Probably the best place to start for "Diet" is the idea that food is actual fuel for our bodies. The posts in this series will focus specifically feeding/fueling our muscles for performance. That means we need to understand our muscles.
So let's get down to brass tacks. To understand how muscles get energy we need to start at what types of muscles there are.
1) Skeletal Muscle: This is the muscle most people are familiar with. It's the muscle that is anchored to bones with tendons. It's the muscle we show off. It is also known as "voluntary" muscle becuase we have conscious control over it. These are the muscles "YOU" can flex or relax, that you use to move and perform actions.
2) Smooth Muscle: This is muscle tissue that you don't have conscious control over. It performs it's task automatically. It is also known as "involuntary" muscle. The walls of certain organs in your body are made of this tissue. The esophogus, stomach, bronchii, intestines, uterus, uretha, bladder, blood vessels, and arrector pili (what makes your hair stand on end) are all examples of smooth muscle tissue.
3) Cardiac Muscle: The only place in your body where there is cardiac muscle tissue is in your heart (thus the name). It's make-up is similar to skeletal muscle though it is considered involuntary tissue.
Skeletal muscle is the muscle we will be dealing with since it is the one we have the most control over. (yes, the types of exercise you do will have an effect on cardiac muscle but its a by-product of training other muscles).
There are three basic types of muscle fibers and they all perform differently. They are Type I, Type IIa, and Type IIb.
1) Type I: these are called "Slow Twitch Oxidative." These are the fibers that are beneficial to endurance or low impact type athletes such as long distance runners. They are better at using oxyge (aerobic) to produce energy (Adenosine-5'-triphosphate or ATP). They don't fire as quickly as Type IIa or Type IIb fibers but they don't tire out as quickly either.
2) Type IIa: "Fast Twitch Oxidative." These are fast twitch fibers that show some degree of resistance to fatigue. they can use aerobic or anerobic sources of energy almost equally. Type IIa fibers are the fibers you want for athletic pursuits that fall in between endurance and strength. Medium distance runners (cross country) and swimmers benefit from Type IIa muscle fibers.
3) Type IIb: "Fast Glycolitic" or fast twitch fibers. These fibers fire quickly and can generate burst of power but they also fatigue quickly. These fibers are most predominate in sprinters and weight lifters.
All muscle groups contain all three fibers though in different concentration. Distance runners have been shown to have as much as 90% Type I fibers while spinters have been shown to have as much as 80% Type II fibers. There is still a little debate on the "nature vs. nurture" discussion on how we get the amount of different types of fibres we get. Generally it used to be accepted that we were more or less stuck with how many fast or slow twitch fibers we had, but in more modern times studies suggest that fibers can change based on neural stimulation or training. Fibers may also become more efficent at performing in certain capacities, so even though a Type I may not become a Type IIa or IIb it may become more efficent at performing strength/power type functions. Type IIa or IIb may become more resistant to fatigue. Of course a lot more research is still needed but in the meantime go out, have fun, enjoy training...
Now that the basics of muscle are out of the way, PART 2 of this series will focus on how they work, from the brain giving the command to the muscle performing the task. PART 3 will get into the nitty gritty of how the muscles use different types of energy (aerobic vs. anerobic) to perform different tasks. PART 4 will be a introduction in to aerobic vs. anerobic training. PART 5 will be the part most people actually want and will cover EATING to fuel your body.
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