I have always thought that the key to success is 5% talent and 95% effort. How could that 5 % of ability influence my achievement in a sport when I give 95% of energy? Idle people often end up at where their start point was because of lack of those 95% hard work. Well, that’s what my mum told me when I used to complain about math homework. But does the laws influence athletes and their sports goals same way as they did to me and my math problem? The existence of different types of muscle fiber says genetics plays a crucial role in whether you will be a successful athlete or not!
Types of Muscle Fibers
Two different types of muscle fibers build up our skeletal system: fast-twitch and slow-twitch. Each of our body muscles contains a different percentage of muscle fibers. The tricky part is that every one of us includes different portions of them, and that means each of us is genetically predestined for a different sport. How would we know whether our game of choice is the right one for us? There are two tests that we could do to solve the following problematic: the Dr. F. Hatfield muscle fiber test and the Charles Poliquin muscle fiber test. For both of the tests, we will need to have these required resources: weight training facilities, professional assistance, and the right exercises.
Muscle Fiber Tests
When we do the Dr. F. Hatfield muscle fiber test, we can choose for example back squat exercise or any other exercise that follows significant strength. Make sure u do the chosen exercise with a loaded bar to 80% of your 1Rmax (one-repetition maximum). For ex. if your 1Rmax on the bench press is 150lbs then you have to do it with one 00lbs. Then, do as many repetitions as your body allows you to do.
Results:
- If you succeed in doing 1-6 repetitions of the exercise, it means your muscles are fast-twitch dominant.
- When you can do 7-9 repetitions, those results show you have a similar amount of fast-twitch as the amount of slow-twitch muscle fibers.
Alternatives when choosing your sport
- Doing more than nine repetitions tells you that you are a slow-twitch dominant person. If you turn out to be fast-twitch dominant, that means you are more likely to achieve better results in doing sports that require an immediate burst of energy, speed, rapid movements and strength, such as sprint and tennis.
– If you are slow-twitch dominant, that means you will be able to take a more prolonged duration exercise and be just the perfect person to run a marathon or be the goalkeeper for your hockey team.
-Your results are between fast and slow-twitch domination; then you are more likely to have complete command over your body in middle-distance running or swimming. In this disciplines, your body uses both the fast-twitched muscle fibers and the slow-twitch muscle fibers.
What to consider before taking the test?
However, it’s essential for the test to show you the right results and to take in consideration the right factors that need to be tested. Even if it considers the right factors while performing, still there are some things that may influence tests results, such as the amount of sleep the person had prior to exposing to test; any medication that the person might be taking; inappropriate warm up before testing, caffeine intake and its time of consumption; when did the person have last meal etc.
But what if you wanted to be a marathon runner and the test shows you are fast-twitch dominant? Disappointing, right? Not if I tell you that these genetically involved parameters could be modified. There is a different kind of exercise program which will make your body strengthen despite its genetics. All you need is that 95% of hard work. For instance,
- – You prefer to activate your fast-twitch muscle fibers more than they genetically are, do some low reps of training. Also, try to add few power exercises and do high-intensity exercises that last less than 15 seconds;
- – If you want to activate your slow-twitch muscle fibers, you should be focused on the slow tempo of working out. Try to do more than six repetitions and use shorter breaks between one and another exercise.
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- Here is a link to our book which has proven in many ways to be very helpful for athletes in achieving their goals and avoiding common mistakes.
10 Harmful Mistakes Athletes Make 2
Well, I guess the same laws of determining our career influence both the mathematicians and the athletes. All we have to do is get on track and work for what the genetics wasn’t so “generous” with us.
KHO Health was acquired by was acquire by 9INE POINT in the summer of 2019 and is now referred to as 9INE POINT Health.
