kerelybonto
doo-di-doo-di-dum doo-di-dum doo-di-doo-di-dum
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- May 6, 2002
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Satori, those 'soccer players do it for ninety minutes without protection' shirts are cool, but running five miles or so in ninety minutes really isn't too difficult. No, I probably couldn't do it, but I could if I trained for it.
Now, I'm not taking anything away from endurance sports. But it is a fact that there is much more you can do to improve endurance than you can do to become faster, quicker, and more agile.
There are two basic muscle types, aptly named Type I and Type II. Type I muscle fibers are called 'slow-twitch' fibers, since they contract more slowly than Type II fibers. They are gained from low-intensity workout, and are high-endurance, oxidative muscles. Distance runners, cyclers, etc, have a very high percentage of Type I muscle fibers.
Type II fibers are very different. Called, 'fast-twitch' because they contract much more quickly than Type I fibers, they come in three types -- IIA, IIB, and IID (I don't know what happened to IIC either). I won't bore you, but IIB fibers are called 'pure' fast muscle, and IIA are 'hybrid' fast muscle. IID is much less common and less understood. (It's kind of a cross-type that can develop into another, but ...) Type II muscle fiber cannot be gained as easily as Type I fiber, and further, training that does build Type II fiber tends to convert IIB to IIA, from 'pure' to 'hybrid.'
Type IIB is actually the more explosive muscle type, and that's where my view of a 'natural' athlete comes in. With enough work, pretty much anyone can gain a lot of Type I or Type IIA muscle. But they will never be able to have as much Type IIB muscle as those people who are genetically given it. (That's percentage-wise, of course. You're not going to be a world-class athlete if you're a lazy ****, even if you're the most naturally gifted guy around.)
So Maurice Greene, Kobe Bryant, Randy Moss -- those are guys who are extremely naturally gifted. Obviously Lance Armstrong and Khalid Khannouchi are exceptionally gifted, too. But for the most part, you can't be like Mike -- but with enough work you might be able to run that marathon in two and half hours.
So anyway, that's my view on that, and that's why I voted basketball.
kerelybonto
Now, I'm not taking anything away from endurance sports. But it is a fact that there is much more you can do to improve endurance than you can do to become faster, quicker, and more agile.
There are two basic muscle types, aptly named Type I and Type II. Type I muscle fibers are called 'slow-twitch' fibers, since they contract more slowly than Type II fibers. They are gained from low-intensity workout, and are high-endurance, oxidative muscles. Distance runners, cyclers, etc, have a very high percentage of Type I muscle fibers.
Type II fibers are very different. Called, 'fast-twitch' because they contract much more quickly than Type I fibers, they come in three types -- IIA, IIB, and IID (I don't know what happened to IIC either). I won't bore you, but IIB fibers are called 'pure' fast muscle, and IIA are 'hybrid' fast muscle. IID is much less common and less understood. (It's kind of a cross-type that can develop into another, but ...) Type II muscle fiber cannot be gained as easily as Type I fiber, and further, training that does build Type II fiber tends to convert IIB to IIA, from 'pure' to 'hybrid.'
Type IIB is actually the more explosive muscle type, and that's where my view of a 'natural' athlete comes in. With enough work, pretty much anyone can gain a lot of Type I or Type IIA muscle. But they will never be able to have as much Type IIB muscle as those people who are genetically given it. (That's percentage-wise, of course. You're not going to be a world-class athlete if you're a lazy ****, even if you're the most naturally gifted guy around.)
So Maurice Greene, Kobe Bryant, Randy Moss -- those are guys who are extremely naturally gifted. Obviously Lance Armstrong and Khalid Khannouchi are exceptionally gifted, too. But for the most part, you can't be like Mike -- but with enough work you might be able to run that marathon in two and half hours.
So anyway, that's my view on that, and that's why I voted basketball.
kerelybonto