https://www.google.com/amp/s/cathe.com/can-change-ratio-muscle-fibers-training/amp/Ggggg wrote:
Can someone please explain to me why biologically wise, some people would have more slow twitch and others would have more fast twitch? Why nature would produce such difference in the same biological creature, the Homo Sapien? All have same limbs and same internal organs but some have fast twitch fibers and some have slow twitch fibers. Have you ever heard of other animals in nature with such biological differences?
They don’t have fast twitch fibers cheetahs that run 60 mph and slow twitch cheetahs that run 40. So would they have people like that. I say this fast twitch slow twitch thing is nonsense
Two things I've done regarding slow/fast twitch:
1. Trained with very heavy weights and low reps.
2. Trained with moderate weights doing 8-second reps for up to 6 minutes straight (8-secs up, 8 secs down)
The idea for #1 was to increase the percentage of white muscle fibers (fast twitch fibers).
I had the best result with #2.
I call that dynamic tetanus training.
The idea is to do the movements smoothly, and as the muscle fibers become fatigued, a higher and higher percentage of them become recruited. In that way the overall strength is improved. It was an experiment and it worked.
But you have to be careful with it because muscle tension can become extreme even though you're not using a heavy weight.
Of course make sure you balance the muscles that you're training.
Also in between sets I would do a series of short strides whether in the gym or just outside the gym. That's to blend the movements in with the neural pattern of running.
Coming out of this type of training of course you won't be extremely quick, but you'll be very strong. 800 meter hill repeats are no problem when you can do 6 minute reps like this. You really don't need to do 6 minutes really 3 to 4 minutes is fine.
As you come out of this strength training of course you'll gradually get quicker. It's just a matter of coordinating the movements over weeks.
I'm not an explosive runner, but I do have quick reflexes. My top tempo is 240 steps per minute. I'm comfortable on an exercise bike at 120 rpm's.
It translates into me being a 5K runner who can run
with a quick tempo.
That's my experience.