ATP is the fuel of life. It drives almost all processes in living organisms. ATP makes your muscles contract, your heart beat, your brain think, your nerves conduct signals, and more. ATP is the stuff that keeps you moving and keeps you alive.
ATP stands for Adenosine Triphosphate (or Adenosine 5′-triphosphate). It’s a molecule that stores energy in chemical bonds. This energy is released when cells need to work, like muscles contracting during exercise. ATP is stored in your cells, ready to do its magic when needed.
ATP is synthesized from the foods we eat, especially carbohydrates and fats. The energy (calories) contained in our food is then stored in chemical bonds (high-energy bonds) in the ATP molecule. This transformation of energy occurs mainly in our mitochondriaMitochondria are ATP factories. They make most of the ATP in your body, mostly from glucose (sugar) or More in a process called oxidative phosphorylationOxidative phosphorylation is the process by which ATP is formed by the transfer of electrons from NADH or More.
When a cell in our body needs energy, these high-energy chemical bonds are split (hydrolyzed) and the energy is released. When this happens in a muscle cell, work is produced in the form of mechanical energy, the muscle contracts.
There would be much more to say. To keep it simple, I’ll leave it at that. If you want to know more, read the relevant articles on Wikipedia (Adenosine triphosphate and ATP hydrolysis) or check out the extensive scientific literature on the subject.