Fast Twitch and Slow Twitch... Nerves

Image courtesy of ibguides.com

So for the longest time I've heard about fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers, also called Type I (slow) and Type II (fast) muscle fibers.  But something that we were discussing in grad school last week brought an entirely different perspective to this subject - fast twitch and slow twitch motor nerves.

As I'm sure you can guess, fast twitch motor nerves innervate fast twitch muscle fibers and slow twitch motor nerves innervate slow twitch muscle fibers.  What was interesting about this discussion, though, was that the fast twitch muscle fibers were fast twitch BECAUSE they are innervated by fast twitch motor nerves.  Yes, there are some different characteristics of the muscle fibers themselves, but it is the innervation of the muscle fiber by either a fast twitch motor nerve or a slow twitch motor nerve that dictates whether the muscle fiber is fast twitch or slow twitch.

But what makes fast twitch motor nerves and slow twitch motor nerves different from each other?

Check out the next post for the details :-)

Your body.  Your training.

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