Changing Workout Routines and Muscle Memory
The concept of “muscle memory” is one of the most persistent myths in sports -- your muscles don’t have brains and can’t remember anything. In fact, repeating a movement hundreds of times in row creates fatigue that decreases motor skills. A process that really does occur in response to repeated movements is adaptation: changes your body goes through in response to exercise. Changing up your workouts will help prevent the negative effects of repetition and help you get better results.
Repeating a movement over and over, hundreds of times, fatigues your muscles and central nervous system, resulting in tired movements, late ball contact in sports, a buildup of lactic acid and other muscle inhibitors, and other negative responses. To “groove” sports movement, build motor memory by storing the correct neural impulses in your brain, so it sends the right messages to your muscles each time. Start with repetition of a movement, changing your movements after 20 to 30 swings or before you get tired. For example, at a driving range, a golfer practicing a short iron should start with that club, then move to different clubs hit from different lies, using each swing to groove use of the new shot in the context of a round of golf.
When you perform the same workout over and over, even on different days, your body adapts to the stresses, making it easier to do the work. For example, when you start jogging, you might only be able to run for five minutes before you have to stop. As you keep at it, you’ll improve your cardiorespiratory capacity and muscular endurance and be able to run longer. The downside side of this for exercise routines is that as they become easier, they burn fewer calories.
While adaptation that initially improves your fitness is a good thing, you don’t want your workouts to become too easy. To prevent this, vary your routines to give your muscles a break for a week or two. Fitness guru Tony Horton has coined the term “muscle confusion” to refer to the practice of changing workouts every two weeks to prevent your body from getting used to the same routines, which causes a plateau in your results. Running on a treadmill each workout for a year will not product the same results at the end of the year as it did when you first started. If you use an exercise machine to work out, switch to calisthenics after two weeks, then go back to the machine for one or two weeks. If you visit a gym, switch machines each week to vary your muscle use.
Another benefit of changing your workouts is that you will be better able to recover and improve muscle strength. After you exercise, your muscles repair themselves and grow larger, with the bulk of this process taking place up to 48 hours after your workout. If you exercise once or twice each day, work on different areas of your body at each workout. For example, perform upper-body routines at one workout, core exercises the next, then a lower-body workout.
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