According to a study from the University of Jyväskylä’s Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences investigating muscle memory suggests that breaks in resistance training do not impair long-term development in strength and muscle size. The study also showed that both maximum strength and muscle size are quickly regained to pre-break levels when training is resumed. The results have been published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.
This study investigated how a 10-week break from resistance training might affect maximum strength and muscle size (muscle memory), finding that the 10-week break halfway through a 20-week strength training regime had little effect on development. However, during the break, maximal strength was preserved better than muscle size.
Investigating muscle memory
To come to this conclusion, the results of 20 weeks of resistance training were compared between two groups of participants who were physically active without previous experience of systematic resistance training: one with continuous training and the other with a midway 10-week break.
The results showed that maximum strength and muscle development were similar in both groups. The equal progress in both groups was due to maximum strength and especially muscle size quickly returning when training was resumed, which is a phenomenon termed muscle memory.
“During the first few weeks after the break, progress was very rapid and after only five weeks of re-training, the pre-break level had already been reached,” says Eeli Halonen from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, who is writing his doctoral thesis on the effects of the training break.
“For the group training continuously for 20 weeks, progress clearly slowed after the first ten weeks,” Halonen adds. “This meant that there was ultimately no difference in muscle size or strength development between the groups.”
Strength preserved better than size
It was noted that maximum strength was preserved better during the break than muscle size. Halonen explains that this might be due to changes in the nervous system possibly being more permanent than the peripheral changes in the muscles.
During this study, those who took a break achieved the same results in 30 weeks vs those who trained continuously for 20 weeks, suggesting that gym-goers have little to worry about taking the occasional break of up to 10 weeks if their training is otherwise regular and progressive during the rest of the year thanks to their muscle memory.
“Of course, the break slows progress some,” Halonen points out, “but it is comforting to know that it is possible to reach the pre-break level surprisingly quickly.”
Whether you are looking to use your muscle memory to build muscle, increase bone density, replace some stress and anxiety with some feel-good endorphins, or improve your overall health, incorporating strength training into your routine can benefit you significantly. Regular strength training is essential to improving overall quality of life, as well as reducing the risk of falls, fractures, and mobility-limiting conditions.
Next steps
“The physiological mechanisms of muscle memory are not yet fully understood,” said senior researchers Juha Hulmi and Juha Ahtiainen, “and our next step is to study in more depth the cellular and molecular changes in muscles that could potentially explain this phenomenon.”
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