But an encouraging new study suggests that our muscles remember. The study involved mice, but it builds on similar experiments with weight training and people. It found that muscles developed a pervasive and lasting molecular “memory” of past resistance exercises that helped them bounce back quickly from long layoffs.
The amount of time it takes to develop muscle memory depends on various factors, such as the complexity of the movement, the frequency of practice, and the individual's level of experience. In general, it may take several weeks or months of consistent practice for muscle memory to develop.
Memory in your neurons
It feels to us as if that memory is stored in our muscles—as if they're remembering how to perform an action without our really being aware of it. But the reality is that the activity is happening in our brains.
Don't Worry, Your Muscles Remember New research shows that muscles actually have a memory of their former strength level that may last indefinitely. That means that if you've worked out before, it may be easier to get that lost muscle mass back later.
Physiological muscle memory
The physiological side of muscle memory has to do with the ability to quickly regain lost muscle. This is often seen in people who frequent the gym, then have a prolonged break in their routine.
“You essentially have an instrumental manual for making muscle, so you can get enhanced growth much faster the second time around.” And researchers believe muscle memory is long lasting, maybe even permanent. “There's never an age where it stops,” Behm said.
To break it down, true muscle loss happens after about 3 weeks of skipping strength training. It can happen within a week if you're completely immobile. If you're concerned that you've lost a lot of muscle, test it! You can test your body composition, check your body weight, and pay attention to your strength.
You might have found that despite the time off, it was quite easy to return to the weights you were lifting before. This is because of muscle memory. It applies to any exercise you perform, and can make it easier to regain lost muscle mass compared to when building muscle the first time.
Regular exercise may trigger cellular changes that build muscle memory. Muscle memory helps previously trained muscles adjust to exercise after a break faster than untrained muscles. If you want to develop muscle memory –– for bodybuilding, running, or any other workout –– your mantra should be repeat, repeat, repeat.
Surprisingly, there is preliminary evidence that once you've strength trained for a while and your muscles adapt to that training, some of those adaptations may be permanent. Keep in mind, though, the evidence comes from animal research.
Contrary to what you may have heard, you won't lose muscle or strength if you take a week or two off from the gym. It takes a while to build muscle, and it doesn't just disappear the second you stop lifting. Take more than three weeks off, though, and you will probably lose some strength and muscle.
Some researchers believe it takes between 1000 and 30,000 repetitions of an activity for it to become second nature to you. When building muscle memory, commit to it for the long haul. Your ability as a player will grow in leaps and bounds for it.
Muscle memory is found in many everyday activities that become automatic and improve with practice, such as riding bikes, driving motor vehicles, playing ball sports, typing on keyboards, entering PINs, playing musical instruments, poker, martial arts, swimming, and dancing.
However, according to this study by Gundersen (2016), it is strongly believed that muscle memory can last for a very long time in humans, up to 15 years and possibly even permanently. Others estimate a more modest 3-6 months.
20s – When you're in your 20s, your body is strong and resilient. This is the perfect time to build a foundation of fitness. Develop exercise as a habit. Make it a regular part of your life.
For the average man, the body is in its best physical shape in the early to mid-20s. But time can take a toll by age 30, when muscle strength starts to decrease by as much as 3 percent to 8 percent every 10 years. By age 40, reaction time starts to slow. At age 50, bones become brittle.
Young children below 17 have less concentration, seriousness, stability, balance and involvement. All these factors can lead to an accident. Also, gym exercises can also affect their growth. It is advised that 17-18 years is the best age where the benefits of working out at a gym can be achieved without any trouble.
You could feel “punch drunk” after working out, your arms and other muscles might ache more than usual, and your body may even feel generally weaker. A low protein diet can also hinder your weight-loss goals, because more muscle means a higher metabolism, which means it takes more calories to maintain the same weight.
Strength training can help you lose fat while preserving muscle, whereas a cardio-only regime is more likely to result in losing both fat and muscle. “If you lose weight without strength training, this typically leaves you looking like a smaller version of where you started,” Matteo points out.
The most common cause for gaining weight after working out, particularly during the first few weeks of a new training program or after a particularly intense workout, is due to water retention. What is this? This is temporary weight gain rather than a true increase in body fat.
Your Muscles are Retaining Water
Weight training exposes muscles to stress to strengthen them and the resulting soreness causes the surrounding tissues to swell until things calm down. “Extracellular water increases transiently in the muscle to relieve inflammation of the muscle soft-tissues,” Tamaki says.