Muscle Memory -- Myth or Fact

**fitnessNY** · 05-07-2006, 03:15 PM

What do you guys think about muscle memory? Is it a myth or a fact.

For example if you lose 8-12 lbs over a few months and try to gain it back, will it be easier to get to that point since you were already there a few months ago?

**1buffsob** · 05-07-2006, 03:17 PM

Fact. Studies prove it.

1buffsob

BTW, wrong forum for this thread.

**Jakspro** · 05-07-2006, 03:21 PM

But 8-12 Pounds in how long? Studies also suggest you can put on an average of 10lbs lbm in a year natty (Average). Also you'd have to eat 3500 cals over main per week, and even then its 1lb per week. I know muscle memory is proven, but does it have to do with weight or strength, or how much of each?

**marcus300** · 05-07-2006, 03:29 PM

Yes its possible to re-gain the old muscle tissue alot faster than when you built it in the first place,

**hauss man** · 05-07-2006, 03:33 PM

it has to be trrue, i broke my neck in october and was out for over 4 months and lost 20lbs and gained fat and have been lifting for about 3 months and have gained almost to the point where i was before

**marcus300** · 05-07-2006, 03:40 PM

ive got some study on this somewhere, i will try to find it

**Cdup** · 05-07-2006, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by hauss man

it has to be trrue, i broke my neck in october and was out for over 4 months and lost 20lbs and gained fat and have been lifting for about 3 months and have gained almost to the point where i was before

Ouch, good to hear you're okay and back lifting again.

**marcus300** · 05-07-2006, 03:43 PM

Muscle Memory: Scientists May Have Unwittingly Uncovered Its Mystery
By Bryan Haycock, MS

Anyone who has lifted weights, on and off, for several years is familiar with the concept of "muscle memory". Muscle memory in this context refers to the observation that when a person begins lifting weights after a prolonged lay off, it is much easier to return to their previous levels of size and strength than it was to get there the first time around. Even when significant atrophy (muscle shrinking) has taken place during the layoff, previously hypertrophied muscle returns to its previous size more quickly than usual.

A recent study looking at fiber type conversions during muscle hypertrophy may have uncovered a possible mechanism for this phenomenon. For those of you not crazy about scientific lingo bear with me. Towards the end you will see what I’m getting at with this study. In this study the distribution of myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms, fiber type composition, and fiber size of the vastus lateralis muscle were analyzed in a group of adult sedentary men before and after 3 months of resistance training and then again, after 3 months of detraining. Following the period of resistance training, MHC IIX content decreased from just over 9% to 2.0%, with a corresponding increase in MHC IIA (42% to 49%). Following detraining the amount of MHC IIX reached values that were higher than before and during resistance training, over 17%! As expected, significant hypertrophy was observed for the type II fibers after resistance training, and even remained larger than baseline after 3 months of detraining.

Myosin heavy chain isoforms, or MHCs, refer to the types of contractile protein you see in a given muscle fiber. MHCs determine how the muscle fiber functions. MHCs are what make a fiber "fast twitch", "slow twitch", or something in-between. Certain MHCs are known to undergo a change in response to resistance exercise. In this case, fibers that contain MHC IIX are fibers that aren’t really sure what kind of fiber they are until they are called to action. Once recruited, they become MHC IIAs. So, fibers containg MHC IIX proteins serve as a reservoir of sorts for muscle hypertrophy because the can transform themselves into fibers containing MHC IIX which grow easily in response to training.

Like any great study, these researchers found what they expected as well as a little extra that they didn’t. I think this study caught my attention because it showed a long-term alteration in skeletal muscle following resistance training. It has been this long-term change that has been the focus of my own training philosophy, which incorporates what I call "strategic deconditioning". This study showed that resistance training decreases the amount of MHC IIX while reciprocally increasing MHC IIA content. This was expected and has previously observed with changes in fiber type after resistance training. What they didn’t expect was that detraining following heavy-load resistance training seems to cause what they refer to as an "overshoot" or doubling in the percentage of MHC IIX isoforms, significantly higher than that measured at baseline. What does this mean? It could mean that there are more fibers available for hypertrophy (growth) after a lay off from training than there are before you start training. This could very well explain the "muscle memory" effect many of us have experienced ourselves. It may also have implications for natural bodybuilders looking to overcome long-standing plateaus.

