You cannot increase fast-twitch muscles. Muscles have both slow and fast-twitch fibers. You can, however, increase the size and strength of your fast-twitch fibers. These fibers have the most potential for growth, and are the hardest to activate. Both your ability to recruit fast-twitch fibers and the rate at which you recruit them decreases as you age, according to Vladimir Zatsiorksky, author of "Science and Practice of Strength Training." To stimulate these muscle fibers, you must train hard, heavy and explosively. If you do not have a background in resistance training, avoid this sort of effort. While a certain amount of strain on your joints occurs, powerlifters and weightlifters can compete at 50 years and older. You must know your one-repetition maximum, or the limit you can lift, on the barbell squat for this sort of training to be effective. Consult a health-care practitioner for a thorough evaluation before beginning an intense resistance training program.
Dyanmic Effort
Step 1
Train to build acceleration. Train with 50 percent of your one-repetition maximum on the squat. Squat for eight sets of two repetitions. Hold the barbell on your upper back and squat as low as you can without rounding your back. When you stand up from the bottom of the squat, stand up fast -- as if you were trying to jump with the barbell. On your second week, raise your training percentage to 55 percent, then 60 percent on your third week. On week four, start over at 50 percent. Rest no more than one minute between sets.
Step 2
Perform deadlifts using no more than 110 percent of the weight you squatted. Grip the bar with an overhand grip and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees and hips and drive the bar off of the ground with your legs, snapping the bar to lockout. Perform six to eight single repetitions. Rest no more than one minute between sets.
Step 3
Perform heavy, weighted situps on a decline bench. Hook your feet under the supports and hold a dumbbell high on your chest. Select a weight that makes it difficult to perform 15 repetitions. Perform four or five sets. Rest three days, then proceed to your maximal effort workout.
Maximal Effort
Step 1
Train your squat using at least 90 percent of your one-repetition maximum. Ensure that you are rested before attempting this. Perform three to five single-repetition lifts, increasing the weight each time, if possible. Rest as long as you need to in-between singles.
Step 2
Perform heavy good mornings. Hold the bar on your upper back and arch your back. Bend your knees slightly then lean down until your torso is parallel to the ground, then stand back up. Perform three to five sets of six to eight repetitions. Select a weight that challenges you, but allows you to complete all your work in good form.
Step 3
Perform leg raises. Lie flat on the ground or on a bench with your legs straight and your hands under your hips. Raise your feet until they are just off of the ground -- this is your starting position. Without bending your knees, raise your legs until they are perpendicular to the floor, then lower them to your starting point. Perform three sets of as many repetitions as you can.
Tips and Warnings
- The focus of your first workout is speed, which increases the rate that you recruit fast-twitch fibers respond. The focus of your second workout is maximal effort, which increases the number of fast-twitch fibers you recruit, according to Louie Simmons, author of "The Westside Barbell Book of Methods." Simmons squatted 900 lbs. in competition at 51 years of age.
- This type of training is strenuous, but it does help prevent the loss of force production that you experience as you age, according to a 2002 study in "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise." If you do not have a solid background in resistance training and healthy joints, stick with conventional barbell training.
Things You'll Need
- Barbell
- Squat rack or power rack
- Situp bench
References
- "Science and Practice of Strength Training, Second Edition"; Vladimir Zatsiorsky, et al.; 2006
- "The Westside Barbell Book of Methods"; Louie Simmons; 2008
- "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise"; Muscle Function in Elite Master Weightlifters; S.J. Pearson, et al.; July 2002
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