A typical myth in bodybuilding circles is that you must exercise fast and slow twitch muscles separately for getting the best muscle building workout. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, you can easily exercise both muscle types at the same time and still get excellent results. Here is why and what you should do in your own workouts for optimum results.
The simplest type of muscle fibers to describe are the slow twitch muscles. They derive their power from the efficient use of oxygen. They are named slow twitch after how slow they are to get fatigued, which has nothing to do with their speed of contraction. They are particularly importance for endurance. These types of fibers also recover very fast once they have become fatigued. This is the reason why they are so important for endurance athletes such as long distance runners and cyclists.
On the other hand, fast twitch muscles are more complicated to describe, because they are categorized into three different subgroups. The Fast Oxidative fibers are powerful aerobically and the most resistant to fatigue. In comparison, Fast Glycolytic fibers, which are more effective anaerobically (i.e., without oxygen transfer), are the easiest to fatigue and the slowest to recover. The third type is in between these two, called the Fast Oxidative Glycolytic fibers. Remember that fast twitch fibers are called fast because they fatigue fast. Then they recover very slowly.
These are simplified descriptions of how muscle fibers are classified based on their ability to use oxygen and on the speed at which they fatigue and recover from fatigue. Slow twitch muscles actually twitch faster and recover faster from exercise than do fast twitch muscles.
Muscle fibers are recruited by your brain to optimize force and not speed of contraction. Because of this, slow twitch muscles are the first and easiest fiber type to engage. This type also requires the least amount of energy. This means that if you lift weights too quickly, you will engage mostly your slow twitch muscles.
A little more energy is necessary to engage the Fast Oxidative muscle fibers. Even more is necessary to engage the Fast Oxidative Glycolytic fibers. And the largest amount of energy is required for engaging the Fast Glycolytic fibers.
The key to the best workouts, therefore, is to follow the advice of physiologists to take advantage of what they call orderly recruitment of muscle fiber types. Orderly recruitment means to engage each type in sequence, from low energy/fast recovery to high energy/slow recovery. The most important components of such a workout are: 1) sufficient weight to bring on muscle failure (i.e., enough that at some point you can no longer lift); 2) the right speed of lifting for recruiting all fiber types in sequence; and, 3) the total time under load (TUL) for each muscle group.
The optimum approach for accomplishing all this requires a very slow lift rate and an equally very slow return rate. Such super slow movements also encourage good form. Fast lifting, in contrast, often leads to bad form from jerking the weights instead of lifting them smoothly. In addition, jerking weights recruits mostly slow twitch muscles and fails to engage the other fiber types.
The recommendations here are backed by many scientific studies over the past few decades. The best summary of this research is now available in the book, 'Body by Science', by Dr. Doug McGuff, M.D., and John Little. It is the best book that I have found on the subject. Oh, and the subtitle the book is very intriguing: 'A Research-Based Program for Strength Training, Body Building, and Complete Fitness in 12 Minutes a Week'. However, based on my experience, 12 minutes a week may be more than you really need. My own results with the Body by Science approach have been great on only about 10 minutes a week of total workout time.
The simplest type of muscle fibers to describe are the slow twitch muscles. They derive their power from the efficient use of oxygen. They are named slow twitch after how slow they are to get fatigued, which has nothing to do with their speed of contraction. They are particularly importance for endurance. These types of fibers also recover very fast once they have become fatigued. This is the reason why they are so important for endurance athletes such as long distance runners and cyclists.
On the other hand, fast twitch muscles are more complicated to describe, because they are categorized into three different subgroups. The Fast Oxidative fibers are powerful aerobically and the most resistant to fatigue. In comparison, Fast Glycolytic fibers, which are more effective anaerobically (i.e., without oxygen transfer), are the easiest to fatigue and the slowest to recover. The third type is in between these two, called the Fast Oxidative Glycolytic fibers. Remember that fast twitch fibers are called fast because they fatigue fast. Then they recover very slowly.
These are simplified descriptions of how muscle fibers are classified based on their ability to use oxygen and on the speed at which they fatigue and recover from fatigue. Slow twitch muscles actually twitch faster and recover faster from exercise than do fast twitch muscles.
Muscle fibers are recruited by your brain to optimize force and not speed of contraction. Because of this, slow twitch muscles are the first and easiest fiber type to engage. This type also requires the least amount of energy. This means that if you lift weights too quickly, you will engage mostly your slow twitch muscles.
A little more energy is necessary to engage the Fast Oxidative muscle fibers. Even more is necessary to engage the Fast Oxidative Glycolytic fibers. And the largest amount of energy is required for engaging the Fast Glycolytic fibers.
The key to the best workouts, therefore, is to follow the advice of physiologists to take advantage of what they call orderly recruitment of muscle fiber types. Orderly recruitment means to engage each type in sequence, from low energy/fast recovery to high energy/slow recovery. The most important components of such a workout are: 1) sufficient weight to bring on muscle failure (i.e., enough that at some point you can no longer lift); 2) the right speed of lifting for recruiting all fiber types in sequence; and, 3) the total time under load (TUL) for each muscle group.
The optimum approach for accomplishing all this requires a very slow lift rate and an equally very slow return rate. Such super slow movements also encourage good form. Fast lifting, in contrast, often leads to bad form from jerking the weights instead of lifting them smoothly. In addition, jerking weights recruits mostly slow twitch muscles and fails to engage the other fiber types.
The recommendations here are backed by many scientific studies over the past few decades. The best summary of this research is now available in the book, 'Body by Science', by Dr. Doug McGuff, M.D., and John Little. It is the best book that I have found on the subject. Oh, and the subtitle the book is very intriguing: 'A Research-Based Program for Strength Training, Body Building, and Complete Fitness in 12 Minutes a Week'. However, based on my experience, 12 minutes a week may be more than you really need. My own results with the Body by Science approach have been great on only about 10 minutes a week of total workout time.
About the Author:
Get Dr. Dennis Clark's free report on how to eat for bodybuilding in his popular muscle building diet now. Also see what Dr. Clark has to say about where to find the best bodybuilding supplements anywhere.
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