Understanding Slow Twitch Muscle Fibers and Why Most ‘Speed’ Training Programs Will Fail You
I’m always amazed when I see or read about some new way to train your muscles for speed. Just the other day I was watching television and the people were demonstrating how they would train their muscles to get faster.
The exercises they were showing consisted of the following:
1) one person had a very larger resistance band tied around his waist and another person was holding on to the other end about ten feet behind him. The person in front then started to run and the person behind him holding the band was following too, except they were trying to run at a slower pace, thus producing tension in the band to make it harder for the first person to run.
2) Another exercise consisted of yet another large resistance band. This time the band was fixed to something on the wall and the person (facing the wall as well) was pulling the bands with both hands back towards them (similar to a rowing motion on a weight machine), over and over again, as fast as possible.
3) Another of their speed training exercises consisted of what appeared to be markings (made of either tape or paint) on the floor in the shape of squares. The person then began to randomly jump with both feet in and out of these squares, with the coach/trainer, encouraging the athlete to go “faster and faster”.
4) And finally, the last exercise they showed was an athlete holding on to two small dumbells weighing about twenty pounds each. They were performing biceps curls and again, the coach/trainer was encouraging the athlete to do them faster and faster.
At first I thought this was a program teaching people just a few more ways to train their muscles to get stronger. When I heard the host of the show state that these exercises were a breakthrough in speed training, I almost fell out of my chair.
With all due respect to these well meaning individuals, there is no way any of these exercises will ever make you faster. In fact, when you do these and other similar exercises, you should expect to get slower.
Here’s why:
Most people do not understand the complete definition of what a slow twitch fiber is. In case you are wondering, here it is:
“Slow twitch fibers are fibers that are responsible for the strength and endurance of a muscle only, and not the speed in which a muscle contracts. And a slow twitch response is defined as one where your muscles can undergo extensive repetitive contractions before fatigue, that is, before getting tired.”
Now this definition of a slow twitch fiber is not my definition, but rather, one that is taken directly from medical textbooks found throughout the world.
Now, you may have already known about the first part of this definition; that is, slow twitch fibers are responsible for the strength and endurance of a muscle and not it’s speed, but what about the second part that states that a slow twitch response is defined as one where your muscles undergo extensive repetitive contractions before fatigue?
What is the relevance of this statement? More particularly, what is the relevance of the phrase extensive repetitive contractions?
Well let me ask you a question;
What do all of the above-mentioned exercises have in common?
And, what do weightlifting and plyometric training have in common?
How about extensive repetitive contractions. Or, how about just, “repetitions”? Would you agree that all of the above mentioned exercises along with just about every other weight training and plyometric training technique are well known for putting your muscles through a lot of repetitions? The answer is: Yes.
So what does this mean? Well for starters it means any training routine that forces your muscles through repetitions, like weight training and plyometrics do, will by definition train your muscles for better strength and endurance, and not for speed. Or in other words, any training routine (like the ones shown on that TV program, plus weight training and plyometrics) involving repetitions is, by definition, primarily a slow twitch training program and not a fast twitch one.
Be advised: Fast Twitch Fibers – The Fibers You Rely On For Speed - Can Inadvertently Be Trained To Act Like Slow Twitch Fibers
And if you ever hope to become really successful at increasing your muscle contraction speed, then its extremely important that you understand this. Why? Because if all you ever do is weightlifting and plyometric training, or any similar routine involving a lot of repetitions, such as working out with medicine balls and jumping up and down off of white boxes, then not only will you be training your slow twitch fibers for better strength and endurance, but you will also be conditioning your fast twitch fibers to behave the same way.
This is because all skeletal muscles have both slow and fast mixed together, and you cannot separate them from each other and train them individually. They are always trained together and at the same time. And by weight training and plyometric training, which are primarily slow twitch exercises, like it or not, your fast twitch fibers get dragged into these exercises and then they start acting or behaving more and more like slow twitch fibers. This is great for your strength , but bad for speed. And this is why a lot of times, it is not uncommon to actually get slower after doing these types of exercises.
