How long does muscle memory memory last for?

Question

I know that we have to change our workout routine after about 8 weeks and start another one to continue shocking the body and to get results, so if you do workout 1 for 8 weeks and change to workout 2 for 8 weeks, will your body remember what workout 1 was about when you go back to it after workout 2, will it remember it or will the muscles be shocked again?

Answer 1

'Muscle memory' is permanent, and it's not really the mechanism that you're trying to evade by changing your routine.

When you train, you deplete stores of enzymes, proteins, neurotransmitters and so on, in exactly the same way as you use up fuel.

The 'rebound effect' is your body's response to this. The most depleted stores will be refilled, with some extra added to cope with the increased demand. By allowing enough rest between sessions, you let the stock build up, and by training hard enough, you alert the supply system to a shortage.

There's a problem, though.

IF you worked ALL parts of ALL your muscles, hard enough to stimulate a 'rebound' reaction everywhere at the same time, you'd feel like rubber for two weeks and be very vulnerable to infections, unable to do the shopping etc. You'd probably work your liver to death trying to cope with the waste products.

So the different workouts you've been shown are a way of 'targeting' different parts of each muscle group, and sometimes different parts of a single muscle, to provoke a manageable 'rebound'. By changing the workout, you're just moving the load onto a different set of components.

(just like road repairs, when they work on one lane by diverting traffic into another; then they divert traffic onto the lane they just repaired so that another one can be repaired.)

The idea of 'shocking' the muscle is just a metaphor that you can focus on when you think about working out; an aggressive mental image will help you to exercise vigorously.

'Muscle memory' is what allows an exercise movement to become 'grooved' into the most suitable neural pathway, so that each time you perform it the effectiveness of your action will improve. It can contribute to pure strength, because smooth 'recruitment' of muscle fibres (which is learned behaviour), can make a particular weight feel easier to lift.

Answer 2

in my experience you don't have to completely change your routine, just swop things round a little bit. you could instead of doing bicep curls on a machine at the start of your your routine you could do use the free weights to do your curls as the second muscle you train. or an even better way of changing it would be to do a lower weight with say 8 - 10 reps, or if you already do this use a heavier weight with low reps say 4- 6. there is that many different variables you can combine. usually after changing my routine, by the end of the new one i cannot remember exactly what my old routine was, so you never really have to do the same routine twice witch stops things from getting boring.

Answer 3

I would say it depends on how long you practiced the move or routine. I studied judo for 6-7 years off and on, and 20 year later, the moves still feel familiar.

Answer 4

john Whitemore holds the longest recorded muscle memory,who was a masters track athlete up until the incredibly late age of 104 years.he died in 2005.