If you said “big” or “small” or “red” or “white” – you’re only half right. I want to introduce to you the concept of “pink” muscle and how to build it…. But he’s some background about the body first [1].
So the body has 2 primary muscle types: Red and White.
Red muscles also have lots of mitochondria. This too gives them a darker colour. And they also have lots of capillaries – these are small blood vessels which supply oxygen-filled blood to the muscle fibers. These red muscles are also known as “slow twitch fibers”.
These muscle fibres contract slowly – and can continue working hard for a long time without fatiguing. If you haven’t figured it out yet, these are the ‘Aerobic Muscles’ (ones you use during aerobic exercise). These are the muscles that use mostly oxygen to make their energy.
When you walk long distances, lift light weights for long periods of time, or even just do your daily sit-ups and crunches – you’re activating mostly red muscles.
Now think about the white muscles.
They don’t have as many mitochondria and the mitochondria they do have are smaller. They also don’t have as many capilaries. White muscles get most of their energy from sugar burning pathways (Google ‘Glycolytic Pathways’). These muscles are also known as ‘fast twitch fibers’. And guess what they do? They contract quickly, and with lots of force but can only do so for a short time before getting fatigued. And you guessed it, these are the ‘Anaerobic Fibers’ (the muscles used when doing anaerobic exercise). They don’t use much oxygen at all to create their energy.
When you punch or kick the bag during training, this is what you’re activating – high power-low endurance white muscle.
Now let’s talk about the most kickass of all muscle types – the PINK muscle. Pink muscles form when your body goes through high intensity workouts for a sustained period of time, and then takes plenty of rest and a large amount of healthy food to recover from it.
Pink muscle is lighter, leaner, contracts faster, sustains longer than either red or white muscle. Simply put – it’s the ideal muscle to have in your body.
I have over time come across a bunch of methods on how to build high quality pink muscle; muscle that never fails, never hurts, never degrades – and always stays in tip-top shape with basic exercise.
I’ve been building large amounts of pink muscle using these methods and the advantages are as follows:
- This muscle never deteriorates. I am a bit flabby now from all the time I spend with team dinners and client parties and stuff – but my abs are solid as ever. I never had 6-packs (close to 4-packs when I found out about pink muscles; pink doesn’t show in the abs FYI).
- This muscle is really advanced. It acts almost on its own in most cases. Let me explain – the muscles in your hands (palms, fingers) and feet (base of the foot and the toes) – do they not work automatically? How often do you need to think about it?
This is classic pink muscle. The part of the back close to the spinal column, some of the neck muscles – these are naturally occuring pink muscle because you use them in high strain situations for extended periods of time.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be focusing my articles on how to build yourself some fantastic pink muscle. Hope you enjoy it!