The human body as you’ve never seen it before! This brand-new visual encyclopedia takes young readers on a fantastic voyage around every aspect of the human body. Featuring amazing CG illustrations, stunning photography and cutting-edge information, The Ultimate Human Body explains every aspect of how your body works.

This encyclopedia contains the most up-to-date information on everything from the inner workings of a cell, to how the heart pumps blood around the body, to the neuron fireworks in your brain. Join author JON RICHARDS and find out how your 206 bones work with over 600 muscles to get you moving, why we laugh, cry, and hiccup, and even how to fuel and exercise your body to stay healthy.

In the following extract learn about the various skeletal muscles and their roles!

Published by Welbeck

There are about 600 skeletal muscles in your body and their shape and size are determined by their position on the body and the jobs they have to perform. They work together to keep you upright, help to move you around and also to keep you warm.

KEEPING YOUR POSTURE

While you are awake, your skeletal muscles are at work keeping your body upright. Once you go to sleep, however, the muscles relax and your body goes limp.

STAYING WARM

As muscles work, they release heat, and the more they work, the hotter they become. This can help to keep your body warm, but if you exercise a lot, you can get too hot and you will start to flush and sweat in order to cool down.

KEEPING MUSCLES HEALTHY

Regular exercise improves the condition of your body’s skeletal muscles. Long-duration, low intensity exercise, such as swimming, increases the number of blood capillaries and the number of mitochondria (the parts inside cells that produce energy), improving the endurance of the muscles. Short-duration, high-intensity exercise, such as heavy weight training, increases the diameter of the muscle fibres, increasing the size and strength of the muscles.

Download an EXTRACT from The Ultimate Human Body