ok here is the scenario. my friend and i are doing triple drops (5/5/5) on lying leg curls. he gets 5, drops 5 lbs, gets 5, drops 5lbs, and gets the last 5. on his second set he gets the same weight and reps. quite the endurance, id say. myself i get my first 5, drop 10, get my second 5, drop 10 and get 3. second set i have to start lighter, drop 15, get 3, drop 20, and get 3. not very good endurance. would this be indicative of fiber type makeup of our hams? id think it would indicate i have a great fast twitch composition in my hams than him because of my lack of endurance and such great drop off in performance, and for him the opposite. as such, i should train with lower reps on hams and he should train slightly higher? do i have this straight? thanks
maybe he’s not training as had as you are and therefore has more in the tank for the next set. you may be recruiting 100% of your muscles while he is only recruiting 50%. the more advanced you get, the higher percentage of fibers you should be able to get firing. that affects the number of reps each of you can get with say 80% of max.
thanks man, any other ideas as well? besides perceived efforts?
chris - a buddy of mine can press about 85lbs more than me in the bench when performing a 1RM. but when it comes to working out his poundage is just about what mine is (within 10-15lbs anyway). i can workout consistently with around 85% - 90% of my 1RM while he sits at around 70% - 75%. he is much faster and bigger than i am, but runs out of steam in a hurry whereas i can go damn near full throttle without much fall off at all.
i know for a fact that i am mostly slow-twitch and i suspect that he is predominately fast-twitch. i have read a few studies that seem to back this up. kevo
I think fiber makeup has less to do here with your performance difference with your friend than you think. Hamstring makeup is primarily fast twitch in most of the population from statistics i’ve seen on it. A 80% fast twitch vs. 75% shouldn’t make the difference that you are desribing here. I would suspect your friend just has better recovery abilities than you, because of genetics, training and diet.
better recovery in the middle of a drop set? is that possible? the rest between sets is only enough time to pull the pin and lighten the load. what if the same happened on chest?
It those differences are across the board (legs, chest, etc.) it is either a vast difference in fiber type or in training intensity.
so it would indicate that i would be more fast twitch in that muscle and he more slow twitch in that muscle, correct?
it could be alot of things… btw no one can recruit 100% of their muscle fibers…