There is some debate over muscle memory and whether it does exist.


In my opinion, it does and this is due to the number of studies we have seen.



My understanding is:



A) Muscles are overloaded and new nuclei are acquired for the first time. Through proper diet, these nuclei build new muscle proteins and so the muscle fibers grow.


B) Upon cessation of lifting, the fibers are resistant to atrophy due to the increased number of nuclei. When de-training is for long enough, protein degradation exceed protein synthesis rates and ones muscles shrink in size but the nuclei aren’t lost.


C) Some into the future, when training is restarted, muscles rapidly grow in size because the step of adding nuclei is “skipped”– as they are already there. This means they are ready to synthesize muscle proteins again, and so rapidly increasing muscle size.


And so, I have muscle memory explained.What is your take?



info
Myonuclei acquired by overload exercise precede hypertrophy and are not lost on detraining. - PubMed - NCBI
The molecular basis of skeletal muscle atrophy. - PubMed - NCBI

Years of personal experience tells me it does exist. For examples, how else, after a year off due to slipped discs etc can you get back to more or less where you were in just months unless it did exist? And I'm talking being natural. No juice involved.

ya I beleive in it as well, my gains always come on VERY fast, it seems to pick up where it was last

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People say to me its possible to be too big.....but for me I dont want a physique thats average something thats reachable, I want something thats unobtainable that looks like its so hard to get, yes women hate it, BUT I FUCKIN LOVE IT....SO FUCK IT!! why do I want this??? CAUSE NORMAL FUCKIN SUCKS!!!

Oh it's 100% real I took off for a while due to an injury and lost some definition but shit in no time it comes right back your body remembers its been there before if you've spent that time in the gym. If I stopped training for 6months I'd bet I could get back to where I was before the break in 3 months or less the body is amazing I learn something new about it each day. The most complex machine there is.