by Emma Hughes
Whether you want to build your physique and create more muscle definition or want to increase your muscular endurance/power understanding the different types of muscles and their properties will help you achieve those prior goals in a targeted and specific way and avoid dysfunctional movement patterns that will cause pain (particularly in the lower back regarding reduced glute strength).
Skeletal muscles can be categorised into:
- fast twitch or slow twitch muscle fibres which is associated with speed of muscular contraction (flexing) as the name suggests
- Phasic and postural: used for movement (often containing fast twitch muscles fibres) and constantly slightly contracted respectively
An example of different muscle type usage is demonstrated in the hip.The gluteus medius muscle (generally seen as the buttock cheek dimple on the side of the hip) is a slow twitch muscle fibre and provides significant stability and centralisation of the head of the hip bone inside the joint’s socket and is therefore necessary in any functional hip movements. The gluteus maximus muscle (which makes up the majority of the booty) is an almost even amount of slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibres with slow twitch in the lead.
A general rule of thumb to go by is to create a good foundation! This can mean increasing strength and stability at the closest aspect of the joint and moving outwards e.g. strengthen the shoulder rotator cuff muscles and then the forearms, the grip strength and eventually the hand intrinsic muscles. This is how to get kick started; stand on a single leg whilst keeping the hips level (symmetrical), perform glute bridges with a resistance band around the knees, perform squats with a resistance band around the knees.
Now is the chance to set a goal for the coming year and you will see a difference in how your joints can handle load and the stable feeling of their movement, and we can support you in those endeavors along the way!
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