Speed Training Secrets

Part 4 - Why does training with repetitions wipe out the fast twitch response in a muscle?

This is the 4th of 8 in a series about maximizing speed and quickness in your specific sport.

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Remember, for optimum speed there are two things that need to happen:

First, the muscle’s memory needs to be ‘programmed’ so that the muscle contracts instinctively to the exact distance and with the same motion as the athletic skill.

Second, the speed at which the muscles contract needs to be maximized by fast twitch muscle fibers.

Have you ever tried to throw a baseball, swing a bat or golf club or kick a football after lifting weights or doing plyometric exercises?

Immediately after doing strength training these athletic skills cannot be done very effectively. Why? Because all of these athletic skills require that your muscles have a specific target distance to contract to very quickly.

However, the fast twitch response within your muscles gets wiped-out or stripped away with strength training. This happens because the repetitions in weight lifting causes your muscle’s memory to become ‘confused’ in regards to having an exact distance to contract to when performing an athletic skill.

This is what’s known as ‘dumbing-down’ your muscles and is why you’ll always feel tired, heavy and sluggish (i.e., slow) following weight training or plyometric training.

Here is an example: Have you ever tried to comb your hair after a weight lifting session? It’s a weird sensation like your muscles have lost their ability to make instinctive movements on their own.

Repetitions with weights create multiple (even an infinite number of) stopping points within the range of motion, whereas muscle speed is optimal when the stopping point is well defined.

Training programs that cause the muscle to make repetitive movements are not capable of conditioning the muscle to respond with the lightening like speed that it is capable of.

With weight training or even plyometrics training, the slow twitch muscle fibers will become stronger to do more repetitions and to move heavier loads, however, with regards to speed

* The fast twitch fibers, for the purposes of speed and quickness, are basically ignored, and

* The fast twitch response programmed into your muscle memory gets wiped out.

When your ‘muscle memory’ gets wiped-out, your muscles need to ‘rethink’ how they will perform a task. Until the memory is reestablished, movements will be slower and more awkward.

Now, there may appear to be an increase of speed associated with many types of training but do not confuse an increase in muscle contraction speed with an increase in coordination you may develop in performing certain plyometric exercises.

Certainly better coordination will help you perform an athletic skill, and increased coordination is common to all types of training that’s done on a daily basis, but it is only the first step towards developing blazing speed and quickness.

When training to increase muscle speed, you should feel lighter and more responsive following a workout. This is because your muscle memory and your fast twitch muscle fibers will have improved in their ability to perform their natural functions - that is speed and quickness. And training for this type of speed should not be strenuous or time consuming.

The one thing that will give added speed and quicknessÂ to your sports skills is increasing muscle contraction speed. And that means getting a fast twitch response by conditioning your fast twitch fibers specifically for speed and quickness.

Sometimes what we have been taught to believe makes it hard to get past negative thinking.

Make sure you read this article which will explain more about what I have just talked about:

“Today’s isometrics outperforms plyometrics and other programs for speed training.“

http://www.athleticquickness.com/page.asp?page_id=47&source=AR-04b

Next Time: Fast Twitch Fibers and Fast Twitch Response: Why having muscles with a specific target distance to contract to is critical to superior speed.

Always glad to help!

Dr. Larry Van Such

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 11th, 2007 at 11:14 am and is filed under Lessons in Speed Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 Responses to “Part 4 - Why does training with repetitions wipe out the fast twitch response in a muscle?”

