Health And Fitness

Knowing your personal muscle fiber make-up can be an invaluable aid when it comes to properly targeting your training program. If you’re working your muscles in the wrong way, you’ll be cheating yourself out of hard-earned results.

Every muscle in your body is made up of a bundle of small fibers. In each bundle, you have two main types of fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. I will explain exactly what these are in a moment. The percentages of these different fiber types that your muscles are made of can help you determine exactly how you should train each particular muscle group in your body.

Slow Twitch: These are also known as Type I or red muscle fibers. They are responsible for long-duration, low intensity activity such as walking or any other aerobic activity.

Fast Twitch: These are known as Type 2 or white muscle fibers (divided further into A and B). They are responsible for short-duration, high intensity activity. Type 2B fibers are built for explosive, very short-duration activity such as Olympic lifts. Type 2A fibers are designed for short-to-moderate duration, moderate-to-high intensity work, as is seen in most weight training activities.

By looking at elite athletes in different sports, you can see extreme examples of each make-up of muscle fiber. At the slow twitch end is the endurance athlete, such as the marathon runner. These athletes can have up to 80% or more of slow twitch muscle fibers in their bodies, making them extremely efficient over long distances. At the fast twitch end is the sprinter. World-class sprinters can have up to 80% or more of fast twitch muscle fibers in their body, making them extremely fast, strong and powerful but with limited endurance.

How to Find Your Muscle Fiber Type:

To find the predominant fiber type in a particular muscle in your body, we need to test the repetition limits of a muscle compared to its maximum strength. Keep in mind, these limits can be altered by your training and are, therefore, just rough estimates.

First, determine your one rep max (known as the 1 RM) for an isolation exercise for that muscle group, e.g. the dumbell curl. Find the weight you can only do one rep with. You want to use an isolation exercise because any exercise that uses any other muscle groups will skew the results.

Once you’ve figured out your one rep max, take a weight that is 80% of it (multiply your max weight by 0.8 to get this) and do as many reps as possible with it.

- If you can do only 4 to 7 reps with 80% of your 1 RM, you have mostly fast twitch fibers in that muscle.

The reason you will only be able to do 4 to 7 reps with 80% of your 1 RM is that fast twitch muscle fibers are strong but don’t have great endurance. You will be able to lift more weight but you be able to do as many reps with it.

- The ability to get approximately ten reps with 80% of your 1 RM is the typical fiber-type mix for a muscle. This works out to about a 50/50 split between fiber types.

- If you can do 12 to 15 or more reps with 80% of your 1 RM, your fiber make-up is probably mostly slow twitch fibers.

Slow-twitch fibers are not as strong but have excellent endurance. This means you won’t be able to lift quite as much but you’ll be able to do a lot more reps with it.

Repeat this procedure for each muscle group you wish to determine a type for (it will vary from muscle to muscle). By knowing what type of muscle fibers you have, you can tailor your training towards developing them to their maximum potential.

Though there are always differences in individuals, there are some general similarities in fiber types in muscle groups from person to person.

For example, in most people, the outer, visible muscle of the calf (the gastrocnemius) is primarily made of fast twitch fibers while the soleus (which lies underneath the gastrocnemius) has a higher percentage of slow twitch fibers.

Two more examples of this similarity between people include the abdominals and the hamstrings. These two muscle groups are both generally made primarily of fast twitch fibers.

How to Train Your Muscle Fiber Type:

When you’re training with weights, your goal is to work as many muscle fibers as possible. Affecting more muscle fibers means greater gains in strength and muscle mass.

If your fibers in a particular muscle consist primarily of slow twitch fibers, in order to affect the greatest number of those muscle fibers, you’ll need to train that muscle with higher reps, shorter rest periods and higher volume. This is because they take longer to fatigue, they recover quickly and they require more work to maximize growth.

Unfortunately, slow twitch muscle fibers are limited in their potential for growth so even if a muscle group is primarily slow twitch, you should definitely include some lower rep training to maximize the fast twitch fibers you’ve got in that muscle.

If you find you have a hard time gaining size in a particular muscle, it could be because it has a predominance of slow twitch muscle fibers. Higher reps (e.g. 12 to 15 reps), higher volume (more sets) and shorter rest periods (30 seconds to a minute between sets) can help you to maximize those muscles. This doesn’t mean you should use light weight, though. You should still strive to use weights that are as heavy as possible that will cause you to reach failure in those higher rep ranges. If you don’t use heavy weights, you won’t give your muscles a reason to grow.

If your fibers in a particular muscle group consist primarily of fast twitch muscle fibers, you’re one of the lucky ones. You’ll have a much easier time building mass in that muscle - fast twitch muscle fibers have greater potential for size than slow twitch. The more fast twitch fibers you’ve got, the greater your ultimate muscle size can be. These muscles are most likely your strongest and quickest to develop.

To maximize your muscles with fast twitch fibers, you’ll need to train with low to moderate reps (e.g. 4 to 8 reps), rest periods of around 1 to 2 minutes and a moderate training volume (too much volume will compromise recovery).

If your muscles have a fairly even mix of fibers, you can evenly divide your training between focusing on the lower-rep, fast twitch fiber training and the higher-rep, slow twitch fiber training. This will help you to develop all the fibers in your muscles, maximizing your ultimate development.

Training your muscles according to their fiber type makes sense. It will help you to get better results from your training by allowing you to more specifically target your training according to the exact specifications of your muscles.

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of BetterU, Inc. and has been inventing new training techniques and exercises for 17+ years. Nick has written many training books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass” & “Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss” - http://www.fitness-ebooks.com

You know the feeling, that sore sluggish feeling post workout. We have all been there. There is something you can do right away that when performed right after your workout will speed up recovery and motivate you to move forward.

