recruit more muscle fibres

[Lance1965]

Hi everyone, I understand that to have stronger legs they do not necessarily need to be bigger, you just need to use more muscle fibres in each of the muscles involved. My question is, what is the best way to recruit more muscle fibres? Do you need to do more hill work or does all kinds of cycling training do the job?

 

[dm69]

I think you are stuck with the amount of muscle fibre's you've got. Some people have a high percentage of slow twitch some have a high percentage of fast twitch. YOU CAN! convert a percentage of fibres from fast to slow and vice versa but basically you better get used to what you have. As a cyclist you need to work out you're percentage of fast to slow and strengthen your weakness and strengthen your strength . In cycling all of you would know that slow twitch is needed to make it to the end of a race, gain time on climbs, TT well and recover well for multi-day races but often it means nothing if you dont have a strong fast twitch card to play. A lot of the time the fittest guy doesn't win because he can't sprint or because he couldn't handle the constant accelerations.

To answer you're specific question I doubt you can magically make new muscle fibres! I doubt it is any advantage at all to have more fibres than the next guy.

 

[ric_stern/RST]

Hi everyone, I understand that to have stronger legs they do not necessarily need to be bigger, you just need to use more muscle fibres in each of the muscles involved. My question is, what is the best way to recruit more muscle fibres? Do you need to do more hill work or does all kinds of cycling training do the job?

what are you trying to achieve? what are your cycling goals?

ric

 

[netscriber]

I think you are stuck with the amount of muscle fibre's you've got. Some people have a high percentage of slow twitch some have a high percentage of fast twitch.

Curiosity takes over!
Is there an easy way to find out what kind of muscle structure one has?

 

[ric_stern/RST]

Curiosity takes over!
Is there an easy way to find out what kind of muscle structure one has?

muscle biopsy

 

[netscriber]

muscle biopsy

Umm...is that the easy way? Is there a mediocre way? Like jumps or something? Just to get a general feel?

The thought process was triggered by the OP's question. If I want to improve my fast twitch or otherwise I would first need to know my weakness.

 

[ric_stern/RST]

Umm...is that the easy way? Is there a mediocre way? Like jumps or something? Just to get a general feel?

The thought process was triggered by the OP's question. If I want to improve my fast twitch or otherwise I would first need to know my weakness.

power profiling. do you sprint well or like me!?

 

[netscriber]

power profiling. do you sprint well or like me!?

I have the typical jack of all profile. Sprinting was never one of my traits.

 

[dm69]

I have the typical jack of all profile. Sprinting was never one of my traits.

well if you can't sprint all that well and you are better at endurance events then you are mostly slow twitch. I don't see how finding out teh exact percentage is going to help...you need to strengthen your strength and your weakness.

if you're worried about your sprint do some track riding, ask for some advice from better sprinters, get you're position right, get some really tight pedals, do some sprints in training 5-15 seconds in little gears and big big gears uphill and downhill, work on high cadence and lastly do more track riding!

trust me I have this problem- very slow twitch...I haven't given my sprint much attention.

Apparently weight training can convert some slow twitch muscle's to fast twitch and big endurance rides every day (base training) can have the opposite effect.

 

[Billsworld]

power profiling. do you sprint well or like me!?

Hey Rick....Ok I got a sprinter profile. Have you had any clients work from 18watts per kg to 20-22? How long? Do you feel its more of a coordination issue.?

 

[ric_stern/RST]

Hey Rick....Ok I got a sprinter profile. Have you had any clients work from 18watts per kg to 20-22? How long? Do you feel its more of a coordination issue.?

Yes. Weights and lots of bike riding. sorry can't recall how long it took.

ric

 

[velomanct]

Hey Rick....Ok I got a sprinter profile. Have you had any clients work from 18watts per kg to 20-22? How long? Do you feel its more of a coordination issue.?

Bill, you can certainly make that improvement. It just takes lots of practice and training. I think it's very important for a sprinter to figure out when/how they perform their best. Once you know those conditions, replicate it as best as possible. You've got to be firing on all cylinders in order to get a benifit from a sprint workout. I can tell when I am not recruiting all of my muscles, and I HATE it. But when I do get them all to fire right, it's the best thing in the world.

Practice practice practice.

(I went from 16w/kg to ....let's say a lot, in 2 years ) You can do it, you got the strength base too.

 

[Billsworld]

Yes. Weights and lots of bike riding. sorry can't recall how long it took.

ric

Coming from a gym background I have always stuggled with the constant advice given to sprinters to ride more. I hear it from every reputable source, so I have to believe it true. Question is , why would you take fiber that is being trained to contract hard for short distances on a day/month , and on another day/month train it to ride at L2345 with no negative effect to the desired goal.? I havnt been racing long, but even the mass start track racing seem a bit L5ish to me....Where does the non l6, L7 work begin to have a negative effect on the sprinter.....Good subject for a 100 page book

 

[ric_stern/RST]

Coming from a gym background I have always stuggled with the constant advice given to sprinters to ride more. I hear it from every reputable source, so I have to believe it true. Question is , why would you take fiber that is being trained to contract hard for short distances on a day/month , and on another day/month train it to ride at L2345 with no negative effect to the desired goal.? I havnt been racing long, but even the mass start track racing seem a bit L5ish to me....Where does the non l6, L7 work begin to have a negative effect on the sprinter.....Good subject for a 100 page book

brief response... the track sprinters i've worked with had their main goal of a kilo. approx 40% of energy is derived aerobically in a kilo, so a fair amount of work is needed.

ric

 

[Billsworld]

I guess I was hoping for a bit more, .....When looking at the Aussie programs ,they are so specific. The big 200/Kerrin guys can also Kilo without alot of L2345 work.??? I know they are hand selected pampered pros, but the programs seem geared towards the specificity of the 3 fast events without too much endurance. ???