What determines the amount of tension we can create?

What determines the amount of tension we can create?
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The contraction of our muscle cells create tension and provide the force necessary for our muscular system to function properly. ⁣
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Many can be the reasons that dictate how much tension we’re able to produce, which involve the CNS (Central Nervous System) the motor neurons, and the muscle fibers alone. ⁣
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In this post we’re going to zoom in and take a look at what happens within the sarcomeres, which are the segments of muscle tissue contained between two Z lines, where actin and myosin filaments overlap, forming crossbridges, and ultimately creating force. ⁣
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Actin and Myosin can be seen as the “contractile machinery” found within our muscle fibers..⁣
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In fact, depending on the amount of cross bridges that are formed (myosin heads bunding to actin) we can determine the amount of force that is produced. ⁣
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This means that if all the myosin heads bind to actin, then that’s the maximum amount of force that we can produce, within a working muscle fiber. ⁣
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But we know that actin and myosin “SLIDE” onto each other, implying that there is an amount of length that is likely “optimal” when force production is the goal.⁣
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Therefore, we need to understand how the *length* of the sarcomere plays a role in force production, next… ⁣