Everyone is familiar, at least hand-wavingly, with the distinction between slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle-fiber types. The former are great for running marathons; the latter are ideal for ...

More mileage during training results in faster finish times, right? Recent research suggests that might be true for some runners—but not for everyone. Before and immediately after each training period ...

When you picture different athletes—marathon runners, gymnasts, and Olympic weightlifters, for example—you likely categorize them instinctively by their height, size, and build. But the differences in ...

TOOLBOX: “We’re all individuals” shouted the mob outside Brian’s window in the Monty Python classic ‘Life of Brian’. Nowhere is that truer than in how athletes respond to training. Two riders may look ...

The trillions of microbes living in the human gut are increasingly recognised as important partners in human health.

Fast-twitch fibers help with explosive movements like sprinting and weight lifting. Genetics and training influence the distribution of fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle fibers. Doing strength ...

How muscle changes with ageing, and tries to fight its effects, is now better understood at the cellular and molecular level with the first comprehensive atlas of ageing muscles in humans. Researchers ...

Jack McNamara does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...