All five of these not only speed recovery, they also increase your muscle growth and strength. Its time to get excited about pill popping, sleeping late, and cold showers!

Trick #1: The Right Supplements

Cayenne: This magic little pill will speed up healing and reduces inflammation by up to 50%. You can take it continually or only post workout. It doesn’t need to be cycled off to improve its efficacy. Other pluses include increased blood flow, decrease susceptibility to colds and viruses, and warmer muscle pre-workout.

Fish oil & Flax Oil: These both speed up muscle healing, give muscles the good kind of fat to fuel the workout and reduce inflammation. This means that you can fight soreness both during your work out and after your workout. You could eat the real thing, but you would have to eat a lot of it to get the same benefits as popping a few pills every day.

Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium & Zinc: These all reduce soreness and muscle fatigue both during and after your workout. You can take them in pill form or in a drink form. Or you could eat a lot of potatoes and bananas and a few lozenges. Taken regularly they help keep the muscles, heart, and blood vessels in good condition.

Vitamin C, B, & a Multi: These all increase your energy levels, help fight fatigue, help build stronger muscles, and strengthen your immune system and cardio vascular system. Taken daily they will reduce recovery time and increase your energy and healing.

Trick #2: Don’t Work Out to Failure

While it might be a good idea to do this once in a while, say once or twice per month, routinely hitting your wall will slow down your efforts. When done regularly, this will deplete your protein and carbohydrate reserves. You will also damage your body’s ability to use your strongest muscle fibers. Cut your work out reps just one set short of hitting your wall and sometimes don’t even go that far. Give your muscles a break and they will reward you!

Trick #3: The Post Workout Shake

Every workout you should drink up a mix of nutritionally dense, high glycemic carbs and protein. Doing so immediate post workout will stop the damage from the work out and induce your muscles to instantly begin repairing themselves. You will induce bigger gains and higher energy levels with less fatigue. Look for something fruit based with a one protein to two-carb ratio. Aim for something whey based and add fruits such as berries or high antioxidant berry powder. Always add Bananas and a little ground flax seed couldn’t hurt either.

Trick #4: Your Post Workout Shower

Shower immediately after you chug that shake down. Start out with icy cold water to reduce the post work out inflammation. Then immediately turn the water as hot as you can go for a few minutes to increase circulation. Alternate this a few times. The contrasting temperatures will induce blood flow and increase recovery time.

Trick #5: Sleep!

During sleep, your body performs a complete overhaul of all its systems. It checks for injuries it goes to work healing itself and it does something called muscle memory. This is where it inputs into your brain what you did during the day and if you used more muscles in a particular area your brain sends out a signal to increase muscle and nerve building and recovery in that area.

Your body also releases growth hormone during this time. This coupled with the muscle memory will induce bigger muscle growth and repair. Make sure you go to bed at a reasonable hour and sleep at least eight to ten hours. Also, take in a nap or two whenever possible during the day.

By all means, don’t limit yourself to just these five tricks to increase healing, there are more out there. These are some of the best. Tried and true tested.

Don’t forget to drink at least two liters of water on your work out days and at least one liter on your off days. This will flush your muscles and keep your body well hydrated and clean. And that is good for keeping you form fatiguing quickly and for helping speed recovery time. So when it comes to purified water, drink up and follow a sensible eating plan to keep your body well nourished and hydrated!

Steve Hochman is the founder and CEO of Next Level Fitness. O.C.’s fastest way for you to get fit.
Personal Trainer Orange County Ca, Irvine Personal Training, Weight Loss
Personal Trainer Orange County Ca, Irvine Personal Training, Boot Camp

There is no doubt in my mind that you have heard of Green Tea. It’s everywhere. Ever since it was featured on the Oprah show, there was no way this little weight loss miracle from China would lose it’s fame. With the internet at hand, you’ll find that you can now get your hands on Green Tea with just a few clicks of the mouse.

You’ll see several ads all over the web about various green tea products. Each merchant trying to get you into their purchase program.

There are however scam artists out there! You have to be careful! Real green tea is grown in China. If the green tea product you are buying does not get it’s green tea from China, then it’s most probably fake green tea. You have to understand that green tea gets it’s properties from it’s climate, soil and the nurturing it gets from it’s environment. It’s overall growing process cannot be replicated, so don’t be fooled. Green tea is such a sensitive plant, that growing it in any other climate will literally destroy it’s ability to produce any weight loss results.

Are you buying the TEA or a COMBINATION?

When you are buying green tea leaves…make sure they are sealed leaves! DO NOT buy the tea bags! They are awful! The real leaves taste way better. The only problem is that green tea tastes quite bad. There are however green tea weight loss solutions that taste very good.

You obviously want to use green tea to loose weight right? Well, green tea by itself will contribute to your weight loss, but not to a big extent. You have to realize that with all weight loss assistants you have to include some light to moderate exercise. Your body needs it more than you think. A tiny bit of exercise will boost the green tea’s effectiveness (fat burning effects) as well as keep you healthy!

For weight loss, I’ll rather go for a fat burner that has green tea as part of the ingredient. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about only a little green tea. It has to have sufficient green tea in it. Most companies that claim their fat burners have green tea in it know they are lying through their teeth.

So when looking for that ultimate fat burner, remember that one of it’s primary ingredients should be green tea. There’s no use buying a green tea weight loss product that is filled with just a pinch of green tea.

For more information on green tea benefits and effective green tea fat burners visit my blog:



Ultra Lean Green



Regards,

Reinhardt