Posts tagged muscle

You’ve probably heard of fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle fibers right? But do you actually know what they are? 

There are 3 primary fiber types that I’ll talk briefly about.

• Type 1 muscle fibers are also know has slow twitch or oxidative fibers. These fibers require lots of oxygen.  They also have lots of ATP-producing mitochondria as well as lots of capillaries (for improved oxygen delivery). They can only provide small amounts of force but for an extended amount of time (think endurance activities).
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On the other hand, there are 2 kinds of Type 2 muscle fibers: Type 2a & Type 2b (or type 2x as it’s also called)

• Type 2b muscle fibers are your fast-twitch (glycolytic) fibers.  These are like an opposite of type 1 fibers. Type 2b muscle fibers require glycogen for fuel through a process called glycolysis. These fibers have very low amounts of mitochondria and capillaries. These fibers can provide very large amounts of force but for only a very brief amount of time. They are quick to fatigue. (think high-intensity activities like sprinting or Olympic lifting)
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Type 2a muscle fibers are interesting because they possess properties of both slow-twitch (type 1) and fast-twitch (type 2b) fibers.

• Type 2a fibers get their fuel from oxidative activity (using oxygen) like slow twitch fibers but they have some glycolytic activity and contract very quickly like Type 2b fibers. Therefore, Type 2a fibers can be thought of as a hybrid.
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Cool fact: You cannot convert Type 1 fibers to Type 2 fibers but you can convert between the Type 2a & Type 2b. 

Your muscle fiber composition is genetic but you can train muscle fibers to act more aerobic or anaerobic.

Yesterday after I made my awesome Protein Pudding Pies, I went to the gym for my Olympic Lifting Session.

On the menu for the first time were Clean & Jerks.  I had done cleans and I had done jerks and it was time to put them together! 

First I warmed up with some vertimax jumps, 10 Prowler push sprints with 30lbs on it, 3 hang cleans (55lbs), 3 front squats (55lbs), and 3 bent-over rows (55lbs).

Then I did 3 C&J’s with 55lbs - Easy. Felt light and looked good so I added more weight.

65lbs - Still easy. Still good form. Did 2 reps.

75lbs - Feeling good.

85lbs - Focusing more on pull as the weight gets heavier but still pretty good form.  The jerk is getting pretty hard to do but a got the weight up there.

95lbs - At my previous PR for cleans.  The jerk was a bit sloppy but still managed to get the weight overhead and lock out my arms.

105lbs - The clean was not that pretty and I struggled a little to stand up from the front squat because of getting tired and from still being worn out from my Century ride on Saturday.  Failed the jerk.  If I had bent my back leg more and gone into a deeper lunge I might have been able to get it.  I’ll work on it!

So an awesome Oly lifting session.  

Next I did raised split squats and kettlebell swings.

The rest of the workout was 8 rounds of: 80yd sprint, 10 pushups, 10 situps, and 10 vertical jumps with 30 seconds rest between sets.