Biomechanics of skeletal muscle

Mechanical factors:

Muscle length:  The diagram below is a more complete picture of how muscle length influences force generation.  When the muscle is elongated beyond mid length (e.g., 1.0 cm) the passive elastic forces contribute to total force.   The greatest force is generated when the active muscle is lengthened to about 120% of its mid length!  Do you lengthen your muscles to generate more force? Try performing a vertical jump without performing a counter movement!!! See interesting fact # 3