
Ravenbeauty Posts: 3,755 Joined: 2002/09/24	2011/12/27, 02:27 PM Since there are a lot of newbies coming onto the site, I thought this would be a good read for them. Bump again! -------------- Bettia Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It is all about timing. -Stacey Chapman