slow/fast twitch

[Winnipeg Muscle]

I am curious as to who gone through the process of analyzing which of your muscle groups are either slow and fast twitch and hence adjusted training methods to compliment?

More specifically I am interested in the analysis process as so far I have only seen the 80% of 1RM for total reps with chart comparisons for a determination of slow and fast twitch.

[Kaly11]

isnt this analyzed through a muscle biopsy :eek: ..not for this guy.

[tiramisu]

Muscle biopsy is obviously best (I'll stick this on the list with testicle biopsy).

There are physical tests you can do to get an adequate approximation for training purposes.

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/musclefibre.htm

[Winnipeg Muscle]

Muscle biopsy is obviously best (I'll stick this on the list with testicle biopsy).

There are physical tests you can do to get an adequate approximation for training purposes.

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/musclefibre.htm


Ya forget the biopsy, this link is pretty much what I have read, who out there has done this analysis for themselves and adjusted training? Just curious...

[sdonnell]

muscle biopsy will give you best results always, there are machines to be used, but they are going to be less accurate, that website instructions will be even less accurate.

As for which muscle groups are fast/slow twitch, all skeletal muscle has both fibers. It just depends what type of athlete you are to determine which will be more abundant. A regular person doing no activity will have an average of 50/50 of both fibers. A long distance runner will have a way less amont of fast twitch and a body builder lifting heavy weight and engaging those fast twitch will have a much higher % of fast twitch. Your type IIa (I think, havent taking physiology in a while) will start to morph into whichever fibers you are engaging more and increases the amount of those types of fibers.

[Maria]

I learned in exercise physiology that it may be possible to change fiber types with prolonged specific training but predominant muscle fiber distribution is established early in life and is largely determined by genetic factors. Progressive resistance training produces a significant and selective hypertrophy of the fast twitch fibers with significant increases in volume.

[O-Train]

I learned in exercise physiology that it may be possible to change fiber types with prolonged specific training but predominant muscle fiber distribution is established early in life and is largely determined by genetic factors. Progressive resistance training produces a significant and selective hypertrophy of the fast twitch fibers with significant increases in volume.

Right on the money.

[O-Train]

I found a really good article about Muscle Fiber Hypertrophy and Hyperplasia. Going to start a thread for it in the article section too:

http://home.hia.no/~stephens/hypplas.htm