How can I accurately determine the type of muscle fibers I have?

[SSAlexSS]

Hello all!


You know how there are mainly 2 types of muscle fibers, fast twitch and slow twitch. You known how some people need to do 20 reps to grow well while others need 6 reps for maximum growth.


Well, what methods do you know that help to determine your fiber make up? Anyone know?

Reply please!

Thank you

 

[Cackerot69]

Get a muscle biopsie

You can't accurately predict, really.

BTW, there are medium twitch - fast oxidative fibers, too.

 

[WarriorPL]

i think i gotta figure this one out too.

~WizKid

 

[endpoint]

TRIAL AND ERROR.

thats the only way.

all people have all different types of set ups and ratios of type IIa and IIb (in their muscles).

Keep a log book of ALL workouts and try a few weeks/months of low reps and a few weeks/months of high rep. Track your size and strength and figure it out.

I have tried this for the last six months.....trying to get it right still.

there are some muscles that GENERALLY respond better than others to a specific style. Like ham strings biceps and ABs.......all need low rep high set heavy weights to respond.

but everyone is slightly different.

Your young right? That should greatly affect the way that your muscles will develope later. I dont know how true this is........but i was reading that if you train real young (like 15-16) you will have a better chance of packing on muscle latter on in life......because you influence the make up of you muscle fibers(better ratios of fast to slow twitch). Where an inactive persons make up is crap because of the lazyness when they were young. As i said i dont know how much truth is in that

 

[Tuna Guy]

The postural muscles tend to be slow twitch, try looking at your family history, what were they good at if they played sports.

 

[SSAlexSS]

TRIAL AND ERROR.

thats the only way.

all people have all different types of set ups and ratios of type IIa and IIb (in their muscles).

Keep a log book of ALL workouts and try a few weeks/months of low reps and a few weeks/months of high rep. Track your size and strength and figure it out.

I have tried this for the last six months.....trying to get it right still.

there are some muscles that GENERALLY respond better than others to a specific style. Like ham strings biceps and ABs.......all need low rep high set heavy weights to respond.

but everyone is slightly different.

Your young right? That should greatly affect the way that your muscles will develope later. I dont know how true this is........but i was reading that if you train real young (like 15-16) you will have a better chance of packing on muscle latter on in life......because you influence the make up of you muscle fibers(better ratios of fast to slow twitch). Where an inactive persons make up is crap because of the lazyness when they were young. As i said i dont know how much truth is in that

Damn. I am 17 and not 15-16. Might be late for that. Soon I will be shaving....


However it looks like my triceps changed fiber make up. Coz I tested them and first they were slow twitch. Now they seem to be faster twitch. Atleast in an old method I was using. Hopefully that is right.


Do you think at 17-18 it is possible to change your fiber make up? If so how? Doing low reps high weight? (6-8 reps?)

 

[benchmaniac2]

bump...if there was another way from trial and error, it would save a hell of a lot of time.

 

[Cackerot69]

Who gives a shit, anyway?

Even if you are 80% slow twitch you should still focus on fast twitch for size and strength.

Your supposed fiber ratio doesn't matter as far as training goes.

 

[SSAlexSS]

Who gives a shit, anyway?

Even if you are 80% slow twitch you should still focus on fast twitch for size and strength.

Your supposed fiber ratio doesn't matter as far as training goes.

Yes, focus on them and get little growth.


Lets imagine:

You have an army of 100. 80 guys wear red uniform, 20 guys wear green uniform.

You give all green guys(20) better weapons. Will your army increase in strenth? yeh, but very little. Maybe even insignificantly little.

BUT what if you give your RED guys (80) better weapons? Then your army will be a force to be reckoned with!!!

See the parrarel?

If 80% of your muscles are slow twitch then YOU WOULD HAVE TO WORK THEM, BECAUSE THEY ARE A MAJORITY.

20% of muscle worked is really bad for big siz/strenth increases.


You are not making any progress on your muscle group. You start doing high reps and your muscle swells and grows..... YES, IT IS IMPORTANT!

 

[Cackerot69]

Type I fibers have VERY low potential for hypertrophy. The purpose of a Type I fiber is endurance, therefore they have less actin and myosin (the stuff that makes you grow) and more mitochondria (the stuff that gives you muscular endurance). By training your Type I fibers, you will not grow to any significant degree, simply because they don't have the capability. There are benefits to training Type I fibers, though. Since type I fibers have the greatest mitochondrial density and number, they produce the most energy supplying substances which aid in contraction of the Type II fibers, which means you will be able to produce more force. Type I fibers are only trained to a significant degree with reps above 20 and slow contraction speed. Training in this manner will completely esclude any Type II stimulation (which have the greatest potential for growth) which means a small muscle. Another thing is that the more you train your Type I fiber the more Type I fibers you will have, and the more you train your Type II fibers the more of them you will have. There is another contractile protein in muscle called MHC (myosin heavy chain) IIX fibers, which are just hanging around waiting to be converted to Type I or II. You can actually create more Type II fibers by training your Type II fibers and create less Type I by not training them. Additionally, training Type I fibers does little for nervous system training, so you wouldn't be able to stimulate maximal growth of any fibers because the nervous system just wouldn't be capable of it. So, don't worry about your fiber type ratio and just fucking put some weight on the bar and lift it, you'll be better off.