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Are You Explosive: Functional Strength Explained

  • December 7, 2009 1:20 pm

Step into a gym and what do you notice first? The big guys right. What some people are able to transform their bodies into amazes all of us at some point or another. Men who look like descendants of Hercules himself. It is only natural for us to want to try and imitate these icons of strength and fitness, but before you set about training to be nothing but huge, ask yourself this. Do you just want to be able to move weight around, or be strong and immensely quick, explosive as I like to call it. The difference is this: being able to jump higher, run faster and exert force as quickly as possible versus having the ability to bench 300 pounds slowly or squat 500 pounds even slower. Ridiculous examples but I think you get the point. The mechanical difference is the types of muscle fibers we recruit to perform certain tasks.

There are two types of muscle fibers, fast-twitch and slow-twitch or TypeII and TypeI. Within the TypeII class there are fast-oxidative-glycolytic TypeIIa and fast-glycolytic TypeIIb fibers. Contrary to what some people believe, both exert the same amount of force, it is simply the rate at which they do so that varies.

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What is fitness? A Misunderstood Word

  • December 7, 2009 10:59 am

When asked what it means to be physically fit, most people respond by answering that it means being athletic, thin, strong, fast or any combination of the latter. This is still a broad definition. Since this blog’s purpose is to help explain what fitness is and how one can be fit, I find it necessary to define the term.

For our purposes, fitness is the epitome of health. Now this might seem bizarre or incorrect, but a properly executed fitness regimen will provide excellent health benefits. Merely exercising and dieting by no means produce fitness though. For example, someone who runs everyday but is on a high carbohydrate, low fat and medium protein intake  diet is at risk of developing atherosclerotic disease, among a slew of other things. Fitness then is a compound measurement of many key areas.

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