MUSCLE MEMORY.

Today, we will discuss Muscle Memory.
 
And no, I’m not asking if you remember the muscles you USED to have, I mean the ability of muscles to remember precise and repetitive movements as well as muscles’ ability to return to the shape they were in previously if you have indeed taken time off from exercise due to not exercising for a while.
 
What’s that you say?  You have muscle amnesia?  No.  Muscle amnesia is for the weak, untrained and uninformed.  Muscle memory is for the strong and the conquerors.
 
I’ve taken time off from the gym before.  GASP.  I know.  Even me.
 
Sometimes, you just need a mental break.
 
Sometimes, your body needs a break.
 
Sometimes, you just need a change in your routine – such as running stairs and doing bodyweight exercise outside for example.
 
And when done right, this break can help you refocus and return to your resistance training with a new found inspiration.
 
When the day comes that I return to the gym, not only am I recharged mentally to focus properly on my workout, but it also doesn’t take very long for my muscles to remember where they were prior to the break in weight training because, like elephants, they never forget and they bounce back to their previous state pretty quickly.
 
Now, specifically for the women.
 
You all curse supermodels whose bodies bounce back almost “immediately” after giving birth.
 
Remember two things:
 
1)      They still put in plenty of HARD work after birth to regain their figure.

2)      They EXERCISED WITH WEIGHTS (or at LEAST did some kind of resistance training) BEFORE PREGNANCY (something that many of you are scared of because you think it’s going to make you look like a man, which is disproven in every instance) thus, after pregnancy, when they were again free to buckle back down on their resistance training routines, their muscles REMEMBERED where they had been before thus making it easy for them to return to their previous glory.  Not to mention, being in shape before and during pregnancy helps with carrying the added baby weight for 9 months, and helps ease the process on the actual child-birth “game-day.”
 
Women, you don’t have to be power squatting 300 pounds, but you DO need to lift something heavier than 3 or 5 pounds.
 
Muscle memory is the trump card in your post-partum return-to-svelteness hand of cards.
 
You CAN bounce back.  Don’t blame it on muscle amnesia.  Give your body more credit than that!
 
Have a strong day.