Other/Mixed nero memory vs building

[Masterofone]

Hi all,

I was watching some youtube video and came across a question I need some help with understanding.

As I understood the concept, with muscle memory came the ability to build more muscle on that base.

so

Can anyone point me to some reading/ or educate me on this topic?
I'm more curious on the question of if youve trained up to whatever level "A" and stop, your body has then achieved a certain fitness level/ peak. Does this make it easier for the body to fill in and grow based on what it knows it can do, after a say withdrawn period of working out, and one is to pickup training?

I dont know how else to ask or if there is a nieche of this field of study.

Lets give an example for measure.

If person "A" was to work out everyday for ten years and then stop for, 1,2,3,whatever years, does the body then have a better advantage of making gains based on having already been at a certain fitness level, or does the brain/body recognize resistance/weight and recognize this is how it has to responded and adapt to said stresses.

I hope this makes sense, please feel free to edit the question for everyones understanding.

Thank you

 

[Kenny Croxdale]

As I understood the concept, with muscle memory came the ability to build more muscle on that base.

so

Can anyone point me to some reading/ or educate me on this topic?
I'm more curious on the question of if youve trained up to whatever level "A" and stop, your body has then achieved a certain fitness level/ peak. Does this make it easier for the body to fill in and grow based on what it knows it can do, after a say withdrawn period of working out, and one is to pickup training?

Muscle Memory

Think of it like riding a bicycle. If you don't ride it for a few years. Then get back on it. You can still ride it.

In other word, it is fairly easy to get back quickly to where you once were.

However, going beyond that requires more work.

Lets give an example for measure.

If person "A" was to work out everyday for ten years and then stop for, 1,2,3,whatever years, does the body then have a better advantage of making gains based on having already been at a certain fitness level, or does the brain/body recognize resistance/weight and recognize this is how it has to responded and adapt to said stresses.

The General Adaptation Syndrome

This is the underlying mechanism that drive Periodization Training, gaining or losing weight, becoming immune to diseases, etc.

When exposed to a new stimulus stress, the body either adapts or you die; as with diseases.

So, there is some truth to, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Adaptation

Once adaptation occurs with exercise or diet, progress stops

To ensure progress is maintained, you need to change up your training

Novice Lifter adapt slowly. That means they can maintain the same exercises and program for 8 - 12 weeks before they need to make changes.

Advance Lifter adapt quickly. That means they to change their exercises and program about every 3- 4 weeks.

With that said, Dr Greg Nuckols provides an interesting hypothesis on...

Grow Like A New Lifter

Grow Like a New Lifter Again?

Why can a new lifter add muscle so quickly? Can you recreate those conditions? That's the question we ask as the backdrop for this treatise on muscle growth

www.strongerbyscience.com

Nuckols' theory is that taking time off from training re-sensitized your muscle to training.

With that said, research has demonstrated one of the most effective of ensuring progress with constant progress is by...

Changing Exercise

Changes in exercises are more effective than in loading schemes to improve muscle strength - PubMed

This study investigated the effects of varying strength exercises and loading scheme on muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) and maximum strength after 4 strength training loading schemes: constant intensity and constant exercise (CICE), constant intensity and varied exercise (CIVE), varied...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

That means after a training cycle, let's say change from a Flat Bench Press to an Incline Bench Press.

Changing to a new exercise program requires that you drop the load to something easy and progressive increase the load each week to the end of your training cycle.

 

[Spartan Agoge]

That means after a training cycle, let's say change from a Flat Bench Press to an Incline Bench Press

While there is some search to back this claim, I am not a fan of it.
What I do is to locate the weak points of each basic exercise, and strengthen them with the suitable accesory exercise.

For example: the best mass and strength builder for the lower body is the barbell back squat. I wouldn't change it as main exercise, with front squat, or zercher squat for example.
But, if I hit a plateau, i would firstly locate the weak point. If I was weak in the hole, I would start doing pause squats, after the barbell back squat 5x5, for, let's say, 3x10. If I was doing a goodmorning squat(aka weak quads), I would start doing front squats, after the back squat. Etc.

Of course I am not dogmatic about anything. Changing exercises may be a better way. I really can't tell, as I have never tried it.

 

[Kenny Croxdale]

While there is some search to back this claim, I am not a fan of it.
What I do is to locate the weak points of each basic exercise, and strengthen them with the suitable accesory exercise.

