The human body contains more than 650 individual muscles which are attached to the skeleton, which provides the pulling power for us to move around. The main job of the muscular system is to provide movement for the body. Muscles are often viewed as the "machines" of the body. They help move food from one organ to another, and also carry out our physical movement.
The muscular system in vertebrates is controlled through the nervous system, although some muscles (such as the cardiac muscle) can be completely autonomous.
There are three distinct types of muscle tissues namely skeletal muscles, cardiac or heart muscles, and smooth muscles. Each of these different tissues has the ability to contract, which then allows body movements and functions. Muscles provide strength, balance, posture, movement and heat for the body to keep warm.
There are two types of muscles in the system and they are the involuntary muscles, and the voluntary muscles. The muscle in which we are allow to control by ourselves are called the voluntary muscles and the ones we cannot control are the involuntary muscles. The heart, or the cardiac muscle, is an example of involuntary muscle.
Muscles account for approximately 40 percent of body weight. The metabolism that occurs in this large mass-produces heat essential for the maintenance of body temperature.
The Human Biology site has complete details about the muscular system in the human body.
