MICKEY MUSCLES

Where shall we begin...did you ever know that there are 3 types of muscles in your bodies?
 
These are called:
cardiac (pronounced car-de-ac)
smooth
skeletal (pronounced ske-lee-tal) 

Here are some facts about the cardiac muscle:

• It forms the outside of your heart
• By using a pumping action it moves blood through your body
• It is known as 'involuntary'- in other words no one, not even me Mickey Muscles, control it.  It does its job all on its own.
• Cardiac muscles look stripy, just like a zebra's stripes! 

  But what about the smooth muscle - or Mr Smooth as I like to call him! Well there's not much to say, apart from the main fact that the smooth muscle digests your food. And this basically brings you back to me - MICKEY!  I'm responsible for the group of muscles called skeletal: 

• These are important muscles if you dance
• They are attached to the bones of your skeleton
• There are over 600 skeletal muslces (I told you I had a big family!)
• They help you to stand, generate heat and move your joints so that you can do many complicated movements. Next time your dancing just think about what muscles you're using!
• What you do when you grow up determines the shape of your different muscles - for example if you become a weight lifter then you will have huge skeletal muscles! 

  Here are my tips on stretching and warming us muscles up...

• Stretching is very important.
• You should do safe stretches after you have warmed up your muscles!  Stretching will give you greater flexibility.  
• When you stretch you need to breathe deeply, as breathing will give the muscles that you are trying to stretch fresh oxygen so that they can do their jobs. 
• If you ever feel pain when you are stretching you should stop straight away and remember we don't like to be bounced so stretch gently! 
• Stretching will take time and flexibility will not happen straight away. Always ask your dance teacher first before doing stretching exercises, they will be able to tell you the best ones to do and how to stretch us safely! 

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