Muscle fiber composition and riding strengths

[Owlie]

Does anyone know if there's a connection between relative amounts of each type of muscle fiber and riding strengths (climber vs. sprinter)? It makes sense that there would be one between type I vs type II amounts and being a spinner vs. a masher. I was just wondering if there was a more general connection.

I'd do a literature search, but no longer being a student means I no longer have journal access. :(

[Zen]

Sure there is but I'm too busy too look it up.
It's just individual physiology. Like in track, some people are fast twitch(sprinters) and some are slow twitch (distance).

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/MuscleFiberType.htm

[Owlie]

See, that I knew, but what I can find gives a general "distance cycling uses predominantly type I fibers".

[Zen]

You want something like a percentage?
I doubt that's available. How would they obtain that information?
Cyclist cadaver donations?

[OakLeaf]

I'm always amazed when I read about these studies that involve multiple quadriceps biopsies. :eek: Who would volunteer for that? Ow! Ow! Ow! It's no wonder the sample sizes are usually so small.

[Owlie]

I'm always amazed when I read about these studies that involve multiple quadriceps biopsies. :eek: Who would volunteer for that? Ow! Ow! Ow! It's no wonder the sample sizes are usually so small.

Broke college students? I had a biochem professor who told us about a researcher at UT Austin who did a lot of muscle studies. Apparently this guy wouldn't put his subjects through a test that he wouldn't be willing to do on himself...the end result was that he had a lot of scars on his thighs...

It would make sense that cyclists tend to have a high proportion of type I fibers (although it's pretty true for humans generally). My question is: Within that, do sprinters possess a greater proportion of type IIb fibers and climbers a greater proportion of type IIa? Or is it general physique that makes a climber (you know, short and skinny)?

[Zen]

Or is it general physique that makes a climber (you know, short and skinny)?

Cadel Evans and Alberto Contador.
Discuss.

[Owlie]

Cadel Evans and Alberto Contador.
Discuss.

Huh?

[OakLeaf]

Evans http://www.chine-informations.com/images/upload2/cadel_evans.jpg
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 64 kg (140 lb; 10.1 st)


Contador http://www.inewscatcher.com/timages/5a8d4029625012f036f92b5ac4b30b80.jpg
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Weight 60 kg (130 lb)


(Skinny you can see, the near-nonexistent head tubes give you a clue as to their height. The TT shots just give you a better view of their thighs than the climbing shots generally do.)

[redrhodie]

I'd like to see Cavendish in comparison to a pure climber.

[OakLeaf]

http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Tour+de+France+2009+Stage+Eighteen+Individual+xs-9PPkmNVnl.jpg

Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 69 kg (150 lb)



Chunky by comparison. That's those sprinter's thighs.

[Zen]

I'd like to see Cavendish in comparison to a pure climber.

"pure climber"?
If AC isn't a climber I don't know who is.

[redrhodie]

"pure climber"?
If AC isn't a climber I don't know who is.

Contador will do. He's a pure climber, for sure. :p

[redrhodie]

It's interesting to look at them all together like that. It looks to me, and this could be due to lighting, pedal position, or amount of force being used by each rider, that AC's muscles are the least defined.

[Zen]

I can't make a judgment until I see both with less pants

[Bike Chick]

Zen, you crack me up!!!

[Owlie]

Didn't we do the ogling last month?:p

I cannot remember if there's a difference in bulking between fiber types. The thing with cycling is that it's primarily endurance, but I imagine sprinting, climbing and pure distance utilize different muscle fibers to different extents.


I ask (not about the ogling!) because I'm quite sure that my muscle fiber makeup is overwhelmingly slow-twitch. I have no idea what my cadence is (comfortable? :confused: ), but I'm the type that walks a mile faster than they run one, but I'm okay at short distance dead sprints. I'm not a climber. (Okay, so conditioning plays a role there.) I can do short-distance sprinting (getting around stuff or out of a situation I don't want to be in).
I'm more distance than speed, and I feel like my type IIa fibers are permanently out to lunch.

[redrhodie]

I can't make a judgment until I see both with less pants

Don't get me started.

[redrhodie]

Didn't we do the ogling last month?:p

I cannot remember if there's a difference in bulking between fiber types. The thing with cycling is that it's primarily endurance, but I imagine sprinting, climbing and pure distance utilize different muscle fibers to different extents.


I ask (not about the ogling!) because I'm quite sure that my muscle fiber makeup is overwhelmingly slow-twitch. I have no idea what my cadence is (comfortable? :confused: ), but I'm the type that walks a mile faster than they run one, but I'm okay at short distance dead sprints. I'm not a climber. (Okay, so conditioning plays a role there.) I can do short-distance sprinting (getting around stuff or out of a situation I don't want to be in).
I'm more distance than speed, and I feel like my type IIa fibers are permanently out to lunch.

I always wonder what my real cycling "gift" is. Am I a natural climber, which I suspect :D, or a sprinter? Too bad there's not some way of knowing that didn't involve climbing or sprinting. ;)

[snowroo]

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2010/04/guess-those-legs/

Going on a tangent...On cyclists legs

[Dogmama]

I'll bet that muscle fiber type is only part of it. Some sprinters can probably exist on ATP longer than other sprinters or pure climbers (ATP=type of energy used for sprints that dissipates quickly.)

[Catrin]

hmmmmm THAT can be my excuse...

"sorry, I have the kind of muscle fiber good for endurance, not speed"...

What? Everyone uses that excuse?

Darn, well, I tried :p

[miamibiker]

I can't make a judgment until I see both with less pants

I need to see them naked and I will judge. But please keep the helmets on, it usually ruins it for me when I have to see their face. One exception, Fabian:)