Three muscles with different oxidative pattern ( m. longissimus dorsi, Ld; m. biceps femoris, Bf; m. triceps brachii, Tb) have been analysed for lipid composition and lipolytic activities. The results showed a relatively low lipid (around 30 g kg −1) and cholesterol (around 0.5 g kg −1) content being higher in the oxidative and intermediate muscles Tb and Bf, respectively, than in Ld. Muscle Tb had higher amount of phospholipids and PUFA. Muscle Tb also had the higher lipolytic activity (acid and neutral lipase and acid phospholipase activities). There were no differences for acid and neutral esterase activities between the three muscles studied. The use of principal component (PC) analysis might be used to distinguish among the three studied muscles since each one showed a different pattern based on the lipid composition and lipolytic activities.