“Why Did I Get Faster After Doing Plyometric Exercises?”
Now I know some of you reading this right now might be thinking, “I don’t know if this is entirely true because I did get faster after doing plyometric exercises or weight training and some of those exercises mentioned in that TV program”. You may have done exercises such as running down the football field with a sled of weights or a parachute attached around your waist. Or you may have run the steps at the stadium, or maybe you did a lot of jumping up and down off of white boxes. These are all plyometric exercises and yes, I’ll admit it is possible to get a little faster by doing these types of things. Whenever you get stronger and increase your endurance at something, you can’t help but get a little faster. But how much faster did you really get? And, how long did it take before you saw any improvement? Dropping your 40 yard dash time by 1/10 of a second after training for 4 months to a year is not that big of a deal unless you are at the absolute peak of your athletic ability.
And I think its worth mentioning here that a lot times, what is perceived as getting faster with plyometric training and weight training is really nothing more than an increase in muscular coordination with that particular activity. And the thing to understand is that increasing your coordination is common to all types of training, not just plyometrics, and it will always give you the appearance of getting faster, but it is only the first step to increasing muscle speed. And so, with weight training or plyometric training, any increases in speed will always be secondary to increases in strength and endurance.
Why Extensive Repetitions is Ultimately Counterproductive To Making Your Muscles Respond Quicker
And so let me summarize for you what I have said so far.
Slow twitch fibers are responsible for the strength and endurance of a muscle and a slow twitch response is one where your muscles can undergo extensive repetitive contractions without fatigue.
Therefore, any training routine that involves a lot of repetitions is a slow twitch exercise program and good mainly for strength and endurance, not speed. This includes lifting weights, all plyometric exerices, running down a field with a weight sled or parachute attached to your waist, swinging a baseball bat with a weighted doughnut at the end, running with ankle weights, and any exercise where you try to perform a repetition faster and faster.
Also, since slow twitch fibers are mixed together with fast twitch fibers, they are always trained together and so not only does weight training and plyometric training condition your slow twitch fibers for strength and endurance, they also condition your fast twitch fibers to behave the same way.
This is ultimately counterproductive to speed training.
The only sure and pure way to train your muscles to get significantly faster is by using the resistance band with an isometric training strategy the way we teach it. And, the only place to find such a program is right here at AthleticQuickness.com.
Always glad to help.
And remember, at AthleticQuickness.com, “We’ll bring you up to speed!”
ISOMETRIC TRAINING - The quickest way to run faster !
“What is the single most effective way to increase the speed of muscular contraction?”
When you mention the word isometrics, many athletic trainers will shrug their shoulders and say something like, "Yes, I am aware of this type of training; but, for what we do, it's too limiting".
Well, in all fairness to them, they are both right and wrong. They are right in the fact that isometric training, when applied to weightlifting, is limited because the muscle is only trained or strengthened at one set position. This means that when performing repetitions as on a bench press, its not much value other then helping you get past a sticking point.
But when you mention to them that it is the single most effective means of increasing the speed of muscular contraction, they are usually at a loss as to why. The good ones, however, will ask, "How?".
“Strength and endurance programs have little to do with increasing fast twitch response.”
Consider this: Whenever you lift weights for 45 minutes or more, how do you feel afterwards? Do you feel quicker? More responsive? Faster? Or, do you feel tired, heavy and sluggish? Most people would say the latter. The reason why is that most training programs, even when they say they are for increasing speed, are usually strength and endurance programs.
And, strength and endurance programs have little to do with increasing fast twitch response. So, if your current "speed training program" lasts more than 30 minutes, and leaves you tired, heavy and sluggish, then you are not training for speed but rather for strength and endurance.
So, how do you train for speed?
Isometrics alone won't help you much, especially if you are locked into a weightlifting mentality. However, if you will just allow yourself to follow along with an incredibly simple yet effective speed training strategy, you will perhaps for the first time be able to recruit, isolate, strengthen and quicken those hard-to-get-at fast twitch fibers.
