I was reading Sports Gene and it talked about slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers. It states that the current large body of evidence supports that the composition of these types of fibers in one’s body is determined by one’s genetics more than by one’s training regimen. Do you agree with the book that this composition difference should be considered when selecting training protocols (programming) for strength or hypertrophy development purpose? If so, how should they be trained differently? My guess is that the trainees with larger proportion of slow-twitch muscle fibers can tolerate (or actually need) more training volume and frequency than those with more fast-twitch fibers, who would need less volume to see the same or even greater results in strength or hypertrophy development. Was that a completely wild pitch?
Since it’s highly unlikely someone is going to get a muscle biopsy prior to getting coaching- I don’t think there is a reliable screen for this in resistance training that alters management significantly. Rather, empirical results based on the expected responses to training probably serve as a better marker.
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