Word: twitch
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...session in a Hollywood studio. Sally, who belongs to a local animal trainer, has a rudimentary understanding of human language, so she was able to follow simple verbal commands like "Sit." The problem, though, was getting her to remain still for several minutes at a time. She would squirm, twitch and monkey around with the photographic equipment. The crew used grapes, apples, carrots, raisins and even bananas as bribes to get Sally to cooperate. Thirteen hours later, Balog had all the pictures he needed...
Even individual muscles contain different fibers that respond to specialized training. The two primary types are so-called fast-twitch fibers, which contract rapidly to produce large amounts of power, and slow-twitch fibers, which generate less force but don't tire as quickly...
People are born with different proportions of the two fiber types, and athletes tend to excel in events for which they have the best muscle endowment. Sprinters, such as track star Carl Lewis and swimmer Dana Torres, have muscles containing a large majority of fast-twitch fibers. So, surprisingly, do shot putters and weight lifters, who need not only strength but power too. "They have to move a heavy weight very quickly," explains U.S. Olympic Training Center physiologist Steve Fleck. "Weight lifters in the clean-and-jerk event can move as fast as a sprinter." Distance runners and swimmers...
Heredity has a lot to do with the muscles' makeup, but training can play a part as well. "You can't convert slow-twitch into fast-twitch fibers," says Fleck, but you can speed them up a bit. Middle-distance runners who want to improve their final kick can go through drills of bounding, jumping and sprinting to condition their muscle fibers to contract more quickly...
...thing, there's his Elmer Fudd-like monotone, punctuated by a slight lisp and a twitch in his upper...