Fast twitch?

RE: Fast twitch?

Gary P — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 11:05:33 GMT

I'm guessing my fiber composition is 0% slow twitch and 67% percent FT. The remaining percent is just missing Never been tested, but if I were I'd guess they'd find my composition to be 25% fast-twitch, 25% slow-twitch, and 50% no-twitch.

RE: Fast twitch?

Patrick W. Brundage — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 04:08:58 GMT

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???OK, I stand corrected ... 50 to 1000, but I'm confident you could knock out a great 1650. As for SWC champs, unfortunately, I know I swam it every year, but I think '87 was the only year I swam it well. I would really love to find old copies of meet results for those years as that was in my pre-blogging, but post-notebook-logging days of swimming. Freshman year, I actually typed all my workouts into whatever word processor came with my Mac, but, alas, those files are lost now. I really wish I had them, though.

RE: Fast twitch?

StewartACarroll — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 03:13:05 GMT

myself was 55% red (the slow) and 45% white (the fast). This maybe the case but ewoks are obviously faster per inch than humans. However you interpret the data you are one fast little ewok!!!! :)

RE: Fast twitch?

m2tall2 — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 03:02:53 GMT

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. Odd, I just watched a video on Dara Torres this weekend where she herself says that only her results and one other teammate were 75% fast twitch and the others were closer to 50/50. It's somewhere in this mess: http://youtu.be/lQsdJiT1OQM If I have time later I'll find the correct spot.

RE: Fast twitch?

Former Member — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 16:43:55 GMT

i have actually had a muscle biopsy done to determine muscle composition. in 1983, 24 of us from MVN were lab rats for the University of Irvine and the USOC. we did all kinds of test, leg dyno, vo2 on swim bench, stretch distance, vertical leap, lung capacity, bicep curl.... i forget exactly how may it was, but the very last thing was...a nice little shot of novacain in your thigh to deaden the skin the razor blade to open the skin (yes i still have the scar) and then the knitting needle sized biopsy plunge. imagine someone shoving a pencil into your thigh. of those 24, at least 3 of them (mike o'brien, tiffany cohen, and then infamous dara torres) won olympic gold medals the next year. i think amy white was also part of the group and won a silver. others in the group that also made the '88 olympic team included dan jorgensen and tammy bruce. why do i bring this all up? because dara (worlds best in the 50m free at the time) had the LEAST fast twitch muscle of all of us. according to her thigh muscle composition, she should have been a distance racer not the worlds best sprinter. if i remember correctly she was 75% red and 25% white. myself was 55% red (the slow) and 45% white (the fast). sometimes muscle composition makes a difference and sometimes it does not. btw, when UoI and USOC came back in early '84 for us do the the same tests again, but this time on our shoulder, mark said "not only no but hell no". all 24 of our thighs took 2 weeks to recover and there was no way that was going to happen to our shoulders. steve - the human rat Because, stating the obvious, swimming is very technical versus running, and there are many and more dynamic variables at play. We've all seen mega fit and powerful people floundering around in the pool...

RE: Fast twitch?

__steve__ — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 12:31:47 GMT

I'm guessing my fiber composition is 0% slow twitch and 67% percent FT. The remaining percent is just missing

RE: Fast twitch?

Patrick W. Brundage — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 12:22:34 GMT

because dara (worlds best in the 50m free at the time) had the LEAST fast twitch muscle of all of us. according to her thigh muscle composition, she should have been a distance racer not the worlds best sprinter. if i remember correctly she was 75% red and 25% white. myself was 55% red (the slow) and 45% white (the fast).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.

RE: Fast twitch?

orca1946 — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 12:22:26 GMT

Sometimes ,it seems, personal dedication trumps given talent.

RE: Fast twitch?

sunruh — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 08:55:23 GMT

RE: Fast twitch?

knelson — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 04:39:10 GMT

I can't explain Dara except that maybe she missed her true calling Two bits she could have also been a fantastic distance swimmer, but had no interest in swimming distance!

RE: Fast twitch?

sunruh — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 04:23:19 GMT

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???

RE: Fast twitch?

orca1946 — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 12:48:37 GMT

If we look at the bodies of really fast swimmers, they tend to be large,tall people. I think it is a combination of both rather than one.

RE: Fast twitch?

ForceDJ — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 11:56:49 GMT

Like Sumo, I came into swimming from a T&F/distance running background. In HS our distance coach would have us do drills that 'supposedly' increased fast-twitch muscle fibers (e.g. Sets of downhill sprints). Not sure if it really worked. But unlike in running, in swimming I think the athlete's physical makeup comes into play more. All other things being equal...two swimmers with identical stature, muscle distribution and make-up, stroke, etc. The only difference is that one swimmer has slightly larger hands, while the other has more fast-twitch muscle fiber. What's the possibility of the larger hands trumping the fast-twitch muscles? Dan

RE: Fast twitch?

Sumorunner — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 10:38:04 GMT

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? I'd certainly like to know that since I come from a track & field background and that's what is ingrained in my head. Sprints and throwing events are all about recruiting fast twitch muscle cells. An BTW Skip, I worked at GE R&D for many years.