Exercise for Your Muscle Type

Most exercise books offer a generic, one-size-fits-all approach to fitness, with the same workouts for everyone. Unfortunately, everyone is not alike. Each body possesses a unique combination of muscle fibers, and understanding your muscle makeup can have a huge impact on your exercise program -- a fact that, until now, has been largely ignored. The body has both fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle fibers. Fast-twitch fibers are responsible for explosive, powerful movements -- jumping, weight lifting, and so on. Slow-twitch fibers are used during endurance activities, such as walking and running. Exercise will be more effective if it is based on your personal combination of muscle fibers.

Michelle Lovitt, M.A., a graduate of California State University, Fresno, earned a Bachelor's degree in Sports Nutrition and a Master's degree in Exercise Physiology. She has worked as a strength and conditioning coach with Olympic athletes, including four gold medal winners at the 2000 Summer Olympics John Speraw is the Head Men's Volleyball Coach at the University of California, Irvine. He did undergraduate work at UCLA in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and was on two NCAA Champion Men's Volleyball teams. As a coach at UCLA, he was on staff for three NCAA Championship teams