Alfred Kobe Says:
November 4th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Hey Dr Such thank you so much first off.This is really helpin me am gainin the speed.But i have a question. To have the described speed, one has to build a strength base. So what about the pro athelettes like Michael Jordan? You and i both know that he was fastest but he also did reps in the gym.So how can one be able to have good memory of the fast twitch fibres? Because in basketball you have to be strong.So how can one maintain the speed? Thanks Doc
Larry Van Such Says:
November 4th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Alfred, You may find these two articles helpful. One gives some tips on how to combine both speed and strength training into your workout program and the other talks about why it is important to train for speed and strength separately.

http://www.athleticquickness.com/page.asp?page_id=91

http://www.athleticquickness.com/page.asp?page_id=90
Philip Freeman Says:
December 5th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
So after the memory in the fast twitch fiber muscles are established, does it go away sooner or later once weight lifting starts again? Or does it slow it down? How can I keep the speed up or muscle contraction memory, but continue to lift weights?
Bob Says:
December 8th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Philip, You can find some good tips in this article that will help you maintain your muscle contraction speed and continue to lift weigths.

http://www.athleticquickness.com/page.asp?page_id=91
Bryant S. Says:
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
What is a good age to start training a kid with this training method
Bob Says:
December 24th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
I’ve heard of kids starting in this training when they were 7 and seeing good results. If a kid was say, 11, and was motivated to do this training, then I would say that was not too early to get started.
howard davis Says:
January 6th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Is it ok to do weight training and speed training on the same day or different days?
gary Hearst Says:
January 13th, 2009 at 8:20 am
I have read all the articles to date in this series. What I have not been able to determine is exactly what exercises s/b performed for fast twitch muscles and what exercises s/b performed to help increase speed. The articles all speak of why fast twitch muscles are not being utilized but nothing re: how to train for fast twitch performance.
Bob Says:
January 13th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Gary, Go to http://www.athleticquickness.com/fastmuscles.asp. You will find a video towards the bottom of the page that demonstrates an exercise to increase muscle contraction speed. This one exercise will increase sprinting speed by conditioning the thigh flexor muscles for speed.
eddie Says:
January 16th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
is a free 30 day trial or something like that?
Bob Says:
January 16th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Eddie, the closest thing to a free trial is found at:

http://www.speedtrainingchallenge.com
Peacemaker Says:
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I’m a little bit suspicous about these programs. One of my friends is a little pro on the “speed” subject. He says that this is total BS and that I’m wasting my time. Please respond!
chris Says:
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I was wondering, how do you maintain good shape with endurance, and still be able to concentrate specifically on the fast twitch muscles for speed? Is it possible to do both or one or the other?
Larry Van Such Says:
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Hi Peacemaker,

Most athletes, coaches and trainers come from a weight training background, and since it is difficult for most to accept something different from what they already believe, their initial response is almost always negative - and they hate being wrong.

Most trainers equate isometrics with a weight training strategy to get stronger. That’s not what we are talking about. We are not trying to replace your strength training program. Appropriate strength is necessary for any successful athlete.

And trainers equate resistance bands as a replacement for weights, again in a strength training program, that is with repetitions.

We encourage athletes to develop their strength. We also know that speed is important, the kind of speed that comes from muscles that contract rapidly. You will not hear coaches and trainers talk about muscle contract speed, they will always talk about the speed that comes from additional strength, but that does not always happen. And is why many are frustrated and disappointed with their speed gains.

Isometrics with the resistance band has proven to be very effective at increasing muscle contraction speed and improving athletic performance.

It’s hard to say that you could be wasting your time when you only need to spend a few minutes each day doing these exercises. Only you can know for yourself if these exercises will increase your speed and improve your athletic performance, by faithfully following the program, as thousands of others have done. The effectiveness of the program is revealed in athletes that have experienced it for themselves. Here is the link to what those who have used the program are saying.

http://www.athleticquickness.com/page.asp?page_id=66
Matias Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Seeing that performing repetitions does not increase your speed or quickness does this mean that a speed and agility ladder does not increase your speed and quickness? And just out of interest, do calf raises increase fast twitch fibers?

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Part 4 - Why does training with repetitions wipe out the fast twitch response in a muscle?

15 Responses to “Part 4 - Why does training with repetitions wipe out the fast twitch response in a muscle?”

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