Muscle memory

BigCon

Someone mentioned recently to me that muscles have a memory (i.e. getting fit would be easier for someone who was fit once, than someone who had never been fit).
Does anyone know if this is true????

D-Generate

I thought muscle memory is where your muscles do stuff with out haveing to think in detail, i.e we do not think about moveing each foot when walking because our legs have developed a muscle memory. It is also used in self-defense when they repeat a move for a situation over and over again so that if the situation arises they will respond without thinking.

Amz

It's called proprioception....

I'd explain more but eh... am too non coherant at the moment... Maybe later...

Barry Aldwell

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[serious part]

Muscle memory is when your muscles repeat a previously memorised action without you consciously going through the full motion. A good example is touch typing.

logic1

He's not referring to proprioception.

It's been a theory in bodybuilding and pretty much all sports for quite a long time that when someone who had a substantial amount of muscle mass then lost it due to injury or an extended lay off from training that it will take that person a far shorter time to regain their previous level of muscularity than it would for a total beginner to obtain a comparable amount of muscle.

It's based on the theory that muscle stress will cause a large amount of new nuclei to be built which lie dormant during off periods, these nuclei are then utilised when proper training and diet reoccur causing an accelerated period of muscle regrowth.

.logic.

BigCon

Exactly what I was referring to (even if I didn't explain it too well).
The reason I ask is that I have just started dieting and training after a 5 year layoff during which I put on 6 stone (yes, that's 6).
I was reasonably fit back then, but now obviously I'm not.
On a related topic I have already lost almost 2 stone using a watered down version of the Atkins diet and some light gym work (too heavy to do too much exercise yet - building up slowly).

I'm not BigCon for nothing

logic1

Nice1 mate that's some good progress.

A good alternative to Atkins (and alot healthier) is a CKD.

http://www.c-k-d.com/

As for your muscle memory if you had a good amount of lean mass beforehand you should be able to gain most of it back, the problem lies with building muscle and simultaenously loosing alot of fat.

It's very hard to do as you have to be in calorie deficit to lose fat but calorie surplus to build muscle.

Tricky combination

.logic.