Pulling & Mitochondria

When you pull yourself up, two major muscle groups work together.

The latissimus dorsi, one of the largest muscles in your back, brings your upper arms closer to your troso, so your body rises to the bar. At the same time, the biceps muscles in your upper arms flex your elbows joints. To pull this iff, you need muscles with both strength and endurance.

Pull-ups take a lot of energy.

As you workout, your heart pumps faster and you breathe more quickly, so you blood can carry more food and oxygen to your muscle cells. Mitochondria are tiny factories in your cells that turn food and oxygen into the fuel that powers your muscles.

You inherit your mitochondria from your mother.

Mitochondria (singular, mitochondrion) are often called the powerhouses or energy factories of the cell. Their job is to make a steady supply of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the cell’s main energy-carrying molecule. The process of making ATP using chemical energy from fuels such as sugars is called cellular respiration, and many of its steps happen inside the mitochondria.

You may know that your body is made up of cells (trillions and trillions of them). You may also know that the reason you need to eat food—such as veggies—is so that you have the energy to do things like play sports, study, walk, and even breathe.

But what exactly happens in your body to turn the food energy stored in broccoli into a form that your body can use? And how does energy end up stored in the broccoli to begin with, anyway?

Mitochondria are found inside of your cells, along with the cells of plants. They convert the energy stored in molecules from the broccoli (or other fuel molecules) into a form the cell can use.