Training & Nutrition - Fiber go fast, fiber go slow

Soooo. I know we are born with a certain percentage of fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibres. I am also pretty sure that some of these fibres can be switched from say slow to fast and vice versa. So what I would like to know is how do I go about adding more fast twitch muscle fibres to my leg muscles? Weights? Hi weigh low reps, lots of reps, fast, slow, what? Above lactate threshold intervals on the bike? Any workouts you guys know of? Thanks:D :D

You can't.

You have a predestined amount of fast twitch muscle fiber. As you age, those muscle fibers decrease and convert to slow twitch muscle fibers. From what I've read, I think you can slow the conversion of the fast twitch muscle fibers to slow twitch. Eventually, though, those fast twitch muscle fibers WILL convert to slow twitch. Thee is no way you can convert the slow twitch to the fast twitch. You have a maximum amount of fast twitch muscle fibers, so the best thing you can do is work to minimize the fast twitch muscle fiber conversion and keep as many fast twitch muscle fibers active as possible.

As far as training your fast twitch muscle fibers- heavy weights with low reps should do it. Train the legs 2- 3 times a week with the heavy weights.

Koffee

So basically you have to have alot of fast twitch muscle fibers to be good at cycling and if you don't you are screwed right?

Not necessarily.

There are a lot of things you can develop- VO2 max, anaerobic threshold, and work to keep your maximum amount of fast twitch muscle fibers active. And you can also work on building your endurance and building up your spinning abilities.

How do you know how much fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers anyway?

I'm not a fast runner.......I am not a good sprinter, I do ok on the climbs, it just seems my legs would rather move slow and sometimes just can't go faster. Similar to bonking?

No, it's probably you just needing to train on consistent endurance runs, then bumping up the intensity over time by adding in intervals and power drills...

kewlrunningz

I think everyone starts cycling that way. At least I had to force myself to learn to "spin" vis "power" down the road. Just keep at it.

Joe

The ratio of fast to slow twitch fibers in muscle is somewhat adjustable by training. You would have to go at it in an aggressive way. Weight training is not going to do much but make you stronger, not at all a bad thing but changing the ratio is going to require something like the Carmichael or similar systems approach, with you spending 20+ hours/week in intensive and guided training on the bike (or running if bi/tri). You won't turn a sprinter into a marathoner or vice versa but you can improve your versatility. Steve