Muscle Memory – It real.

A great post for those that can’t train due to being quarantined or due to injury.
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You may have heard of the term “muscle memory”. Even though your muscles technically don’t have a memory (duh lol), muscle memory refers to how it’s relatively easy to regain the muscle you lose due to inactivity [1].
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Muscle memory works because you retain the nuclei you acquire as a result of lifting weights, even when you take a long training break [2]. Nuclei are essentially the control centers of your muscle fibers. Acquiring new muscle nuclei allows for more muscle growth to occur [3].
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So even though you may lose some muscle when you stop training for several weeks, the muscle nuclei you retain make it possible for you to regain lost muscle quickly. When you swipe left, you can see a visual description of how muscle memory works.
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It’s important to remember though that muscle loss won’t occur quickly in the first place. Current evidence indicates that muscle loss starts to occur after a 2-3 week training break [4, 5]. But if for some reason you need to take a long training break, it’s always good to know that you have the potential to regain lost muscle quickly.
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References:
1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-20287-3
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26792335
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2930527/
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28328712
5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259390281_Evidence-Based_Resistance_Training_Recommendations_for_Muscular_Hypertrophy