Several decades ago, I sports commentator named Jimmy The Greek talked about the superiority of Black athletes on television. He said that the Black was often superior due to the fact that Blacks had more fast-twitch muscle fiber (or something to that effect).  He also elaborated as to why Blacks had more fast-twitch muscle fiber and as the story goes he was in hot water. It wasn’t long after that certain groups (social interest and media) organized to have him fired. Since then, people have tended to steer clear of theories that explain why Blacks appear to have more fast-twitch muscle.

That being said, I’m going to skip the part of the explanation that is derogatory and for the sake of not offending anyone. I’ll just say that chattel slavery is part of the explanation for the African American’s fast twitch muscle composition.

The other part of the explanation however lies in how mainstream america exercises. For the longest, kids involved in organized sports have been taught and encouraged to run long distances. Soccer, football, basketball, etc. All of these sports, often involve team practices where members are running long distances.  Moreover, much of American sport involves so much long distance running.

However, when developing fast twitch or slow twitch muscle fiber. It is important to understand that lots of long distance training (developing slow twitch muscle) comes at the expense of fast twitch muscle development (and vice versa). In other words, you can’t be a great endurance athlete and also be a great sprinter. To a large degree, these two opposites are mutually exclusive.

Moreover, when you look at many of your favorite Black athletes in the NFL. I’d bet money that they never spent there formative years doing Crossfit or Spartan Race. Consequently, how many Crossfit superstars could ever perform even moderately good at the NFL combine. I’m pretty sure that none of them would.

Why, it is because Crossfit and other endurance “sports” are activities that are not conducive to the development of fast twitch muscle.

That’s it for now. Good luck and keep your little champion on track until next time.