Workout of the Day

Muscle Memory

temp-post-image

Have you ever heard of muscle memory? You’ve probably encountered this idea when you were playing on your high school baseball team and your coach told you that you need to get in lots of reps at bat to develop your muscle memory, or perhaps your dance instructor reminded you that practice is essential to develop the muscle memory for a basic dance move so you can perform it without thinking.

While muscle memory is a bit of a misnomer (your muscles don’t remember that wedding you went to last summer, and if you cut off your arm, it won’t exactly remember how to throw a ball), the idea is a true one. You are going to become very good at doing things that you do frequently. You might remember learning at some point about myelin -- a sheath that covers your nerve pathways. When you do something frequently, this myelin thickens, which allows better conductivity of nerve signals. In essence, your body recognizes that it would benefit from being efficient at doing that task, and so it adapts to make the task easier to do in the way in which you practice it.

The takeaway here is twofold. First, if you really want to get good at something, do it every day. It doesn’t have to take hours, it doesn’t have to be hyper-intense, but it does need to be consistent and regular. (Side note: this is the principle behind the “Cold Method” that we will be using in our End of Summer Performance Challenge). The second is a warning to be careful what you practice. Practice deadlifting with a rounded back, or sitting in your office chair with slumped shoulders, or running with a heal strike, and your body is going to become very good at that pattern. Individual reps may seem harmless, but when you start to lay down layers upon layers of poor movement, fixing the problem tomorrow becomes harder and harder to do.

You have chances to practice every day. Pick something you want to be good at, and see if you can’t squeeze in a 90 second refresher course for your nerve pathways.

P.S. If you haven't signed up for our End of Summer Performance Challenge, you can get the details and register HERE.

- PS


8/9/18

  • Squat snatch - 1,1,1,1,1

Then...

  • 4 rounds for quality:

    • 16 alternating pistols/side step-ups

    • 16 inverted shoulder taps