Muscle Fiber Test (easy to do)

Here is a muscle fiber test I learned to do at camp, we are all born with a certain mix of type 1 and type 2 muscle fibers, and no matter how hard you train you cannot really change the percentages of which muscle fibers you have.

Its good to test to see what percentages you have of these, It takes a lab test to get the exact percentage (they remove a piece of muscle from your body, freeze it, slice it up, and look at it under a microscope, sounds expensive and painful)

But you can get a general idea of what kind of fibers you have by simply going to a wieght gym:
Using a Lever leg extension machine
Heres How:
Be sure that you are doing the FULL leg extension
1. Go to a gym with a leg-extension lifting machine
2. Do 10 reps at an easy weightload after warming up and stretching
3. Take a 30 second rest
4. do 5 reps at a medium wieghtload, should take a little "umph" but not too much.
5. Take one minute rest
6. Do 1 repetition of your MAX wieghtload, (obviously, since its your max you can only do one rep)
7.Take a minute rest
8. Now reduce wieghtload to 75% of your MAX and do repetitions UNTIL FAILURE
9. End

*Note: It is a good idea to find your max before doing this exercise, as you will only waste energy testing what wieghtload you can only do one repetition on during the course of the expierement. It is also good to have the amount that is 75% of your max calculated beforehand. making steps 6 and 8 simpler.

**BE SURE TO DO FULL EXTENSION OF THE LIFTING MACHINE! going halfway does not count as a full rep!

GUIDELINES:

Step #8:

# of repetitions accomplished before failure=

1-4= Large percentage of Type 2 (fast twitch) fibers, consider a career as a sprinter.

4-8= Majority of fibers are type 2, fast twitch.

9-10= Even Steven, about a 50/50 split between type 1 and type 2

11-14= Majority of fibers are type 1 (slow twitch) good for mid distance.

14-18= Large amount of type one fibers, 5k-15k is your game

18-22= Future marathoner

30+= Ultra-Marathoner

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Test is flawed, see link I have posted below for the correct test.

sounds like 222 much work for me.

That's a pretty cool thing to know; I'm going to try it tomorrow.
Thanks for posting

I'm willing to try it because i've always been really curious to see what kind of fibers I have, but i'm not sure how accurate that is.

i dont really go to the gym...whats a lever leg extension machine?
that sounds like something i'll have to try as i am quite curious myself.

Dont take this test too seriously, IT does provide a good idea of what kind of fibers you have, but not to the point that you should change all your future plans as a runner if you end up going to low or too high on the number of reps.

After all, everyone is different.

Thanks, I'm going to try that.

My legs were a little sore when I started, but I still managed to do thirty two reps...
I always knew I had no sprint speed, but didn't think I'd be so extreme on the type 1 end haha.

baby got track x3 wrote:My legs were a little sore when I started, but I still managed to do thirty two reps...
I always knew I had no sprint speed, but didn't think I'd be so extreme on the type 1 end haha.

was your max load really your max or could you have gone heavier
there for making the 75% heavier and thus lowering you rep count

Running With Scissors wrote:

baby got track x3 wrote:My legs were a little sore when I started, but I still managed to do thirty two reps...
I always knew I had no sprint speed, but didn't think I'd be so extreme on the type 1 end haha.

was your max load really your max or could you have gone heavier
there for making the 75% heavier and thus lowering you rep count

I could just barely do it. There's no way I could have gone heavier.

then you must be a long long distance runner
but like trackaholic send this could be off

True.
I am going to try it again eventually, because there is always a possibility that I messed up elsewhere.

Sounds cool, but I probably won't end up trying it. I don't like going to the gym, and I don't think this would affect how I train.

I recalled this entire test from memory,
the likelihood that youd did 30+ is very rare. The guy admininstering the test to us said the best he ever saw was 26 (guys, girls, highschoolers, adults included)

So either I screwed up in recalling the test from memory, or you should consider a career in ultra marathoning.

I am going to look the test up to see if I screwed up.
If I did, I apologize for wasting your time with it.
If i didnt, congrats! lol

I found this, but it is ENTIRELY different not only from what I wrote here, but from what we did at the camp.

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/muscle-and-muscle-fibers.html

15 minutes rest? Wtf??

We had a littlelecture on how this test works. by doing the easy, medium, and then one repetition maximuim, you wear out all your fast twitch muscles. Before your fast twitch muscles recover, you lower the wieght and continue the repetitions. The lowered wieght works ONLY your slow twitch muscles (seeing as your fast twitch are still worn out and recovering), so if you have an abundant supply of them, you can do many more reps till failure. If however you can only do a few that means that you have very little slow twitch muscles and are fast twitch dominant.

the problem is, with that test, the allocate 15 minutes rest before hitting the lowered wieght! in 15 minutes, your fast twitch muscles will have recovered easily.

So I am doubting the legiticamy of that source.

However, they only lower there max by 20%, not 25%. Do you think 5% more wieght would make that much of a difference for baby got track?

IDK, im still looking to see if I can find the exact test we did.

I'm not sure you ever do anything that involves only slow- or fast-twitch fibers. Even long runs help recruit fast twitch fibers if they're long enough.

FOUND IT!!!

I am so sorry people, It seems I have ade an error in recalling this test from memory. But I have found a legitimate source for the same test, but it is done quite differently.

The original test I wrote above was EXACTLY what we did, at least as far as I can remember, but for some reason it did not yield the same results. Maybe there was a factor I forgot? IDK, but I apologize to baby got track and anyone who took time to do the test I wrote above. It is flawed.

However, I have found the correct test online, so if you are still interested in the composition of your muscle fibers, just go here:

http://healthfitness.com.au/calculators/training/muscle_fiber_type.htm

funrunner wrote:I'm not sure you ever do anything that involves only slow- or fast-twitch fibers. Even long runs help recruit fast twitch fibers if they're long enough.

No you do not, but it will benefit you if you have a large percentage of either. Yes, you use some fast twitch fibers on your long runs, but not NEARLY as much as your slow twitch. vice versa for sprinting and such.

A man or woman with 90% fast twitch fibers will never be a great marathoner, END OF STORY.
A man or woman with 90% Slow twitch fibers will never be a great sprinter, END OF STORY.

also it does nto NEED to be a lever leg extension machine, but lifting Machines will be so much more conveniant because you can switch the wieght quickly.

It's okay Trackaholic, I really don't want to be an ultramarathoner haha. Thanks for posting the link to the actual test and everything, I might give that one a shot eventually.