Does anyone know how efficient human muscle tissue is as a means of converting stored energy into mechanical work? More precisely, how much stored energy (in terms of ATP, fatty acids or glycogen -- say, expressed in calories) must a muscle burn in order to perform one foot-pound of mechanical work? Of course this will depend on a lot of things (age, conditioning, fatigue level,etc.), but just a range or ballpark estimate would be useful.
(I am trying to estimate the energy expenditure of various activities using this approach.)
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Thanks, Bryan, for the information and the book recommendation -- exactly what I was looking for.
