TheKillerPenguin

Thanks for the interesting read. I learned more about muscle from that one article than in a year of Bio.

I've done something similar to that muscle fiber test last semester. I wanted to see if I could lift all the weight on the leg press. I was able to, but barely. I did find out though, that at just about 80% on the button of my max, I was able to do 12 reps. Now, I stopped exercising over the winter for a bit due to laziness and personal issues, so my max lift weight is definatly lower, but I'd assume the same would hold true now. According to the article, that's a good indication of Type 1 fibers.

I would think that I have to have at least a sizable amount of type 1 fibers, since biking comes fairly naturally to me. I think part of the problem is I'm new to specifically training for riding, as before I would ride but not smartly. For example, I would put the bike into the highest gear and go with it, even if it wasn't at a high cadence, simply because it was the high gear. I've really only been riding my road bike since late march/early april, and have only been doing some rudimentary training since earlier this month. My lungs have always been pretty well developed, so they've really taken off quickly, and from what I've learned from you guys, one's lactic threshold takes much longer to develop. In the meantime, I'm just trying to figure out ways to be able to push myself harder without my muscles giving out on me, which is what was happening during that group ride. And, I figure if these things help me a lot even now, they'll probably help me even more when my LT gets higher.

Thanks again for that article, and here's to hoping I have lots of type 1 muscle fibers!