Question

A distance runner tears a tendon and cannot continue to be competitive. The now former runner wants to switch over to weight training and ultimately become competitive in that area. Do they have a chance? Explain your answer based on what you know about the three types of muscle tissue and how they operate.

Answer 1

There are three type of muscle fibers, Slow oxidative or type 1 fibers, Fast oxidative or type 2A fibers and Fast glycotic or type 2 b fibers. They are calssified based on  how fast some fibers contract relative to others, and how fibers produce ATP.

Type 1 fibers, they are endurance based muscle fibers, they have high demand for oxygen, they are very resistant to fatigue because of high levels of mitochondria in these fibers, thats why long distance runners mostly use this type of fibers, probably this individual had this type of fibers predominantely in his body.

Type 2A, these type of muscle fibers have moderate levels of mitochondria, fast speed of contraction, moderate resistance to fatigue, thiis type of muscle fibers used generaly by 400 or 800 meters distance runners because of high speed of contraction.Type 2b, these type of fibers have low levels of mitochondria and very fast speed of contraction, high force production, very low resistance to fatigue, they cannot be used for endurance based sports as they tire quickly, they use anaerobic glycolysis as their ATP source. they are mainly used by sprinters, These fibers fatigue quickly, permitting them to only be used for short periods..When lifting weights, 2b fibers help you lift heavy with great power

It is very important to note that, it is not that a human will have only some of these fibers, every human will have combination of these fibers, it is biologically impossible to change from Type 1 to Type 2 A or Type 2B, equaly vice-versa, but you can have predominantely some of these type of fibers by training, you can change Type 2A to 2B by training, this is the reason why Hussain bolt, champion of 100 meter sprint considered to run 400 meters distance running.

In this case if the individual wants to switch over to weight training than he will have to do lot of training, he has to concentrate on anerobic type of trianing as type 2 fibers increase during anerobic training.