
Your muscles are constantly ripping.
While the image of your muscle tissue ripping and tearing like paper is about the last thing you want to see in your head, this actually happens more frequently than you are aware of. It doesn’t hurt as much as you think, except in a select number of cases. Muscle ripping is the common reason for the soreness you feel after a workout, and it is also the key factor in the development of greater muscle strength. This is precisely why extremely muscular people, such as weightlifters and athletes, are called “ripped.” Working out and conditioning literally “rips” their muscles and, in the process, strengthens them.
Before you say “ouch,” keep in mind that the tears caused by strenuous activities such as weight training are microscopic. However, these tiny tears in the tissue actually pave the way for the growth of muscles. Like a strange little game of whack-a-mole, the body constantly allows your muscles to get shredded. That is, only to rebuild these torn tissues by fusing muscle fibers together to form new strands that increase in number and thickness to create bulkier new muscle. If you think about it, this is the ultimate example of what doesn’t kill you and makes you stronger — at least your muscle does.