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How does Muscle Memory work?

What does Muscle Memory mean?


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Ever wonder why you won’t forget a skill once you have learned it? It is because of your muscle memory. If you learned how to swim or how to drive a bike, you will forever have that skill in your body and you will never forget it. Your muscles get accustomed to the skill you are practicing and it will be forever in your system.

This is the reason why athletes and performers practice. Constant repetition is necessary for your muscle memory to work in top shape. Neural pathways from your brain to your muscles have stored memory of your practiced skill. There would be no need for your brain to think and tell you what to do. Your muscles already know what to do. Just like a child who is learning a new skill such as walking or swallowing, the child doesn’t remember or even know the skill but his muscles now what to do to complete the task. The child practices the skill of walking over and over again. Since there is constant repetition, the child will be able to have proper balance and would never forget that skill.

According to experts in physiology, there is no exact explanation or theory of why our bodies develop muscle memory. But the best explanation physiologists can say is that constant practice improves muscle memory.
Athletes and performers who have acquired previous skills may have difficulty learning new skills because their body is already accustomed to what they already know. For example, if you are teaching a soccer player a new style in kicking, he or she may not be able to develop that kick quickly because the body has a memory on how to kick a ball. That is why it is easier to teach beginners than professional athletes.

Muscle memory may be affected by our moods. If you have high anxiety levels, even though you already practiced the skill for years, there is still a great chance for you to not be able to perform it perfectly because your muscles are contracting. A high confidence level plus a good muscle memory will help you improve in your performance.
Dec 21st, 2012 at 2:04 AM
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