Red Fish, Blue Fish, Slow Twitch, Fast Twitch

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Heya fellow Manimals, I have a question concerning muscle fiber types and training. IF, hypothetically, one were to discover that he/she had fast-twitch fibers in a specific muscle group, biceps for example, would it be desireable to train that part only in the greatest hypotrophy rep range for that part and neglect to train in other rep ranges? This almost sounds like a fully loaded ak-47 question, but I’d appreciate any and all opinions. Thanks.

“Shut up, bitch” - Half Baked

Eric

2

I think its best to just mix the sets up a bit. Do heavy low reps and lighter high reps in the same session to cover all the recruitment scenarios. If you’re clever you can try mixing it up in the same set. I do my burnout set on the bench by starting with a slow tempo (4-2-4) then as I fatigue get more explosive (1-0-1). Killer.

3

Definitely not. But it does mean that the majority of your time training that muscle group should be spent with power training. There are certainly ways to periodize your training around lower reps without ever going higher than 8 in your rep schemes. For instance, you could start off with a standard program with reps between 6 and 8, move to a plyometric and olympic lifting model, then to a standard strength phase. It’s certainly not mandatory to have frequent high rep training phases if you respond better to lower reps. You’ll want to occassionally anyway for variety and rehab, but you can still make the majority of your training time power oriented.

4

Thanks guys, especially Lipo. I’ve been training for two years and in the last two months on this forum and from T-mag I’ve learned more than in all my training time combined.

-Eric

5

Ideally, as body builders we want to maximize growth in ALL muscle fibers. So, we do it all- fast,slow,heavy,light,and everything in between. HOWEVER- I know my hams are predominantly fast-twitch- I rarely exceed 7-8 reps-my hams are well developed. Bill Kazmier’s whole body is predominantly F/T fibers- his training is mostly powerlifter type(low reps,Very heavy weights,explosive speeds WITH NO EMPHISIS ON THE NEGATIVE) he’s as big or bigger than most B/Ber’s- Give it a try- get on the “Get Big Diet” and start a Westside Program & see if you to are “GIFTED”