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Rep ranges are a funny thing. Lots of people talk about
by Ray L Burton
http://www.buildingbodies.ca/get-fit.shtml
Generally, lower repetitions like 3-8 are most productive
for creating absolute strength. Repetitions in the medium
range like 10-20 produce anaerobic strength endurance. The
higher rep ranges between 20-40 produce aerobic strength
endurance.
The reason for such varied ranges even within a category
of rep range is because people will take varying amounts
of time to complete the rep. We know that it is not the
actual number of reps but the time that the muscle is
under tension that really causes the adaptative response.
So if you do 4 reps that take 6 seconds each and I do 6
reps that take 4 seconds each, we have both worked in the
3-8 range and caused that adaptation response that would be
caused by putting a muscle under 24 seconds of tension.
Now on to fiber types. There are actually 3 major types of
muscle fibers in the body that we are concerned with. Type
1, type 2a and type 2b. Some people have natural tendencies
to do well at certain activities more so than others and
this is because of the ratio of one muscle fiber type to
another, among other things. Type 1 muscle fibers (or slow
twitch muscle fibers,sometime called red) are your
endurance muscle fibers because they are very resistant to
fatigue and injuries. The sad part is that their ability to
produce power is very low also.
Type 2a muscle fibers (fast twitch intermediate muscle
fibers, sometimes called white) are much larger and
stronger than type 1 muscle fibers. These fibers have a
high capacity for glycolytic activity and can produce high
force output for longer periods of time.
Type 2b muscle fibers are the extreme end of the power
scale. These are the survival fibers. The whole purpose for
2b muscle fibers is to allow enough power and strength to
survive emergency situations. Sixteen percent of an
inactive persons body is 2b fibers. Now even though these
fibers are powerful, they have no resistance to fatigue or
injury. Fact of the matter is that if and when you need to
use these guys, most untrained people will damage that
tissue beyond repair.
Now I've said all that to say this. Research has show that
it is the white muscle fibers, the type 2a and 2b that give
the greatest returns in size and strength when trained.
These white muscle fibers are for high force output, that
means lots of calories burned along with a tissue that
requires alot of calories to stay alive.
So what about the red muscle fibers, the type 1? Well your
body becomes efficient at what it is needed for. So if all
you do is only cardio and other high rep activities, your
body is going to favour the development of type 1 muscle
fibers and in the end rob you of your ability to achieve
your maximum strength, size and power. What if strength,
size and power are not your goals? Well not having at least
some of those attributes will result in a supressed
metabolic rate. That means you will not burn as many
calories in a day. This means that if you are on a weight
loss program, you need to work the type 2a muscle fibers
in the 10-12 rep range in order to boost your metabolism
and stay strong and healthy.
Now the body can only handle increasing levels of stimulus
in a particular area for a given amount of time. This is
why in the FAT TO FIT program you will find three totally
differant workouts, each stressing a differant muscle fiber
type for a given period of time. An individualized program
has the majority of the workout time spent in the phase
that best effects the goal that is trying to be achieved.
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