Do you have a problem with muscle memory? I’ve heard from a lot of people who complain about their workout stalling and where once they got results, they don’t anymore. This is called a plateau and you have to find a way to get off that if you want to keep getting results.
Muscle memory is another way of defining being on a plateau. The problem with muscle memory is that it’s your body’s natural way of coping. It’s essential. We use muscle memory every single day and we have to because our neuromuscular system has to adapt to the activities we engage in every day.
For example, my mother walks to and from work every day. She has to because she has no car. She also works on her feet all day long. A walking workout wouldn’t do much to improve her overall fitness because she has so much muscle memory already in place to handle her day to day activities.
Plateau
You achieve this muscle memory through regular repeated activity. For example, if you walk 2 miles daily on your treadmill at the same speed, you will see results the first month. But those results will taper off in the second and by the third month, you will just be maintaining. You need to shake your workout up and change it around regularly in order to help overcome muscle memory.
Diversity is a key word you want when it comes to designing and maintaining a workout. I alternate my cardio as often as I can. I walk a great deal, so I have a lot of muscle memory built up. But I also ride my bike, I dance, I jog from time to time. These all shake up the workout and engage different muscles in activities.
This is another reason to alternate your strength training throughout the week, targeting specific areas of the body with different workouts. One way to tell when you’ve built up some specific muscle memory is the ‘ease’ in which you perform the workout. A workout should be that – it should be work. If you skate right through it and hardly lose your breath, then it’s time to shake it up.
12 Week Rule
I use a 12 week rule to keep my workout engaging and on the move. Every 12 weeks, I change what I am doing. If I’ve been using weight machines a lot, I switch to free weights. If I’ve been using my balance ball, I switch to my resistance bands. If I’ve been walking a lot, I switch to the bike. You can switch between two or three different workout regimens every 4 to 6 weeks and you’ll see a lot of results when you do this because you won’t be impaired by muscle memory.
So tell me, do you have a problem with muscle memory?