Fast Twitch Muscles

I need to get faster in the short distance running to improve in the various sports i play. I have come to the conclusion that i need fast twith muscles instead of slow twitch. Any excercises that will build up the fast twitch? i think that doin alot of squats and such will slow me down more than speed me up…

Its the opposite bro, start reading around on this website

Hevay weight training, like squats and deadlifts will only make you faster. They will increase the amount of your muscle fiber that is fast twitch or at least develop the existing fast twitch fibers until they are dominant.
Why do you think sprinters are so jacked?

[quote]nickbuisson wrote:
I need to get faster in the short distance running to improve in the various sports i play. I have come to the conclusion that i need fast twith muscles instead of slow twitch. Any excercises that will build up the fast twitch? i think that doin alot of squats and such will slow me down more than speed me up…[/quote]

Are you for real?

As far as traing to run faster for short periods -

First, make sure you’re running correctly. Most people have a ton of wasted effort.

Squatting is one of the best things you can do to improve speed - the trick is to do it right. You’ll basically want to alternate between periods of building maximal strength, then longer periods of using lighter weights moving the bar FAST, then more conditioning work as the season comes near. Note that conditioning is NOT running for a long period of time, but rather repeated efforts that are similar to what happens in your sport.

Dig around on this site for speed training and anaerobic conditioning, there’s a number of good articles.

-Dan

It’s interesting that physical activity in general will make our fibres more “slow-twitch”.

Just a bit of trivia to guide your focus, that’s all.

Cheers

[quote]David Barr wrote:
It’s interesting that physical activity in general will make our fibres more “slow-twitch”.

Just a bit of trivia to guide your focus, that’s all.

Cheers[/quote]

DB, I love how you pop in and out with some helpful little comments. man I wish you would write an article now and then lol. I’m very interested in your cortisol article you talk about in your d-tap

I remember reading somewhere recently that there is a strong correlation between sprint speed and having a good power clean. This does not necessarily mean doing cleans will improve your sprinting. It could just mean that people who tend to be good a sprinting also tend to be good at power movements.

[quote]bigpump23 wrote:
David Barr wrote:
It’s interesting that physical activity in general will make our fibres more “slow-twitch”.

Just a bit of trivia to guide your focus, that’s all.

Cheers

DB, I love how you pop in and out with some helpful little comments. man I wish you would write an article now and then lol. I’m very interested in your cortisol article you talk about in your d-tap[/quote]

I second this. Articles from Barr.

I appreciate your support guys. I’m working on them daily, and have vowed to get the next article to peer review by tomorrow.

PROMISE. :slight_smile:

[quote]bigpump23 wrote:
DB, I love how you pop in and out with some helpful little comments. man I wish you would write an article now and then lol. I’m very interested in your cortisol article you talk about in your d-tap[/quote]

[quote]TriGWU wrote:
I second this. Articles from Barr.[/quote]

[quote]SKman wrote:
I remember reading somewhere recently that there is a strong correlation between sprint speed and having a good power clean. This does not necessarily mean doing cleans will improve your sprinting. It could just mean that people who tend to be good a sprinting also tend to be good at power movements.[/quote]

The other way around could also be true. Doing power cleans helps with explosiveness which will help with sprinting. It also targets the posterior chain which needs to be well developed to have good leg strength for sprinting.

So we have two scenarios:

  1. The people who are good at sprinting probably have a naturally strong posterior chain and hence have the leg drive to perform a good power clean, after learning the proper technique first of course.

  2. Those who start working on power cleans develop better posterior chain strength and explosiveness, leading to a carryover into better sprinting.

I am not a fast sprinter myself but since hammering my hammies and glutes for the past 10 months in the gym I have noticed that I have more acceleration and speed when doing sprints for conditioning work.

There are numerous aspects to being a “fast” sprinter, some of which are mainly genetic.

  1. Distribution of Type IIa and IIb muscle fibers among the hamstrings and quadriceps muscle groups. Most research suggests that whil you can train to mutate your type IIa and IIb fibers to the slower type I fibers, there isn’t much, if any reserach indicating that you can do the reverse (at least I haven’t read any studies by a clear and credible source).

  2. Higher muscle insertion points and tendon connections (leverage issues, most elite sprinters will have calves which insert nearer to the back of the knee). Like the distribution of muscle fiber types, this isn’t really controllable.

  3. Defined gluteal fold. (In lay terms: if your ass sags over your hamstrings, visible from the side, then you have underdeveloped hamstrings and gluteal muscles). The stronger you become in those muscle areas, the less defined the fold becomes.

  4. Flexibility. Tight hamstring, groin, and hip flexor muscles will limit ROM and therefore reduce stride length (by not being able to extend the knee to parallel to the ground).

  5. Stride frequency. Again, weak hamstrings and hip flexors will keep one from bringing the leg up and down quickly to generate a high frequency.

  6. Form. Head up, chest out, knees high, sligh forward lean, arms moving from chin to slighly parallel to the body on the back swing.

  7. Arms. Most people don’t realize that 1/3 of your sprinting power comes from your arms. There is a reason that most elite sprinters have incredibley huge shoulders and shoulder girdles (a byproduct of rapidly pumping the arms to facilitate running).

  8. Body Fat. Simple math. Two people of equal strength, technique, and other genetic factors, however if one weighs less then the other, but LBM is the same, the one weighing less will move faster (in terms of acceleration and sprint endurance, there are many who debate the difference in top speed)

Well there is more to it then this, and some of my explainations might seem basic to experienced track coaches and the such, I think this explains it pretty clearly.

Thanks for all the help guys!!!

I was just in question about doin slow, highpower exercises because that doesnt really resemble sprinting

[quote]nickbuisson wrote:
I need to get faster in the short distance running to improve in the various sports i play. I have come to the conclusion that i need fast twith muscles instead of slow twitch. Any excercises that will build up the fast twitch? i think that doin alot of squats and such will slow me down more than speed me up…[/quote]

Don’t lift slow, don’t run long distances, and reduce your cardio if you are doing any. Lift with power or rather exert as much force as quickly as you can. If you are lifting heavy and the bar is going low its all good as long as you push it up as fast as you can. dynamic effort days, sprints, plyos. Squats rule.

westside barbell is great for lifting but CT has some great info on the website I believe.

[quote]David Barr wrote:
It’s interesting that physical activity in general will make our fibres more “slow-twitch”.

Just a bit of trivia to guide your focus, that’s all.

Cheers[/quote]

My guess is most physical activity is slow, even if it suppose to be a speed sport. Most normal people can’t push themselves enough to create a transfer from slow to fast.