**2.minutes** · 05-07-2006, 04:00 PM

good post as usual marcus300

**harleyman** · 05-07-2006, 04:06 PM

its a fact my body believes in it

**jp_blois** · 05-07-2006, 04:09 PM

Fact w/out a doubt

**marcus300** · 05-07-2006, 04:10 PM

looks like its a done deal then

**MotorBoatin' SOB** · 05-07-2006, 04:32 PM

alllllllready, my body agrees also

**tvd220** · 05-07-2006, 04:53 PM

good post, marcus your the man

**Timm1704** · 05-07-2006, 05:11 PM

after my shoulder surgery, i lost 16lbs in the time i was off training, which was about 10 weeks. within 4 weeks of training and eating properly again, i regained ALL of the old weight, and also added 5lbs on top of that. then, i started my first course, and added an extra 7lbs. i believe in muscle memory

**yom** · 05-07-2006, 05:42 PM

when ever i cut up for a comp within 2 weeks on bulking again ive got all muscle loss back

**Njectable** · 05-07-2006, 07:02 PM

good post marcus

**gabriel595** · 05-07-2006, 07:43 PM

its a total fact for me. last year i had a car accident and injured my shoulder very hard, i couldn't lift for 6 months. i lost 25 lbs. when i recovered from the injury i started training heavily and eating properly again i 2 months i re-gained like 15 lbs then i cycled and gained like 17 lbs and after that i was bigger and better shaped than before. i'm sure their are lots of cases like this.

**gabriel595** · 05-07-2006, 07:47 PM

oh and all that without working out my legs 'cause i had a knee problem...

**Jakspro** · 05-07-2006, 07:54 PM

Wow, i'm actually impressed. I lost probably 5lbs on my legs since a hip injury, went back to squats a few weeks ago and twisted my knee last week running and i haven't been able to train legs for like 4 months. AHHHHH! I miss the burn. But i can't wait to get my strength and mass back.

**C_Bino** · 05-07-2006, 08:26 PM

Wrong forum for sure. But this is a good post.
Thanks for the study Marcus.

**Anabolios** · 05-07-2006, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by 1buffsob

Fact. Studies prove it.

1buffsob

BTW, wrong forum for this thread.

sick avatar hahaha and we had a whole discussion on muscle memory in my nutrition class during out "protein week" and its realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllllll

**ascendant** · 05-07-2006, 09:46 PM

i can attest from personal experience that it's real. i just came off about a 2 year layoff which happened due to numerous external influences. anyway, of course in those 2 years, i lost a ton of weight, not going to even get into the numbers.

i started cutting for a couple months, got where i wanted to be, and started bulking just about a month and a half ago. since then, i've put on 20lbs, of which only about 3lbs is fat (based off of bf% calculation). this is including me having overtrained a couple times by trying to rush things too quick as well, so all things considered, muscle memory is the only thing that can account for the dramatic increase.

**chest6** · 05-07-2006, 09:58 PM

Fact. I've gotten sick before..lost10lbs..came back quickly. In 9th grade I got mano..lost 40lbs. Bench went down to 95lbs haha and it got back to 185 pretty quickly..which was where it was

**C_Bino** · 05-07-2006, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by chest6

Fact. I've gotten sick before..lost10lbs..came back quickly. In 9th grade I got mano..lost 40lbs. Bench went down to 95lbs haha and it got back to 185 pretty quickly..which was where it was

EWWWWWW you had mono. Did you get it from kissing girls with coodies?

HAHAHAHA

**chest6** · 05-07-2006, 11:33 PM

Originally Posted by C_Bino

EWWWWWW you had mono. Did you get it from kissing girls with coodies?

HAHAHAHA

I got it from Nark...he got me while I was sleeping

**Logan13** · 05-08-2006, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by fitnessNY

What do you guys think about muscle memory? Is it a myth or a fact.

For example if you lose 8-12 lbs over a few months and try to gain it back, will it be easier to get to that point since you were already there a few months ago?

Definately fact. The way that I understand it, your body has already created the connections and blood supply to feed the new muscle. The muscle may "shrink/atrophy", but the framework is still there to support it.

**cfiler** · 05-08-2006, 05:22 PM

Muscle memory is true.

**n4529359** · 05-08-2006, 06:03 PM

also if ur muscles have reached a certain size the muscle fascia is stretched . so even when u loose size, to gain it back is easier because of the streched fascia