Building Muscle: Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers



Posted: Wednesday, July 30, 2008

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Fast-twitch muscle fibers seem to get all the attention from those looking to build fast muscle.  This is understandable to an extent.  After all, fast-twitch muscle fibers produce greater force and have a higher potential for growth than slow-twitch fibers.  But there is more to building muscle then simply stimulating the fast-twitch fibers.

If your goal is really to build fast muscle, then it is necessary to stimulate all types of muscle fibers to grow.  After all, just because fast-twitch muscle fibers have the highest growth potential doesn't mean that we don't want the slow-twitch fibers to grow as well.  By focusing on only the fast-twitch fibers you are cutting your gains short.

In addition, the type of exercise that is typical of any bodybuilding routine relies heavily on the slow-twitch fibers.  Most fast-twitch fibers don't have the endurance for more than 10-20 seconds of work.  However, it is not uncommon for sets of 8-15 reps to last 40-60 seconds or longer.  This is where slow-twitch muscle fibers come in.  Without strong slow-twitch fibers these sets would not be possible.

Additionally, you are stronger if you can use all of your muscle fibers together.  If you are only using your fast-twitch fibers then you are not producing as much force as you could with the slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibers combined.  As you should know, there is a strong correlation between muscle strength and size, so increasing your strength by using all of your available muscle fibers is a must.

Please note that I am not suggesting that anyone has to ability to only recruit their fast-twitch fibers during a set, but from some of the discussions I have heard this does seem to be a goal for some people.  I am here to tell you that not only is this not possible, but it's also not desirable if your goal is to build muscle fast.
 
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by pete johnson from placiad, fl 2 years 352 days ago.
NO!
 
I looked up "how to build fast twitch muscles", not "how to get talked out of building fast twitch muscles"
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