Muscle Memory

[Gunnerforever]

Muscle memory

People speak of muscle memory and how once muscle is gained, should you lose it, a lot can be gained back in little time, provided you didn't let this atrophy (or is it something else?) go to far. The reason I question atrophy is because of the claims of muscle memory. There are two forms of muscle hypertrophy I'm aware of, myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic. Myofibrillar is the process of mitosis occurring in muslces where new cells are made through division. This is also knbow as muscle recruitment and goes on predominantly during strength training. Then there is sarcoplasmic, this shows much bigger size increase and is due to the increase of sarcoplasm (a fluid) in and around the muscle cells. This type of hypertrophy occurs more in the "body building rep range" i.e. 8-12 reps. Now I think that muscle wasteage is actually the loss of sarcoplasm from the muscle which decreases both its size and weight. The only way myofibrillar hypertrophy could be reversed is if the cells were to die. Now assuming the atrophy or this muscle loss is a loss of sarcoplasm this could be why we have this seeming miracle of muscle memory. I think that the loss of sarcoplasm can be quickly reversed and happens when we start exercising again in the "body builders rep range" and the muscles “fill up” with sarcoplasm again and so the size and weight returns to the muscle.

Now I’m not saying I’ve discovered anything new. I’ve never read anything on muscle memory except I’ve heard people speak of it. I was just thinking and this is the conclusion I have come too. Can anyone tell me how close I am to the actual reason this happens?

[Gunnerforever]

Anybody know anything about this?

[drugzkill]

You understand one point of muscle memory and that is sacroplasm, however, that isnt the major reason for muscle memory. Remember plenty of these people lose 30 pounds of muscle and put it back on a short period of time say 6 months.

One of the main reasons for this is because your muscles are contained by connective tissue sacks. This connective tissue stretches. The more elastic the tissue becomes, the more easily the sack fills. Many people have even shown that extreme strecthing with wieght training can sort of mimic these results. The only problem with extreme stretching though is it can lengthen your period of recovery and slow strength gains while still creating massive hypterophy.

The other main reason for muscle memory is completely neurological. If fact if you look at a lot of powerlifters they can sometimes lift 2 close to 3 times there weight in bench alone. This isnt because powerlifters have as much muscle as bodybuilder (because they dont), this is because powerlifters have train there neurroglogical system to lift more. The more your neurological system is train the heavier loads you can take. Now say you take a bunch of time off and your strength depletes. Now when you come back you gain your strength back quickly. This is because your brain can more easily adapt to stresses that it has been through before. It is kinda like when you get a cold, your white blood cells to that certain type of cold and you will never get that particular cold again. (This isnt true for all colds).

The major point of all of this, is that your body is more likely to adapt to whatever stresses it has adapted to before in its past.

[Gunnerforever]

I didnt realis when people spoke about muscle memory they were tlaking about strength regains. I thought it was purely size regains. Yeah I can see how the neurroloical aspect would not be depleted from lack of training in as short a time as the muscle size is. Thanks for clearig that up.

[Aleister666]

I can speak from experience here,i trained for almost 12yrs when three years ago i damaged my rotar cuff,i therefore quit lifting completely and only begun just over this past year,allready my muscles are getting as strong as they were and my gains have been phenomanal!my first two months everyone at the gym swore i was on gear,which i wasnt, and have only started using gear again several months ago.I cant believe after being on such a long layoff how my body is responding to the training,it is as though im a newbie but with a pile of mass that takes most years to attain,ill post some pics when i get my camera..thanks for the post i was searching for info on muscle memory..D.