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Who do you more want to be like?  Do you want to be fast and quick for short bursts, or do you want to be slower, but more enduring?  It’s a question that needs to be addressed when deciding how to train for your sport or targeted fitness goal.

You see, there are two types of muscle fibers that make up our muscles.  Basically, your muscle can be thought of as a rope; there’s all those fibers of the rope that when bundled together, create the rope.  Same thing with muscle; a muscle is a bundle of muscle fibers.

There are two types of fibers that make up muscle.  There are slow-twitch muscle fibers (Type I), and there are fast-twitch muscle fibers (Type II).  The fast-twitch muscle fibers can actually be broken down into two different variations: type IIa and type IIb.  Type IIa is a fast-twitch muscle fiber that has characteristics of a slow-twitch muscle fiber, and type IIb is a fast-twitch muscle that is really the “fast-twitch” muscle fiber.  It’s basically a spectrum; on one side you have the slow-twitch fibers, on the other side you have the type IIb fast-twitch fibers, and in the middle of the spectrum you have the type IIa fibers.

Slow-twitch muscle fibers make up the majority of an endurance athlete’s muscles.  In fact, world-class endurance athletes have anywhere from 60-90% slow-twitch muscle fibers in their muscles.¹  Slow-twitch muscle fibers have a high aerobic capacity, and because of this, they don’t fatigue very easily. 

Fast-twitch fibers, on the other hand, make up the majority of a sprinter’s or power athlete’s muscles.  Again, about 60-90% of their muscles are made up of fast-twitch fibers.¹  Fast-twitch fibers don’t have the aerobic capacity like slow-twitch fibers (they get energy without requiring oxygen), so as a result, they tire a lot faster.  The aerobic process of using oxygen to create energy is slower than the anaerobic process that fast-twitch fibers utilize; this is why fast-twitch muscle fibers can create fast, quick movements.  They have energy that’s more readily available compared to slow-twitch fibers.  I could go on and on about this stuff, but I realize that unlike me, not everyone is fascinated by how the body works, so I’ll spare you the lecture.

Ok, well maybe just a little bit more. 

Alright, so here’s the thing.  A person is born with a certain number of slow-twitch fibers and a certain number of fast-twitch fibers.  That’s why you can say some people are just “gifted”; some people just have an unbelievably large amount of one type of fiber or the other.
 
Now you may be saying to yourself, “Well, I want more slow-twitch fibers!” or “I want more fast-twitch fibers!”  The problem is you can’t train your slow-twitch fibers to turn into fast-twitch fibers, and you can’t cause your fast-twitch fibers to decide to be slow-twitch fibers.  As my great, great grandpa Willard used to say, “Ya done got what the good Lord blessed ye wit!” … Bless his soul. 

Even though I never had a great, great grandpa Willard, that great, great grandpa Willard really knew what he was talking about. 

Here’s the good news though.  Just because you have the genes for either endurance-type muscles or sprinter/power-type muscles doesn’t mean all hope is lost!

Remember those type IIa fast-twitch muscle fibers?  Well guess what, “the secret's in the puddin’”, or in this case, the type IIa fibers.

Like I said before, type IIa fibers have a mix of slow-twitch capabilities and type IIb fast-twitch capabilities.  If you design a training program accordingly, you can actually cause the type IIa fibers to lean to one side or the either.  You’re not changing them, they’re still fast-twitch fibers, but they can have more properties of one side of the spectrum.  On top of training type IIa fibers, you can slightly increase the explosiveness of slow-twitch fibers and the endurance of type IIb fast-twitch fibers with proper training; the keyword is “slightly”.  Training will have more of an effect on the type IIa fibers than on the other two types.

“You play how you practice.”  I’m sure most of you have heard this saying before, but now you know that it’s actually true.  If you want to be faster and quicker, you need to train your muscle fibers to be that way.  Running on a treadmill, at a steady pace, isn’t going to make you quicker on the basketball court; it may allow you to be able to play longer, but it’s not going to help you “break ankles”.  If you want to be quick, you need to do quickness drills.  If you want to be able to run a 5K, you need to run the miles, and you need to lift weight with a purpose.  Don’t walk into a gym and see how much weight you can bench press, walk into a gym and lift with less weight but a larger number of repetitions.  If you do endurance weight training for your muscles, your muscles are going to develop more endurance.  Period.  Try a circuit.  Circuit training is about as close as you can get to a cardio workout with weights; your body is constantly moving, so you’re teaching your body to have more endurance. 

For an effective circuit, try designing a workout that has 2-3 groups of 3 exercises each.  Within each group, start with the first exercise, perform it for 30 seconds, and without a break, go straight into the next exercise.  Complete 30 seconds for each of the 3 exercises, and then take a break.  Repeat that entire process for 2-3 sets.  After finishing that group of 3 exercises, do the same for the next group, and so on.

On the flip side, if you do power weight training with little weight, but quick movements, you’re going to become more powerful and quicker.  Remember though, just like with trying to bulk up, you need to have a base before you progress to weight training for power (stability, strength, power).  A goal power workout to work toward would be 3-5 sets of a group of 1 strength exercise (1-5 reps) followed by 1 power exercise (8-10 reps with less weight) for each muscle group.

Whether you want to be more like the tortoise or more like the hare, implementing the right program is the first step to take toward achieving success.  As I’ve said before, program design can get pretty complicated, so consulting with a fitness professional might not be a bad idea.

References:

¹ American Council on Exercise (2003). ACE personal trainer manual: The ultimate resource for fitness professionals, (3^rd ed). San Diego, Ca.: American Council on Exercise.

Dan Falkenberg is the co-founder of Your Live Trainers. He can be reached at DanFalkenberg.com.

Tags: cardiovascular exercise, exercise selection, program design