Fast-Twitch Movements

So far for lower body strengh/explosivness or fast-twitch muscles I have been doing skipping, Squats (fast as possible), and frog jumps (jumping up from squat position while keeping legs bent. I was wandering do you have to do these type of exercsies fast to acheive fast twitch. For example is it better to do squats slowly, or fast. I know this seems pretty obvious but I just want to make sure.

 

thanks,

 

Neil

medium resistance-fast repertitions is the way forward.

 

fast is good, you can try adding resistance to improve your explosiveness. dont add to much to start just a little amount then work up from that.

 

i mean if you are doin it fast with a heacy weight on you, your goin to be even faster with nothin.

 

hope this helps.

Plyometrics

 

I hear these are good, but haven't tried them myself, so YMMV.

 

Brett.

It depends on what you want. If you do exercises slowly you tech your muscles to maintain strengh'endurance and of course they become slow. If you do them as fast as possible you teach them to be explosive/strengh. Of course the best thing to do is to do a little bit of everything. For example I do my hindu squats as fast as possible keeping good form as well as other exercises. But when I skip I do that slowly keeping at a good pace. But just beacuse yoiu do an exercise fast certainly does not mean its better. Last week I could do 400 Hindu Squats slowly. A week later after doing them fast I decided to test myself doing them slowly. I only managed 150. Personally you need to do some exercises fast and some slow. Do a little bit of everything and you won't go far wrong.

 

Also plyometrics id basically Power= Speed x Strengh any exercise is plyometric if you amke it. Don't waste your time bying one of those books. If you want to become explosive just do a strengh activity fast.

Basically what I believe Neil is asking is whether it is better to perform exercises fast to develop fast twitch muscles or to perform slow... and exactly what type of exercises to do??

 

Plyometric exercise and weight training can be combined to maximise the use of fast twitch muscles and to develop more explosive power.

 

The answer is .... by performing fast movements you increase the percentage of fast twitch fibers and decrease the percentage of slow twitch fibers.

 

Fast twitch fibers are used when you lift an extremely heavy weight. They also "take over" when slow twitch fibers become fatigued. But, fast twitch fibers are also used during high-speed trained movements that use lighter weights. You can increase in the percent of fast twitch muscle fibers by doing fast eccentric movements (eccentric is the "lowering" part of a weight exercise). Although high-speed eccentric training can stimulate muscle adaptation, there is a high risk of injury.

 

I would say it is safer to lift fast during the "lifting", rather than the "lowering" part of an exercise.

 

Fast twitch muscle fibers are those that contract quickly, require anaerobic (with out oxygen) energy metabolism of carbs and are used during speed and power activities. Slow twitch muscle fibers are the opposite. These muscle fibers gets their energy aerobically (with oxygen) , and can use both carbs and fat in steady state endurance. Plyometrics are extremely beneficial for training fast twitch muscles.

 

Believe it or not there are tests that can be done (muscle biopsy) to determine your ratio of fast & slow twitch muscles but they are expensive and a little painful.

 

The percentage of both types of muscle fibers you have is genetic, but the majority of "average"people have about an equal amount.

What would be a good percentage of both to have? Which fibers are better at what?

Are plyometircs really all that importan in martil arts?

I recommend training on a heavy bag to develop your fast-twitch muscles. Train movements you plan on using. Make sure your technique is correct. The quickest way to kill power and speed in a technique is to do it incorrectly.

 

MA