What is Muscle Memory and how does it assist with training?

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What is muscle memory, and how can it help us train?

 

We've all heard of the term "muscle memory," which refers to the ability of skeletal muscles to "remember" the loads and training they've been through before and change very quickly after long periods of not working out.

So, can muscle memory "remember" workouts and movements from the past? Or is this just a phrase that is used to sell something?

Muscle memory does exist, but it doesn't work the way we think it does.

 

How does muscle memory work?

 

Muscle memory is the body's ability to quickly gain muscle mass back in muscles that have been trained before.

This means that if someone has been doing strength training and then stopped for a long time, when they start again they can recover muscle tissue faster than it would take for someone who had never trained before.

So, the term "muscle memory" isn't really accurate because it doesn't mean that the muscles can remember how to move. The brain stores information about how to move and how to do an exercise technically.

There, information is written down, saved, and used again. So, we can all agree that the phrase "muscle remembers" refers to the central nervous system's motor learning, which is shown through movement when muscles contract.

So it's clear that muscle memory has nothing to do with the muscle cells that "remember" the exercise.

As muscle mass goes up, the number of muscle fiber nuclei can go up as long as the muscles are stimulated by strength training. There is some disagreement among scientists about how much training is needed to increase the number of muscle nuclei.

 

Can we use muscle memory to help with hypertrophy?

 

According to the scientific literature, there are two ways to get muscle hypertrophy by using muscle memory (Snijders et al., 2020).

It is mostly for people who don't train often (because of work, vacations, or injuries), so they can make the most of the time they do have to exercise.

A) Getting around enough during the day. It is a fact that muscles get weaker the longer someone doesn't use them during a break from training. Cycling and walking are easy ways to stay active that are much better than just staying at home and watching TV.

B) Structure of training already set. This model talks about training intervals and suggests that enough volume is needed to cause muscle hypertrophy (Fry et al., 2014). In a 4-6 week plan, it's important to be consistent with training 3–4 times per week, with 3–5 sets and 6–12 reps per set.

For the best results, gymnastics should be done for life and with a personalized training plan. But the fast pace of life doesn't always leave time for exercise, so there are long gaps between workouts.

Even if we only do the bare minimum, we can get the most out of things if we use science. In 1991, the first study was done on muscle memory and how quickly the muscles adapt after a period of not using (Staron et al.).

After taking part in a 6-week strength training program, the women in the study group were able to get back to where they were before they stopped working out, in terms of strength and muscle fiber size.