Quote Originally Posted by Missy View Post
hmm, does someone have some science to back this up? I'm sure I've read that you can't change the ratio you were born with BUT you can train to enhance one or the other. Perhaps that is what you meant.

Nut how do you perform low intensity plyometrics? Afterall even skipping is plyometric
yeah... if we're talking low intensity plyos then we're basically talking calisthenics, right?

To my knowledge, you can't change the amount of muscle cells that you have... you can simply make those cells grow bigger/have better neurological responses etc... different exercises may target certain muscle types and develop those more than others.

That's why I think it's mostly untrue when people say that an increase in muscle mass automatically means a decrease in speed... if done wrong then definitely... but I think that's getting more into the realms of physics - on a cellular level training your slow twitch fibres isn't going to magically slow down your fast twitch fibres... I can't think of any biological reason why it would.

It's neglecting to train the fast twitch fibres to improve that is the problem... and adding dead mass which doesn't do anything... again this is to do with physics rather than the make up of the muscles.

Everything I used to do was fast twitch... plyos and sprint training etc. Fast twitch muscles contract to their maximum output faster than slow twitch but if you don't increase your max strength with that you're going to plateau.

If you can propel 50kg X mph during a plyo exercise but you can only lift up to 6okg properly doing the same exercise then your fast twitch training will not progress as quickly as it could in my opinion because no matter how much one exercise targets certain muscle types they are all required and support each other... the same goes for energy systems.