Imagine instead of using weights or dumbbells, that you could use those resistance bands you see lying around your local gym. Imagine for a moment what happens when you stretch a small little rubber band, the kind that most postmen use to hold your mail together. Imagine stretching it apart about 12 inches and then releasing one end of it. What happens? Basically the other end of the rubber band snaps back at you with amazing speed.
“You are training your muscles to respond with amazing speed just like an elastic band.”
Now imagine grabbing a hold on one of those larger resistance bands at the gym and stretching it. And, instead of releasing one end of it, you hold the band apart for about 10 seconds. Now what is happening? Basically, the elastic properties that exist within that large rubber band are now being downloaded or transferred directly into the muscles that are opposing it.
So, in effect you are training your muscles to respond just like an elastic band -- to contract with amazing speed.
The reason why your muscles will do this is because your muscles have memory and can be programmed to contract very quickly to a contracted position.
“Unleash a huge reservoir of untapped muscular energy just waiting to be set loose.”
Imagine if you knew how to precisely isolate all of the muscle groups within a specific athletic skill and trained them this way. What do you think would happen? You would become quicker than you have ever been before.
The best part is that it doesn't take weeks and weeks of 45 minute training sessions to accomplish. Speed training, as the name implies, should be fast. All of the speed training programs offered at AthleticQuickness.com take only 10 minutes or less per day to perform.
So, unless you have applied isometric training with the resistance band to specific muscle groups in your body, you still have a huge reservoir of untapped muscular energy just waiting to be released.
In the next article, we will be talking about a few of the less known muscles that are responsible for increasing running speed, such as the iliacus and psoas muscles, et al.
Understanding which muscles are involved in the golf swing will help you condition them to perfect your golf swing and lower your golf score.
One of the nice things about training your body to perfect a certain skill is that if you pay close enough attention to the way your body maneuvers anatomically while performing that skill, you can get a pretty good general idea of the muscles involved that make it happen.
You may not immediately know the muscles' names; but, you can begin to appreciate how perfectly the human body was designed. And, if you really apply yourself and do the proper research, it isn't long before you arrive at an entire list of muscles that need the proper training and conditioning that go into the perfection of a skill.
There are basically 22 muscles involved in the forward golf swing. The proper conditioning of these muscles will increase your club head speed and give you better control.
For AthleticQuickness.com, the nice thing about all of our programs is that we already have taken the time to identify the various muscles involved in performing a particular skill. And, in this article, we are going to list all of the muscles involved in performing the forward golf swing. This information is well documented in the TEE OFF with Isometric Training program.
The Golf Swing
The normal golf swing has three basic components:
1) The back swing
2) The forward swing or downswing and
3) The follow through
The back swing is like the wind-up in baseball that stretches your muscles and readies them for release during the forward swing. The forward swing or "release" part of the golf swing is when 100% of your speed and power is generated. This is what will determine your shot distance. The follow-through is what a lot of people say defines your "signature" as a golfer ... i.e., how you finish your swing defines your commitment to the game.
Because the forward swing is where 100% of your speed and power is generated, it is for this particular movement that we will define the muscles involved. The forward swing begins with your hips rotating laterally from right to left for the right handed golfer (just the opposite for the left handed golfer). This is the main function of the lateral rotators of the hips, and the names of these muscles are as follows:
Lateral rotators of the hips
Gluteus Maximus
Gluteus Medius
Quadratus Femoris
Pyriformis
Superior Gemellus
Inferior Gemellus
Obturator Internus
Obturator Externus
Gluteus Minimus
The forward swing continues next with lateral rotation of the spine and the names of these muscles are as follows:
Lateral rotators of the spine
External Abdominal Oblique
Multifidus
Rotatores
Once the spine has rotated, the shoulders also begin to rotate and a downward pulling motion of both arms takes place from right to left (for the right handed golfer), beginning over the right shoulder and passing in an arc-like fashion downward through the point of contact with the ball where both forearms end up in full extension. This is the main function of the primary movers of the arms and extensors of the forearms.
