Is there any correlation between quick reflexes and fast twitch muscle fibers?

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Is there any correlation between quick reflexes and fast twitch muscle fibers?

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Nope, reflex is your brain responding.
fast twitch muscles is what your brain uses to move to respond.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Short answer: no, there isn’t.

Long answer: they have nothing to do with each other. Reflexes are by definition responses to a stimulus performed without conscious thought. Typically they shortcut the brain. Think of your nerves as a two way street with the only place for a car to make a u turn being in the spine or brain. A stimulus would be a car, traveling from say your knee up towards your spine and brain. It will turn around in the spine and be sent back down as an order to stretch out your leg.

Fast twitch muscle fibers are the type of muscle fibers used in short but powerful movements. Sprinting vs running a marathon. They exert more easily so your body will usually favor using slow twitch fibers until they become tired and then switches to the fast twitch.

Anonymous 0 Comments

IT depends on what you mean by “reflex”, but…if you mean it as a precise term, then “no” – that’s a reference to response time of our neurological systems.

No…if you mean a more common conversation like someone who takes two steps and grabs a ball before it hits the ground, your fast twitch muscles will help you accelerate to perform that action that your reflexes may have kick-started by reacting to the object falling. Or…if you’re watching someone play basketball and they make great move that seems to be lighting speed you might say “wow..that gal has fast reflexes!”, but really be talking about skill, balance, fast muscles and so on”. We often use the technical term to talk about a much more complex system than “reflexes”.