Well-being. Do you know how muscle memory works?

Long considered a hypothesis, the concept of the existence of muscle memory was first highlighted in 2018 by a British team led by Professor Adam P. Sharples, then professor of performance physiology at Keele University in Newcastle, Great Britain.

A former professional rugby player, this specialist in epigenetics – a discipline focused on the evolution of gene activity – led a unique study among a group of sedentary and inactive people with an average age of 28.

He first trained them for seven weeks using resistance (strength) exercises, before imposing a break for the same period. His findings: muscle mass and strength levels had returned to their initial levels...

Then, Sharples recalled his participants for the training: always resistance training and always for seven weeks. At the end of this work, the scientist noted that his "athletes" had somehow rebuilt muscle much more quickly than the first time. As if they had found their way back to growth more quickly by adapting more effectively to this new effort.

Methyls to the rescue

In his view, the explanation lies in a mechanism called DNA methylation, characterized by the fact that small molecules – 'methyl' derivatives – are "grafted" onto the DNA and thus modify its expression. In this case, the genes coding for proteins that strengthen muscle fibers. The level of methylation then appears higher when the muscular effort in question has already been produced.

This work therefore confirms " the existence of a memory in our muscles which would allow them to activate the right adaptation processes to raise their level much faster than the neophyte ", as summarized in the Sport & Vie magazine by Anthony MJ Sanchez, lecturer at the University of Perpignan Via Domitia.

Muscle memory is also a very long-term memory that allows us to acquire, record, and use motor skills acquired sometimes years earlier, such as riding a bike or playing an instrument. " By practicing these activities, memory improves our performance to the point of creating unconscious automatisms ," notes Sébastien Martinez, French memory champion and memorization trainer, on his website.

Through repetition, the brain is then able to execute a sequence of movements without the need for reflection and concentration. This becomes automatic, through the action of muscle memory.