Have you ever noticed people who seem to train just as hard as you, or maybe even less, but have more speed, better endurance or build leaner muscles more quickly? Why is that?

It’s because we are not all created equal. Genetics plays an important role in the way we respond to training and exercise. Our anatomy & physiology is all basically the same but small differences, combined with the way we use and train what we are born with, can actually result in big differences.

Exercise physiology is about improving performance by knowing how the body functions during exercise and using scientific principles to allow your body to train better, perform better and recover quicker.

In exercise, the most important part of your anatomy is the muscles. That does not mean the other parts of your anatomy (heart, lungs, bones etc) are not important but your muscles make you move and perform the actual exercise. They also respond quite quickly to the right training and exercise (& detraining just as quickly when you stop exercising).

Muscle cells

Muscle cells are the long cylindrical cells that contain protein strands called actin & myosin. When calcium is released as a result of nerve stimulation, actin & myosin slide towards each other to shorten (contract) the muscle. They contain structures called mitochondria that are responsible for producing the energy required to perform exercise. They are supplied with an extensive network of blood vessels called capillaries, which deliver oxygen and other nutrients necessary to produce energy, as well as remove the waste products of energy production.

Slow twitch muscles

• Are better suited to endurance type activities
• Are connected to slower firing nerve fibres
• Have the right chemical components to produce enough energy for long periods of time
• Have a good supply of fuel to produce the energy for endurance exercise
  Fast twitch muscles
  Are better suited to short duration, fast, powerful activities
  Are connected to fast firing nerve fibres
• Have the right chemical components to produce large amounts of energy in the shortest time for rapid and/or powerful exercise

Did you know...

The red and white meat in chicken or turkey is actually different types of muscle. The red meat of the legs is actually slow twitch muscle and the white meat of the breast is the fast twitch muscle.