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MUSCLE MEMORY - QUICKLY REBUILD LOST MUSCLE MASS

You were in shape, regularly in the gym and were able to gain some muscle mass - but then it came: the unwanted training break. Caused by injuries, lack of time, stress, the closure of the gym or simply because the inner pig won.
Your muscles have most likely lost weight during this time, as muscle loss starts as early as 10-14 days after your last workout. Finding new motivation is difficult, because you can literally watch your hard-earned muscles continuously recede. In fact, a rather thankless affair. After all the sweat, all the time invested and all the heavy training, a medium to long break from sports is probably enough and the muscles are gone.
Until you are back to the old level, the whole training has to be rebuilt from the beginning and completed again. At least theoretically. In practice, however, it looks different! Because your body or your muscles remember the peak of your muscle mass. Here we speak of the so-called muscle memory or the "muscle memory effect"! An effect from which you benefit when you return to strength training. The muscle memory ensures that you reach your old status quo much faster than you think. So your training was not in vain!

How the muscle memory effect works

The muscle memory effect ensures that you can rebuild your once trained muscle mass faster after a training break. Basically, you have taught your body, your muscles and therefore your muscle cells in your past training sessions, which status they once had. This status is stored in the muscle cells and therefore does not need to be relearned. But how does muscle memory work? The memory effect is generally composed of 3 modes of operation that complement each other:

Cell nuclei of the musculature - Increased stocks

The cell nucleus - also called the brain of the muscle cell - permanently stores past and learned information about the performance level and also the former volume of the muscle cell.

Through regular and constant training with weights, growth stimuli are set in the muscle. The muscle is signaled that the previous strength is no longer sufficient, whereupon small tears develop in the muscle tissue: the all-familiar muscle soreness. To "repair" or "fill" these tears, the muscle cell doubles in size during the regeneration phase, which in turn leads to more volume being built up. This is called muscle growth.

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However, if the muscle is not exercised as usual for a longer period of time, a breakdown reaction sets in. Here, the body breaks down the unused muscle by metabolizing the proteins and water from the newly gained muscle cells. As a result, the volume of the muscle cells decreases - but the cell itself remains. A decisive advantage for the re-entry! Because when training is restarted after a long break, the cell nucleus quickly remembers the volume once gained and stimulates the muscle cells. Since the doubling has taken place and the cell nuclei are already present, the rebuilding of the volume is much faster.

Neurophysiology - the learned movement sequences

This could also be called the perfect interaction between brain, spinal cord and the musculature = motor function. The human body has about 650 different muscles, which in turn are divided into different muscle groups. To understand the whole thing better, one should imagine the different movement sequences in the body as a kind of closed system. For every movement we make, there is an agonist and an antagonist. The agonist is the muscle that performs the movement. The antagonist is the opposite muscle to it, the one that supports. For example, biceps and triceps are agonist and antagonist. If we tense the triceps, it contracts and the biceps is stretched. It is exactly the same the other way around. The better the agonist and antagonist work together (= are trained), the better targeted movement sequences can be routinely executed.
The more often and intensively such movement sequences are trained - such as clean execution in the bench press - the more reflexively they can be recalled. Movement sequences are constant learning processes that can always be optimized, but never forgotten. This can be seen not only in weight training, but also in other sports, such as cycling or swimming. It takes practice to learn the necessary movements. But once learned, they are never forgotten.

Epigenetic modification of the DNA

Sport can change our genes and our genetic makeup! This sounds a bit like science fiction, but it is reality. Scientists found that even a single workout can positively influence our DNA.
Our genetic code, the DNA, was considered the origin of our way of life for a very long time. We find our genetic material stored in every cell of our body. An unchangeable building block in our body - one would think. But according to the latest findings, it is actually possible to influence, change or even "overwrite" the genetic code. This influence on DNA is achieved by changing chemical processes. More precisely, it is possible to influence so-called switch molecules. These molecules are located on the DNA and determine whether a hereditary trait is stored or not. Researchers at the Swedish Karolinska Institute proved this in a study. In the study, tiny tissue samples were taken from the muscle to be trained. The muscle was then specifically trained over a longer period of time. At the end of the study period, muscle tissue samples were again taken from the trained muscle. The result: the test subjects had succeeded in removing the so-called "blockade molecules" from the genes through targeted muscle training. This is proof that the DNA in our cells can indeed adapt to different conditions. In other words, it was proven that our genes are programmed very quickly to new situations, in this case sports, and can also store this information.

How long does muscle memory last?

The duration of how long the muscle memory effect actually lasts has not yet been clearly proven. According to studies, however, muscle memory lasts for at least 7 weeks. Many experts assume that muscle memory lasts for years, if not forever, and thus for a lifetime.

How long does it take to rebuild lost muscle mass?

Of course, the speed of building muscle mass varies from person to person. Nevertheless, you can assume that you can reach your old status quo after about 3-7 months of training.

The prerequisite is, of course, a proper diet and regular training. Booster are especially suitable for the re-entry and give you the necessary push.

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How do I start strength training after a break from training?

After your fitness abstinence, it is very important not to start training at full throttle. Even if it's hard, you shouldn't give 100% right away, but slow down a bit to get back into the swing of things. For the first 2-4 weeks, we recommend a full-body workout with a little less weight and a little more repetitions. This makes it easier for you to get started, protects your joints and minimizes the risk of injury. Your body can then get used to the movement sequences and the load more easily and ultimately also regenerate better. Ideally you support your body right from the start with good fitness supplementslike Booster, Glutamine or EAA so that the re-entry is as effective as possible.

Should I train with sore muscles?

Probably after the first training sessions you will have quite a lot of muscle soreness and ask yourself if you can train with muscle soreness. The answer is clearly: No. At least you should not train the muscles that are affected by muscle soreness. Especially after a longer break, there is a risk that the already stressed muscles will be overstimulated. This can not infrequently lead to strains when the strain is renewed. Effective muscle building always requires a regeneration phase to be observed. Even though it is commendable that you do not want to let the training slide despite muscle soreness, you should always remember that muscle soreness is an indication that your muscle is working.

However, muscle soreness does not mean that you have to take a complete break from training. Muscles that are not affected by soreness can of course be trained. For example, if your arms are sore, you can still exercise your legs.

Conclusion

Getting back into strength training takes effort. But with the Muscle Memory Effect, high-quality nutritional supplements and discipline you will not only quickly regain your old form, but even improve it!

Source

  • https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-019-01070-4
  • https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpendo.00747.2007
  • https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37895-8

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