Fast twitch?

From another thread: > I have no interest in short distances since I have no fast-twitch fibers to speak of. It's been decades since I was a physiology student, but I have to wonder if fast twitch fibers would be really all that useful to swimming, even to the short sprints. Maybe for 25s. I would think that larger cross sectional area of the swimming musculature (more available power) and the ability to recruit more muscle fibers simultaneously (using a larger fraction of the power on tap) would be more important for sprinting. Are there published studies which demonstrate that drop dead sprinters have a significantly different distribution of fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers than the rest of the swimming population?
Parents
  • I can't explain Dara except that maybe she missed her true calling, but this does explain why you're able to blast from the 50 to the 1650. patrick, to my recollection i have not swum the 1650 since 1987. swc champs to be exact. if my aged memory is correct. were you and i both in the finals? egad why do i even want to remember that let alone do it again???
Reply
  • I can't explain Dara except that maybe she missed her true calling, but this does explain why you're able to blast from the 50 to the 1650. patrick, to my recollection i have not swum the 1650 since 1987. swc champs to be exact. if my aged memory is correct. were you and i both in the finals? egad why do i even want to remember that let alone do it again???
Children
No Data