[arivers25Participant]

i believe the muscle fibers you have cant be changed? so if thats the case is there ways to increasethe strength of the fast twitch fibers you have to have maximum explosiveness and how?

[GrandmamaParticipant]

Workouts involving explosive movements, something a personal trainer would be perfect for.  You may be able to find some great workouts online, but a personal trainer would probably be the best option.

[festar35Participant]

This is something I can help with as I am a Personal Trainer. Your right the number of fast twitch fibers you have can’t be increase but with the right training they can be made more effective. There is a lot of good sights out there that have solid programs, however what I have found works for me is a 2 x weeks of strength of upper body and 2 x strength/power lower body. The things is you have to progress into this. I will stick with the lower body aspect but upper is still very important.
Learn movements that are Olympic Lifts like clean, snatch and press etc. also jump Squats and Bodyweight jumping onto boxes is all helpful. these are your power movements and they are the ones you should do first in your workouts, do the strength after. You need big rests of 3-5mins between sets to get the ultimate benefit. The sets and reps can generally be the same for strength and power of about 4 x 6reps. My recommendation is build up a solid base of Squats, deadlifts, weighted lunges etc. whilst doing Bodyweight jumps and learning those Olympic lifts. Once you are comfortable with these lifts put them in your training program.
It’s a long progress I’m 5’11-6’0 and been doin basketball specific stuff for 12months and just started dunking so it can be done if your patient and do it properly.

[festar35Participant]

Almost forgot to mention that cardio has a big effect on your ability to perform explosive exercises. Personally i find the best to forms of cardio are Interval training on a stationery bike (LeBron James stated that he does this) and just good old skipping.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 If you want to move faster and more explosively, then do fast and explosive exercises. And while you may not be able to change the percentage of fast twitch fibers you have, you can make those fibers stroner (i.e., bigger) by heavy weight lifting. Fester gives good advice above. Those are some of the best exercises, but squats and deadlifts are also somewhat tricky. You need good form or else they can be dangerous. I think beginners should stick to the machines. The simple leg press on a machine or sled will get you most of the benefit of the olympic lifts without putting strain on your back. If you want to do the olympic lift stuff (and you will make better gains with those exercises), you need to (a) already be fit and strong and (b) have a trainer show you the right technique and keep on you so that you don’t screw up your technique when you are tired. 

Ideally, I think, you would seperate your heavy weight training days from your plyometric jump training days. But that takes a lot of time. Oh, and you should also include stretching and that should be separate as well (don’t do intense stretching before either weights or speed work). So it is simple, become a full time professional athelte and you can do all this stuff. 

[MJBrownParticipant]

I can tell you as a 5 year kinesiology major, you absolutely can affect your proportions of red vs blue twitch fibers. If you are predominantly red (or fast) twitch, and start training for a marathon, the type of muscle fibers in  your lower body will adapt, and you will start to grow more mitochondria. It also works vice versa although the adaptation takes significantly longer. A marathon run can increase his/her number of fast twitch fibers, but the amount/ intensity of training will take longer than going the other direction.

[Author]

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