Fun Fact Monday: No One Likes Kamikazes

For those of you that know a little bit about anatomy and for those of you that are about to learn a little bit more by looking it up, I love the fact that nature has put in an “oh shit” backstop for those that are, let’s say… less than active.

They’ve done quite a bit of research on a kind of muscle fiber called type IIX. And while there isn’t anything completely conclusive, they found out that on average 16% of a sedentary person’s total muscle mass is made up of this type of fiber.

Affectionately called the couch potato fiber ( I might have just made this up).

It’s actually an extremely strong type of fiber, and they are fast-twitch. They have very limited resistance to fatigue injury, but because they are so strong they often cause damage beyond repair when they’re used. These are the “oh no my baby is stuck under a flipped over car” kind of muscle.

I like this because the bodies like, “alright, so I know things are not going well, we are completely outclassed and unprepared for life, so we need to have something in place so we just don’t die. So here are some kamikaze muscles for you.”

But, it’s also shown that as soon as you start training you start losing these type IIX fibers.

The body then takes a couple of days to reflect and then it decides, “Okay, now that we’re not completely incapable, maybe we shouldn’t rip ourselves apart from the inside out.”

Moral of the story, no one likes kamikazes, I recommend you get to the gym.