Varying Exercises

As Dr Craig Marker stated in one of his articles...

"Your feeling don't matter, the facts do."

With that said, Varying Exercise is one of the fundamental principle promoted by sports scientist as a mean of ensuring progress.

Weak Point

Training the weak point with an Auxiliary Exercise is something that should be done to increase strength in a particular movement.

I employ Auxiliary Exercise that are similar in nature to my Powerlifts, as a means of pushing/pulling more weight.

For example: the best mass and strength builder for the lower body is the barbell back squat. I wouldn't change it as main exercise, with front squat, or zercher squat for example.

The Back Squat

Your view of it being the best mass builder is based on your fellings rather than facts.

Exercise like the Front Squat, Zercher Squat , etc are just as effective for increasing strength and mass. Olympic Lifter have some of the best legs in the game from Front Squatting. They also Back Squat, as well.

The Squats Issue

The limiting factor with the Squat is the core/lower back gives out before the legs are completely overloaded.

To ensure the legs are completely overloaded, that means the lower back needs to be taking out of the equation.

Some of the best free weight exercises for this are...

1) Belt Squats

In this movement you stand on a platform with a Belt Squat Belt around you waist and Squat. This movement allows you to completely overload the legs.

2) Step Ups

Dr. Terry Todd and Angel Spassov,’Bulgarian Leg Training Secrets,’ Muscle and Fitness (1989). - Physical Culture Study

Almost a decade ago, a retired Soviet hammer thrower came to the conclusion that traditional forms of squatting were not the best way to strengthen the muscles of the thighs and hips. Many in the Soviet Union considered this heresy, as the squat was the king of leg training in that country just...

physicalculturestudy.com

Stepping up on a Box holding Dumbbells or with a Barbell on your back places the workload in the leg.

Variation of The Back Squat

Changing the Back Squat into different exercise can be as simple as..

1) Going from a High Bar Squat to a Low Bar Squat., or vise versa.

2) Going from Wide Stance Squat to a Narrow Squat, or vise versa.

3) Going from a Full Squat to a Powerlifting, 90 degree Squat, or vise versa.

4) Box Squats. Squatting off a Box from different heights.

Changing exercises may be a better way. I really can't tell, as I have never tried it.

My Signature Line

At the bottom of my name on every post is...

"I guarantee it will never work if you never try it."

That was the final line in a strength training article that I co-wrote years ago on Complex Training (Post Activation Potentiation Training).

The reason for it was that I was tired of hearing how something would not work from individual who had never tired it.

I Understand

However, I understand that when a new concept is presented to someone, they question it, as they should.

"All truth passes through three stages.:

First, it is ridiculed.

Second, it is violently opposed.

Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

The Issue With Most

The issue with most individuals is they ridicule it and violently oppose it.

In other word they never try it and end up basing their feeling and opinions on something they have no knowledge it.

Another Factor

Many individual do not implement it correctly.

It fails and they blame the method rather than realizing that they implemented it incorrectly.

Fear Of Failure

Finally, many individual are afraid of losing ground in a lift and going backwards. when trying something new.

In working with other, my reply is, "I guarantee, that you are going lose some ground and go backward. It is part of the learning process.
However, in the long run, you are going make more gains."

In work with a Powerlifter years ago, he complained after two week of being on a new training program; that it was not working.

My reply was, "Nothing work overnight or in two weeks."

Summary

I provide information. What you or other decide to do with it is up to you.

 

[North Coast Miller]

Study group of one, the body will remember/relearn low skill movements very rapidly after a long period off. Even mores o if they are similar to day-to day movements.

Higher skill movements will take longer to relearn but will still have about 1/2 the learning curve.

The muscles form myonuclei that are capable of governing larger amounts of muscle cell mass. Hard training increases these in number and once attained they are very slow to disappear - many years if not decades.

When you start training again, this is like having all the logistics in a factory ready to go and you now just have to put workers back in the right spots - you will regain your former mass rapidly, again at a rough estimate about 1/2 the time it took originally.

As a side note, Kenny advice to vary exercise I have found to be one of the fundamental principles of health through resistance training or any sort of training really. Variety protects from overuse and provides novel stimulus. Without it you simply become more efficient at a given task and the benefits of doing so diminish the adaptive response. You can use all sorts of loading schemes to eke out gains or you can just apply yourself to a new task and take off like a rocket.

 

[Masterofone]

what a fantastic wealth of knowledge! Thank you all