Muscle memory

I know of someone who use to do track when they were younger. had chicken legs when they began, got thunder thighs after they retired. Been 5 years since he ran track and his still got huge legs. Its as if the muscle just sticks on him. And no he does not squat or anything else.

Was wondering, is there such as thing where if you train enough, push to a certain pont that the muscle you develop through training will just stick with you for a lifetime?

What are your thoughts?

John555 said:

Was wondering, is there such as thing where if you train enough, push to a certain pont that the muscle you develop through training will just stick with you for a lifetime?

What are your thoughts?

Click to expand...

No, there is no such thing. If you don't use your muscles no matter how big they have gotten before, you will lose them or at least loose most of them. I’ve come across world class athletes in my time who were huge in their prime to only be unrecognisably small one they’ve stopped training. Or the flip side is they continue eating a huge amount of food with no training to justify it and simply get fat on top of the muscles they’ve had before and end up looking terrible. These are the people who gave a rise to the myth that muscles turn into fat once you stop your training!

The title of your thread is "muscle memory". I believe in muscle memory, but what you were talking about does not relate to muscle memory because you've said that your mate has not lost any size. So I can't see how this has anything to do with muscle memory and it defies logic that your friend has not lost muscle size if he is no longer using his muscles as he once did.

To me muscle memory is when you get back the muscles you've had when you were big, and you normally get these muscles in record time after you resume training again.

I could be wrong of course in that your friend could simply be an exception to the rules here.


Fadi.

Ah I see what you mean. Maybe he hasn't retired long enough to lose the muscle yet or maybe his just a genetic freak hehe.

To me muscle memory is when you get back the muscles you've had when you were big, and you normally get these muscles in record time after you resume training again.



Fadi.[/QUOTE]

Well said boss.

Muscle memory makes me come back very quick. I have 2 bodies.
Untrained and trained. Have a look at Arnold back in the day. Often times he looks like a regular dude. (Arnold - A Portrait / George Butler )

With stupid Heavy Duty brainwashing and muscle memory I may be the laziest most economic trainer on planet earth........ unless of corse my switch has been flipped..... Thats another story

You sure his legs just aren't fat now? Have a poke around next time .

John, Just so you know muscle memory is all to do with the neurological connections that are made when lifting. You create more synapses between neurons in the motor pathways of your brain and it creates more efficient and stronger pathways for your muscles to be stimulated by the nervous system. When you stop these are still kicking for a long time, so you can come back 5 years later be weak but quickly gain strength due to your neural connections just needing to be activated and not created. Since you are loading back up fast your muscles grow quickly to catch up with the large forces you are using. And voila you have your strength back and muscle size in record time.

Muscle memory is also what us touch typers just used to type our replies without thinking about where to put our fingers.
Just thought I would throw that in there for good measure...

i was under the impression that 'muscle memory' is a relatively short period of time (1-2 weeks) whereby the muscle does not degenerate until after this time due to lack of use (intensity/heavy lifting)

Nope, from what you described is the detraining effect. Where you do not train and slowly lose you strength and mass (less in first week or two though it had been suggested that you lose a lot more strength after a week off than previously thought).
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