Muscles

JUPITER, Fla. - It isn't spring training without the sun shining on a phenom, a young player who has come out of nowhere to stir the imagination. The Orioles have a classic this year. "The first time he walked through the clubhouse, I said, `Man, what a beast,' " Jeff Conine said yesterday. Brady Anderson had the same reaction when he spotted Jay Gibbons, the Rule 5 draftee who has become one of the talking points of camp. "He's got some Popeye arms, for sure," Anderson said. "The guy is jacked."

Have you ever had one of those days when your muscles feel heavy, and you're just too tired to work out? Well, don't worry; all athletes feel that way once in a while.Now, the question is will you recover faster by exercising at an easy pace or by taking the day off?All sports training involves putting stress on muscles and then allowing them to recover. Usually, you'll put in a hard workout one day and tone it down a bit until your muscles recover.For example, on a hard day, a marathoner will run short distances very fast, rest and then run very fast again.

Q: My 27-year-old daughter has been started on medication to treat myasthenia gravis. Although her doctor tried to explain it to us, we are still not sure how the medicine works.A: Myasthenia gravis is a disorder caused by a defect in the communication between muscles and the nerves that stimulate them to contract. Signals from the brain travel along nerves as electrical impulses. When they reach the muscle, these impulses trigger the release of the chemical substance acetylcholine from the nerve.

It is common for your muscles to hurt for 24 to 48 hours after you exercise. A recent study from the University of Texas at Galveston showed that you can decrease the soreness by taking the aspirin-like compound ibuprofen before you exercise, but doing so can interfere with your training.Your muscles are supposed to hurt for a day or two after you exercise vigorously, but not after you exercise at a leisurely pace. Many people learn this early in their training, but if they don't exercise intensely in training, they do not improve.

SOFT MUSIC filled the air at Stonehouse last week, as four Pilates students followed their instructor's precise, fluid movements. Each crunch or extension targeted a specific muscle or muscle group. Even breathing was fine-tuned. Leigh Roberts, a licensed physical therapist and certified Polestar Pilates instructor, led the class. Students' ages ranged from 20s to 50s. Pilates (pronounced puh-lah-teez) is designed to strengthen the body's "core" muscles -- those in the abdomen, lower back and buttocks.

Dear Dr. Solomon: Lower back pain seems to be becoming an epidemic. Almost everyone I talk to has a bad back or had a bad back at one time. I can sympathize with them because I have the same problem. Is there any way it can be prevented? -- Kerry, Greenbrier, W.Va.Dear Kerry: Lower back pain is a common problem. A number of cases have been attributed to muscle weakness. Therefore, by strengthening the back and abdominal muscles, you should be able to reduce the risk of lower back pain or alleviate the condition.

I'm a woman in my early 70s and fairly active. However, when I stoop down or get down on the floor, I have a difficult time getting back up. This is particularly embarrassing at the grocery store when I need to look at something on a shelf near the floor. Most of my friends have the same problem. Is this problem caused by muscles or old knees? Are there any exercises that could help alleviate this situation? For knee advice, I talked to Dr. George J. Kessler, an attending physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital, who has just written the book, No More Knee Pain (Berkeley Books, $24.95)

YOU DON'T GET shin splints if you're in good shape, Jack Lawrence kept telling himself. And several years ago, the Toronto businessman and life-long athlete, then 49 years old, was definitely in shape: Regular games of squash, five-mile runs and the occasional marathon helped keep him that way.Yet something was undeniably wrong with his legs."

A recent article in the American Journal of Sports Medicine announced that when their muscles are warmed in water, rabbits are less likely to suffer a muscle tear. But you're not a rabbit, and passive warming will not protect you from exercise-related injuries.It's true, raising muscle temperature can help prevent injuries. When a muscle is cold, it contracts sluggishly and may tear. When it is warm, the muscle is more pliable and less likely to tear. The rabbits studied by researchers at Duke University had their muscles warmed -- up to 101 degrees -- for an extended time.

Ravens linebacker Robert McCune doesn't go to beaches. He usually doesn't wear tank-top or sleeveless T-shirts. Because when he does, it causes a lot of commotion. McCune has earned a lot of nicknames from his teammates. Some call him "Swoll," short for swollen. Some call him "Rock." Others call him "Herc" or "Muscles." In a business in which bodies are chiseled and molded every day into human mountains, McCune probably has the best in the NFL. There are estimates that he has only 6 percent to 8 percent body fat. Even his muscles have muscles.