Muscle fiber composition and riding strengths

[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. 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. 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
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 64 kg (140 lb; 10.1 st)


Contador
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.)