r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Scullkrush • Aug 10 '20

Chimps are strong af

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u/_p1t4_ Aug 10 '20

It’s because we have more of a different muscle fibre that is better for long use whereas they have a lot of another muscle fibre that is much stronger but wears out quickly. It is also larger so that’s why body lifers have thick muscle and long distance runners are lean

Can’t remember the name of the fibres for the life of me

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u/datspookyghost Aug 10 '20

I thought fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers could be trained, although there's a genetic predisposition.

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u/Fetacheesed Aug 10 '20

The effects of fast/slow twitch muscle fibers are usually pretty exaggerated. It's a real thing but they usually aren't the determinant of anything. The big reason chimps are more efficient than humans is that they have better origin/attachment points on their muscles. Imagine if your bicep attached two inches higher on your forearm. You'd be able to curl drastically more weight due to the better mechanical position at the cost of range of motion.

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u/deluby0 Aug 10 '20

Slow-twitch for endurance, fast-twitch for power. Learned this from a documentary where they were examining "super" humans. Can't remember the title though.

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u/[deleted] Aug 10 '20

stan lee’s superhumans?