• Question: Why are some people fast at running and why are some people not?

    Asked by whdavandbeat to Anil, Blanka, Cees, Emma, Mike on 3 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Emma Trantham

      Emma Trantham answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      Great question 🙂

      There are 3 types of muscle

      -fast twitch
      -slow twitch
      -ones in the middle

      The fast twitch muscles work quickly with lots of force but get tired really quickly. These muscles are really useful if you want to run for a short period of time like a sprint.

      The slow twitch muscles work slowly but they can go for a long time before they get tired. These muscles are really useful if you want to run for a long period of time (like a marathon).

      Different people have different amounts of fast twitch and slow twitch muscles which is why some people are better at sprinting than others.

      Remember that 3rd category – the fibres in the middle? You can train them to become more like either slow twitch muscles or fast twitch muscles depending on what exercises you do (for more info this blog post is really good http://gurumagazine.org/health-fitness/red-pink-and-white-what-you-should-know-about-your-muscles/ )

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