"What you practice eventually becomes you," according to Dr Tim. And it is especially true when it comes to exercise and most forms of sport. Good posture is a necessity not just for a polished technique but also for avoiding injuries that might need rehabilitation and extensive care to heal. This is because of the enigmatic phenomenon of muscle memory.
Muscle memory is something often talked about in books and literature, especially those centred around sports. What most people think is that our muscles are neurologically linked with the brain, and when we exercise, our brain takes in information about how our muscles are moving and thus sends in the appropriate messages for contraction and relaxation. This is partially true, but it isn't the basis for muscle memory.
There are three types of muscle in the body- skeletal, smooth and cardiac muscle. Smooth muscles are associated with the hollow organs of our body, and cardiac muscle is associated with the heart. They are both controlled by automatic reactions in the body and are out of our control, meaning that we cannot control how they contract. This is a good thing because if we had to control our heartbeat, we wouldn't be able to think of anything else! Our body has adapted so that it can manage the contractions of our hearts and organs on its own, without the brain needing to handle things.
Skeletal muscle is different. It is the muscle that is under our control, and all of its contractions are controlled by the conscious brain. (This does not include reflexes, which are controlled by the spinal cord). When we play a sport, we are contracting our skeletal muscles to manipulate our actions so that we may play the sport to the best of our ability. And that is where muscle memory comes in.
When we exercise, our skeletal muscle fibres inflame or break down because of the stress. That is when special cells lying underneath the fibres come into action and repair them. These cells are called satellite cells and are so named because they may divide multiple times and add new cells to the torn fibres in order to repair them. And this is the basis for muscle memory.
But first, let me shed a bit of light on how cells work.
You see, a normal animal cell has one nucleus, which helps it to make proteins. When they divide, they make new cells and new nuclei so that more proteins can be made. Muscle cells are special because unlike most animal cells, they have hundreds of nuclei. When satellite cells divide and add more cells to the torn fibres, they are adding more nuclei to the muscle cells, which allows them to make proteins quicker and heal the fibres faster the next time they are torn. That's why if you exercise consistently, you will need to increase the amount of it you do so that you can keep getting stronger.
However, say you stop exercising for some time. Your muscles will shrink but will retain the extra nuclei, so when you hit the gym once more, the proteins that make your muscles swell will be generated much more quickly. The 'use it or lose it' dogma is thus false- if you stop using a muscle, you may still retrain it and get results more quickly.
Furthermore, actions and habits are picked up by a set of nerves called basal ganglia. Basal ganglia are present in a part of the brain called the cerebellum and help us pick up and memorize actions until they can be performed out of habit. A tennis player can pick up a racket- any racket- and swing it perfectly. A pianist will be able to move his fingers far more quickly than a footballer, but a knitter might be able to keep up. These actions have become part of them because of their basal ganglia and are, therefore, a result of muscle memory.
Most fitness instructors will prioritize posture over the weight being lifted, and they are right. If you learn to do an exercise in an incorrect manner, the nuclei in your muscles and your basal ganglia will memorize it and make correcting the exercise very difficult. No one cares about how much weight is being lifted. They will care more if you injure yourself because of bad posture. So remember this before you try to bulk up or learn a new sport- learn technique before power and speed. Doing an exercise the right way is more important than doing it quickly. Your basal ganglia and satellite cells are very good at their job, and no one wants their muscles to be incorrectly shaped or injured.
-------------------------------------
For more math and science-focused articles that will be uploaded frequently, please follow my blog on Blogger.com! It's easy- just create your own account on Blogger, click on 'Reading list', 'edit', then 'add'. Thank you so much for reading!
Muscle memory is something often talked about in books and literature, especially those centred around sports. What most people think is that our muscles are neurologically linked with the brain, and when we exercise, our brain takes in information about how our muscles are moving and thus sends in the appropriate messages for contraction and relaxation. This is partially true, but it isn't the basis for muscle memory.
There are three types of muscle in the body- skeletal, smooth and cardiac muscle. Smooth muscles are associated with the hollow organs of our body, and cardiac muscle is associated with the heart. They are both controlled by automatic reactions in the body and are out of our control, meaning that we cannot control how they contract. This is a good thing because if we had to control our heartbeat, we wouldn't be able to think of anything else! Our body has adapted so that it can manage the contractions of our hearts and organs on its own, without the brain needing to handle things.
Skeletal muscle is different. It is the muscle that is under our control, and all of its contractions are controlled by the conscious brain. (This does not include reflexes, which are controlled by the spinal cord). When we play a sport, we are contracting our skeletal muscles to manipulate our actions so that we may play the sport to the best of our ability. And that is where muscle memory comes in.
When we exercise, our skeletal muscle fibres inflame or break down because of the stress. That is when special cells lying underneath the fibres come into action and repair them. These cells are called satellite cells and are so named because they may divide multiple times and add new cells to the torn fibres in order to repair them. And this is the basis for muscle memory.
But first, let me shed a bit of light on how cells work.
You see, a normal animal cell has one nucleus, which helps it to make proteins. When they divide, they make new cells and new nuclei so that more proteins can be made. Muscle cells are special because unlike most animal cells, they have hundreds of nuclei. When satellite cells divide and add more cells to the torn fibres, they are adding more nuclei to the muscle cells, which allows them to make proteins quicker and heal the fibres faster the next time they are torn. That's why if you exercise consistently, you will need to increase the amount of it you do so that you can keep getting stronger.
However, say you stop exercising for some time. Your muscles will shrink but will retain the extra nuclei, so when you hit the gym once more, the proteins that make your muscles swell will be generated much more quickly. The 'use it or lose it' dogma is thus false- if you stop using a muscle, you may still retrain it and get results more quickly.
Furthermore, actions and habits are picked up by a set of nerves called basal ganglia. Basal ganglia are present in a part of the brain called the cerebellum and help us pick up and memorize actions until they can be performed out of habit. A tennis player can pick up a racket- any racket- and swing it perfectly. A pianist will be able to move his fingers far more quickly than a footballer, but a knitter might be able to keep up. These actions have become part of them because of their basal ganglia and are, therefore, a result of muscle memory.
Most fitness instructors will prioritize posture over the weight being lifted, and they are right. If you learn to do an exercise in an incorrect manner, the nuclei in your muscles and your basal ganglia will memorize it and make correcting the exercise very difficult. No one cares about how much weight is being lifted. They will care more if you injure yourself because of bad posture. So remember this before you try to bulk up or learn a new sport- learn technique before power and speed. Doing an exercise the right way is more important than doing it quickly. Your basal ganglia and satellite cells are very good at their job, and no one wants their muscles to be incorrectly shaped or injured.
-------------------------------------
For more math and science-focused articles that will be uploaded frequently, please follow my blog on Blogger.com! It's easy- just create your own account on Blogger, click on 'Reading list', 'edit', then 'add'. Thank you so much for reading!
"That’s a great article – Ishan has a real talent to take complex subjects and make them interesting" -comment from Richard Jeans
ReplyDelete