WAG how do you measure fast twitch vs slow twitch and why is fast better in gymnastics?

[gardenia01]

Yep. I wasn't fast enough for the sprints and didn't have the endurance for cross country. I got stuck in the no man's land of these two races in high school track. Running them both, heats included, in a meet is torture. Looking back, I have no idea why I did it.

Try running at 85-90% of full sprint for half a mile. That's an 800.

I think the 400 is the worst. It's essentially a full sprint at your anaerobic threshhold the entire time. I ran the 800 and mile in high school and thought the 800 was much easier than the 400, at least if you ran it smart, but maybe that's because I am totally slow twitch. Did anyone catch the men's 800 at the Olympics? David Rudisha is incredible!

 

[BlairBob]

Running them both, heats included, in a meet is torture. Looking back, I have no idea why I did it.

Try running at 85-90% of full sprint for half a mile. That's an 800.

I used to run them both, more often in my 1st year of Track as my 2nd year I focused on Polevault more. We were still required to do more than just 1 event so I would run either or both. I trained and ran the 200m-1mi most often. As well, these were proper I left for preparing me to go military post HS as was my plan.

800 suck but the 400 more so. Your aerobic pathway kicks in around 35 seconds but bare in mind that during those 35 seconds, your ATP and glycolytic energy systems are in gear trying to rejuvenate. So generally the last 100-150 yards/meters suck hard.

800 isn't so difficult because you can set a pace though it's fast. With a 400, it's basically run 90% till 100-150m are left and then increase till you burn out.

The 400 made me puke a lot more than the 800 did. Both were pretty good at making me pass out post finish line. Sometimes I could make it back to our team's camp. Sometimes I walked to the infield or a trash can, threw up and stumbled back to the infield or camp.

 

[BlairBob]

Monkey, her poor performance in running is probably just due to a lack of training it.

Honestly, pushups are not really a good test of muscle fiber types. A pushup contest is testing strength endurance. If anything that's Type IIa more than anything.

If she is short yet has a lot of taller family, I'd suspect lack of kcals and expending too many calories and not intaking enough as the culprit. Or she just got the "short end" of the genetic lottery.

 

[Kiwi]

I think I am very much fast twitch. I never trained athletics but did quite well in athletic sports at school in sprint races, high jump and long jump. I hated to run more than 100m. Even in the 100m race I could feel my muscles tiring in the last 20m. A few years ago I went in a 5km 'fun run' (an oxymoron). I did do some training for it, but I just don't enjoy running. I would rather do something like dancing.

 

[kecks]

everyone tires after about 50 meters in a full out sprint, even usain bolt. to not get slower after the 50m to 60m-mark you need specific speed endurance training (basically repeated runs around 80-95% of top speed with long rest periods in between, something up to 15-20 minutes. it makes you vomit most of the time and the sessions often last 90 minutes.). in german track training this is called "tempoläufe" and sprinters just hate it. you have to do it so, there's no way around it if you want to do your best at the 100. the 200-800m guys do basically the same training - but not once or twice a weak but all the time. 400m is the worst event ever. i hated it so much as an athlete - had only to do it in team relays thank good. 800m oder 200m is not nearly as hard as 400m. i never made it below 56.00 (female, age 17; pretty bad compared to 11.64 for 100), but i hated it anyway. my coach used it as a "motivational consequence" in training ("you beat your previous time in this run, no 400 in the next competition; you don't beet it - 400 it is :-/"^^).

 

[Deleted member D3987]

that's like the 5th time "vomit" was mentioned. and everyone thinks gymnastics is so bad...