Joining the PT Queue

 Weaving training into my schedule is proving interesting...

Long hours, not enough sleep, all good foundations for your average gamer, not so great though if you are trying to turn yourself into a human running machine...

Running a Kotei (national level event for Legend of the Five Rings) or a PTQ (Pro Tour Qualifier for Magic the Gathering) is quite gruelling on the legs and the energy levels. 16 hours on your feet is tiring for the best of us...

...So from the PTQ to the PT Queue (Personal Training)

I started my Coaching this month, interlaced with some very long working weeks and started to feel just how monumentally difficult this challenge is.

After a couple of sessions with Alistair, ex footballer turned rugby player, to increase the fast twitch muscle fibre in my legs , I was left spending a few days at a time finding walking down stairs a challenge hitherto unimaginable...

Fast twitch whatnow?

OK, for those of you that have never taken an interest in how your muscles are comprised, here is a quick catch-up...

                                      ...Concentrate, here comes the science bit...

There are three primary muscle fibre types in humans, (even gamer types) --

 Type I, Type IIa, and Type IIb.

 Type I are referred to as "Slow Twitch Oxidative" or more commonly just “Slow Twitch”,

 Type IIa are "Fast Twitch Oxidative" or “Intermediate Fast Twitch” 

 and Type IIb are "Fast Twitch Glycolytic" or  just “Fast Twitch”.

 Each type has very different functional characteristics.

 Type one fibres are characterised by low F/P/S (force/power/speed) production and high endurance

 Type IIb by high F/P/S production and low endurance,

 Whilst Type IIa are somewhere between the two.

(These characteristics are a result, primarily, of the fibre’s Myosin Heavy Chain (MHC) composition, with Myosin heavy chain Isoforms I, IIa and IIx corresponding with muscle fibre types I, IIA, and IIB.)

But you knew that, right?

Human muscles contain a genetically determined mixture of both slow and fast fibre types.

 On average, about 50% slow twitch and 50% fast twitch fibres (in most of the muscles used for movement).

So, in short Slow Twitch fibres are great for long endurance type activities, like Marathons and other such outrageous distances...

                                         Slow Twitch                  Fast Twitch

Fast Twitch are the powerhouses, they produce explosive movements and are the friend of the sprinter, their downside is that they fatigue much quicker, which is due to their high rate of Anaerobic Metabolism.

In Anaerobic Metabolism the fuel for movement is provided by the body’s metabolism as opposed to Oxygen in the Slow Twitch (For those interested in knowing more look up ATP or Adenosine-5'-triphosphate  and Cellular respiration. )

...It is however suffice to say that in general Aerobic metabolism is about 15 times more efficient than Anaerobic.

…and that all means that developing the Fast Twitch fibres  and conditioning muscles for what is essentially just short of a sprint for a mile, is very very hard work!!...

Tuesday saw my initial assessments by Running Coach Adam…

I did OK :)

Some passive tests to check BMI (Body Mass Index) , Height, Weight , Resting Heart Rate and  Blood Pressure. Also Body Fat %

...These are used to check starting health and will be used as a measure as the training continues...

...Then an active test called a “Cooper Run” which is a 12 min run where you try and go as far as you can in the time and are continually asked to rate your exhaustion level on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being fresh and 10 being flat out )

I managed what felt like a disappointing 3.07Km, but which turned out to be quite good, and was listed on the “chart” as “Superior”…

…Having never been superior before, that actually felt pretty good :)