Introduction to Muscle Tissue

Learning Objectives

  • Explain the organization of muscle tissue
  • Describe the function and structure of skeletal, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle
  • Explain how muscles work with tendons to move the body
  • Relate the connections between exercise and muscle performance
  • Explain the development and regeneration of muscle tissue
  • Describe the different types of muscle
  • Explain the four characteristics of muscle
  • Describe the layers of connective tissues packaging skeletal muscle
  • Explain how muscles work with tendons to move the body
  • Identify areas of the skeletal muscle fibers
  • Describe the types of skeletal muscle fibers
  • Explain fast and slow muscle fibers
  • Describe hypertrophy and atrophy
  • Explain how resistance exercise builds muscle
  • Explain how performance-enhancing substances affect muscle
  • Describe the functions of desmosomes and gap junctions found in intercalated discs
  • Describe a dense body
  • Explain how smooth muscle works with internal organs and passageways through the body
  • Explain how smooth muscles differ from skeletal and cardiac muscles
  • Explain the difference between single-unit and multi-unit smooth muscle
This photograph shows a man playing tennis.

Figure 1. Tennis Player. Athletes rely on toned skeletal muscles to supply the force required for movement. (credit: Emmanuel Huybrechts/flickr)

When most people think of muscles, they think of the muscles that are visible just under the skin, particularly of the limbs. These are skeletal muscles, so-named because most of them move the skeleton. But there are two other types of muscle in the body, with distinctly different jobs.

Cardiac muscle, found in the heart, is concerned with pumping blood through the circulatory system. Smooth muscle is concerned with various involuntary movements, such as having one’s hair stand on end when cold or frightened, or moving food through the digestive system. This chapter will examine the structure of these three types of muscles.