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Local athletes get the twitch to go fast
by Paul Teetor
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Mustang goalie Chelsea McCarthy credits fast twitch muscle training in part for her eight saves and her team’s victory against Louisville Saturday in the South Torrance Holiday Tournament championship game. Photo by Ray Vidal |
It was true in the Old West, and it’s still true today: fast-twitch muscles win shootouts. Just ask Michele McCarthy.
McCarthy has always had well developed fast-twitch muscles, the kind that drive explosive movements. But after two months working out on high-speed isokinetic machines, Mira Costa’s soccer goalie now has hyperfast -twitch muscles. At least that’s what it felt like during the shootout last week in Mira Costa’s win over Harvard Westlake in the South Torrance Holiday Tournament.
"There were two penalty kicks during the shootout that I don’t think I could’ve gotten before I started this program," McCarthy said. "I’m just a fraction of a second quicker than I was, but that makes all the difference in the world when you’re diving to make a save."
Sweat pouring down her face, the Mira Costa senior spoke while taking a break from the computer-enhanced, steel-and-rubber machines that dot the Iso-Flex Sports Performance Training Center in Redondo Beach. Her trainer/motivator, Ryan Feesago, stood nearby, also taking a break from the short, intense repetitions during which he stands over her, loudly urging her on.
"The part I love is that when I lift weights I get really bulky, but when I do this it tones my body and makes my reflexes quicker," said McCarthy, who is headed for UC Irvine on a soccer scholarship next year.
"It’s expensive, but it’s worth it."
McCarthy is just one of a growing number of South Bay athletes — on the high school, college, Olympic and professional levels - who are sharpening their reflexes at the crowded training center tucked into a mini-mall at the corner of Redondo Beach Boulevard and Artesia Boulevard. Among the more prominent regulars are the big redhead, USC basketball center Brian Scalabrine, and pro hockey’s Marty McSorley.
Preaching the new mantra of flexibility over bulk is manager Frank Tusieseina, one of five partners who own the center, which opened last April. He says there is a new awareness of differing types of muscles with different functions.
"Everyone has slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscles, but most people have more of one than the other," Tusieseina said. "Slow-twitch muscles are used for lifting heavy things like weights. Fast-twitch muscles are used for things like running and jumping, movements that require explosion."
Tusieseina can barely contain his enthusiasm as he bounces around the center, urging athletes on to greater levels of intensity. Most of the exercises involve a short series of high-speed resistance movements, with the athletes pushing against immovable objects in a way that loads the muscles to full capacity.
"I’ve seen kids come in here one day who can barely touch a basketball rim, and the next day they’re able to dunk a basketball," he said. "I swear it’s true."
Although the theory of fast-twitch muscles versus slow-twitch muscles has been around for more than 40 years, it’s only in the last decade that training programs devoted specifically to enhancing the fast-twitch muscles have developed
Tusieseina, who recently renamed the center Iso-Flex after breaking away from the national "Fast-Twitch" chain of training centers around the country, said it is a training program for the 21st century.
"In the new, high-tech world of athletics, things move fast — very fast. You must train to be fast," he said.
"This will make you stronger, quicker, more explosive, improve your endurance, cut recovery time, increase coordination and increase your vertical leap."
Exhibit number one: Olympic volleyballer Eric Fonoimona, a Mira Costa graduate who shocked the world when he won the Olympic gold in beach volleyball at the Sydney Olympics last summer.
Fonoimona, who is prominently featured in the Iso-Flex advertising, is one of the five partners who own the training center. He said the isokinetic training is catching on fast.
"Six out of the eight Olympic volleyball team members use it," he said. "If you want to be an athlete or look like an athlete, then you go to the gym. But if you really want to be a good athlete, then you also come here. It’s a supplement to my normal training program."
"I can jump higher and longer throughout the day, and when I need a big play to happen, mentally I know I can do it," Fonoimona said. "I feel like I’m quicker than everyone else, so the mental edge comes from having the physical edge "
And it’s not just playing volleyball where Fonoimona can see a difference.
"When I play basketball and I’m going for a rebound, I can make that second jump much quicker than I used to," he said. "You really can feel the difference."
The owners call their program computer assisted isokinetics, which gives them an objective way to quantify and measure the success of individual training programs designed for the athletes under the watchful eye of Head Trainer Jonathan Jones. Jones was Head Trainer for the Oakland Raiders football team from 1992-99.
Jenn Meredith, a professional volleyball player and elementary school teacher who lives in Manhattan Beach , said she is quicker, with a more explosive jump, since she started using the Iso-Flex program.
"When I’m in my stance, I feel like I have a more explosive jump," she said. "It’s helped me on my blocking too."
And Meredith said there is another important difference between the iso-flex program and other weight-based training programs.
"It keeps the stress off your joints, so there is very little muscle soreness the next day," Meredith said. "When I’m dealing with a class full of kids the day after a workout, that’s a big plus." ER