Primary movers of the arms
Pectoralis Major
Posterior Deltoid
Teres Major
Latissimus Dorsi
Extensors of the forearms
Triceps brachii
Anconeus
The fifth and last muscle group activated during the downswing are the primary movers of the wrists or wrist flexors and extensors. Note that for the right handed golfer, the right wrist flexors and left wrist extensors are activated.
Primary movers of the wrists (Right Handed)
Right flexor carpi radialis
Right flexor carpi ulnaris
Left extensor carpi radialis
Left extensor carpi ulnaris
There you have it -- twenty-two muscles that are primarily involved in the forward swing.
If you want to increase your club head speed and start making longer drives, then you will need to speed up the contraction rate within these muscles.
And, the TEE OFF with Isometric Training program will show you just how simple and easy it is to do.
THIS IS NOT THE ISOMETRIC TRAINING PROGRAM YOUR PARENTS WERE TAUGHT....
Today's isometrics outperforms plyometrics and other programs for speed training.
I recently received an e-mail from an older gentleman claiming to know more about isometric training than I could ever imagine. So I called him and politely asked what it was that he thought our website may have left out relative to isometric training.
He proceeded to tell me that "back in the days" when he played football, they used isometrics in the training room with weights, barbells, etc., and that the trainers and coaches and players at the time didn't have much use for it other than "a little extra something" to add to your routine.
He also told me that speed training was best taught by doing plyometric exercises with weights and fast repetitions, and I strongly disagree with this notion. So, I asked him a very simple question,
"When you performed your speed training strategy with plyometrics, weights and repetitions, how did you feel afterwards? Tired? Heavy? Sluggish?"
And his response was a resounding, "Yes, I felt tired after my training!" My next question was, "If these were really speed training strategies, why do you think they made you feel slower and tired? Shouldn't a speed training program leave you feeling lighter, faster and more responsive immediately? I certainly believe they should." On the other end of the phone was pure silence and along with what I believe was the humble beginning of someone starting to accept something new. Someone finally starting to think logically about speed training and not merely reiterating what was improperly taught years ago.
Although I didn't learn anything new from this well meaning individual, it did get me to thinking that one of the biggest obstacles I sometimes face when presenting this information is simply past negative thinking regarding the greatest speed training strategy in the world. Old habits die hard and not a day goes by when I don't get the question,
"Isn't isometrics only useful in helping you get past a sticking point during weight training?"
Well, like the title of this article reads, THIS IS NOT THE ISOMETRIC TRAINING PROGRAM YOUR PARENTS WERE TAUGHT. No, this is much, much different. You see, although our website is filled with useful information, it sometimes helps to remind our readers that the way we teach isometric training is NOT to help you get past a sticking point in the weight room.
No, the way we teach isometric training is to condition your muscles to contract with amazing speed when you need it. We teach that muscles have memory, and the more you train them to respond either to speed, or for strength, the more the muscles are likely to respond in similar fashion -- for speed OR for strength. The key is to know how to train your muscles for these two very different muscular responses.
There are really only two categories of training.
One of them is speed training, and the other is strength/endurance training. Some people hooked on plyometrics think there is a third category called explosiveness; but, the reality of this is that it is nothing more than a strength and endurance program being sold as something new and different, i.e. explosive training.
I don't know about you, but personally I don't want to put my body through any “explosive" conditioning. It is much too risky. Sprains and strains are common with this training, and worst of all, it is the complete opposite of speed training! In fact, the more you participate in plyometrics, the slower you will become. You may develop a little better coordination, which is often confused with getting faster, but you never really do get faster.
And, so, isometric training with the resistance bands stands alone as the only pure and sure way to train for speed.
All other training programs/routines are in opposition to this and are nothing more than strength/endurance training. The way to know if your current speed training program is really a speed training program and not a strength/endurance program, is to ask yourself two basic questions:
1) Does my routine require repetitions?
2) Does my routine take longer than 15 minutes to complete?
If you answer yes to these two questions, then you are training for strength and endurance, NOT SPEED.
Order the programs. They are pure speed training programs. Once you learn these strategies, they will also help you to identify what other training programs are good for you as well, regardless of who in the past may have told you otherwise.
2 Reasons Why This type of isometrics is ideal for speed training!
Because this type of training does not mix endurance or strength training with speed training, it can focus soley on the 2 factors that make it a pure speed training program - with pure speed training results.
First, what is meant by 'muscle contraction speed'
Let’s use the biceps muscle in your arm for an example. When your arm is stretched out straight then your biceps muscle is stretched. Now move your fist towards your shoulder. What has happened? Your biceps muscle ‘contracts’ thus moving your fist toward your shoulder. Now, obviously the faster your muscle contracts then the faster your fist will move. When your biceps muscle is ‘programmed’ to instantly contract to a certain position, you have then achieved lightning like speed.
The types of fibers in your muscles that create this type of speed are called ‘fast twitch muscle fibers’. They are not the same as strength and endurance fibers and therefore need to be conditioned separately. You can not condition your muscles for quickness the same way you condition your muscles for strength.
Reason 1) Time required for training
Our research has shown that fast twitch muscle conditioning takes place within the first 10 minutes of isometric training only.
Afterwards, your body's own physiologic processes will start recruiting slow twitch fibers to complete the training, which is contrary to speed training. The longer your body is involved in slow twitch training, the less faster your muscles become.
Speed training should, as the term implies, be fast. If your current "speed" training routine takes longer than 20 minutes to complete, then you are NOT training for speed but, rather, for strength and endurance.
Most speed training programs on the market take about 45 minutes to an hour to perform. Even if you performed our program for more than 10 minutes, you will start conditioning your muscles for strength and endurance and not speed. This is perhaps the hardest thing for competitive athletes to grasp, and that is, to limit the amount of time for speed training to just 10 minutes.
Reason 2) Repetitions
All other speed training programs require your muscles to perform repetitions, whether it be through running, jumping up and down off of boxes or running down a track with parachutes and/or weight sleds. Repetitions build strength and endurance within muscles, not speed.
Again, our research has shown that when muscles are forced to go through repetitions where the length of the muscles are constantly changing, the body's fast twitch muscle fibers are completely ignored, resulting in a strength and endurance training program and not a speed of contraction routine.
If this all sounds a little confusing consider this: If all you had to do to run faster was to go out and run, then each time you ran, you should be faster then the previous time out. But, we all know this is not true. This is because running more does not make you faster; but, rather, it improves your strength and endurance to run longer.
Isometric training does not require repetitions in the traditional sense. Instead, muscles are locked into a position for a given period of time forcing your body to recruit those much needed fast twitch fibers that are almost always ignored with other types of training (for example, plyometrics, weight training, etc.). The end result is faster contracting muscles, all the time, without exception.
The little known 'secret formula' for speeding past your competition.
In order to help you fully appreciate the value of isometrics training to increase your speed, agility and power, let's take a quick look at some basic principles of muscular contraction.
To start with, all skeletal muscles consist of three main fiber types. These fiber types are:
1) Slow twitch fibers- Responsible for the strength and endurance of a muscle.
2) Intermediate twitch fibers- Possess qualities of both slow and fast twitch fibers.
3) Fast twitch fibers- Responsible for the speed of muscular contraction.
The fast twitch muscle fibers are responsible for giving the athlete his speed, agility, quickness, and power. Fast twitch fibers are 10 times faster than slow fibers.
Isometric training, the way we teach it, will isolate and condition your fast twitch muscle fibers and therefore increase your speed and quickness.
Isometrics using resistance bands is the ideal strategy for speed training. This is partly due to fact that the energy stored in a stretched band is much greater than gravitational energy used by weights. Therefore the faster acceleration of a stretched band is 'transferred' to the muscles when used with an isometric exercise.
The biggest advantage to isometric training is two fold.
First, by forcing your muscle(s) to hold a position for a certain length of time, your body will begin to recruit and activate more and more motor units to help maintain this contraction. Motor units that are rarely exercised within a particular muscle are now brought into use, perhaps for the first time.
Second, the motor units that are recruited are forced to contract continuously, time after time, with no appreciable decrease in force output. This allows your muscles to achieve a state of maximum contraction very safely and effectively.
The end result is that the entire muscle matures very quickly.
So how does this condition the fast twitch muscle fibers?
The fast twitch muscle fibers are often overlooked because they are mostly ignored for purposes of contraction speed in exercise routines where the muscle length is constantly changing, when doing multiple repetitions with weights, for example. As far as your muscles are concerned this is endurance training, the job of slow twitch muscle fibers.
The Athletic Quickness Speed Training Programs use the resistance band to help isolate, condition and quicken various muscle groups in the body. The resistance band is ideal because its resistance will change depending on how far the band is stretched.
By utilizing the unique properties of the resistance band, and maintaining the muscle at a specific length by using an isometric exercise, the muscles will develop a fast twitch response.
This means, first, that the nerves and muscles develop the memory to accelerate instantly to the contraction point of the isometric exercise, and secondly, the fast twitch muscle fibers are conditioned to maximize the speed of the muscle contraction.
By strengthening the fast twitch muscle fibers, you have increased the speed at which the muscles contract or move.
When this application is applied to your thigh flexor and extensor muscles, for example, the result is an explosive increase in your running speed and power!
The same principle holds true for increasing the speed and power of any muscles that are critical to quickness and power in any sport specific activity.
In baseball for example that would be the muscles used in hitting and pitching. In basketball quickness and power are required by the leg muscles used in jumping and making quick reactions.
If this sounded a bit confusing, just remember these two things:
1. Fast twitch muscle fibers are the key to explosive speed and quickness.
2. Isometrics using the resistance band is the secret weapon for isolating and conditioning the fast twitch muscle fibers.
Isometric training has been around for a long time and so it is nothing new. Many extraordinary results in muscle size and strength have been achieved in a very short period of time with this type of training.
Below is a direct quote from Wikipedia Encyclopedia under the heading Isometrics:
"What is known, however, is that Isometric Exercise provides the fastest stimulation for muscle tissue and increases nervous conductivity and enervation (the ability to contract more muscle fibre). As such it increases the strength of the participant faster than any other natural method."
However, because of the number of new training products and techniques out on the market today, its use by athletes is often overlooked.
Many "experts" disagree with isometric training for several reasons: 1) They relate isometrics with weight training; and, if that is the case, they are right. Isometric training with weights will do very little for speed. 2) If they acknowledge using resistance bands, they more than likely use them with a weightlifting strategy involving repetitions, which also is of no benefit for speed.
Training techniques that use repetitions or that last more than several seconds will not isolate the fast twitch muscle fibers and will therefore train for strength and endurance - and not for speed.
Isometrics, the way we teach it, is the proven formula that will specifically result in speed and quickness in your athletic activities.
So there we have it, all the isometric speed training stuff that pertains to golf.
Using this system, I have boosted my MAX swing speed from 127mph to 137mph. My average speed when I play is between 118-122 thereabouts. For guys that don't already swing at my speed, I would think that greater than 10mph gains can be made.
Forum members like jr33, nuke99 and vikram who have seen me swing in person attest to a "sudden acceleration of the club" on the downstroke.
That said, I do not use the exercises detailed in the book - only the theory behind it and the high tension rubber band that the company sells.
I substitute the exercises for something I feel is more golf specific. Besides, the author doesnt seem to be a golfer and makes some disgusting poses that masquerades as a golf swing.
All said, it helps to have forearms like mine ha ha ha...
Hybrid Mode
