Q: You’ve been training for a long time. I’m wondering if your ability to look good with such abbreviated workouts has to do with muscle memory. I’ve heard that after you build lots of muscle, it’s easier to get it back and hold it. Your response?
A: Muscle memory is definitely real. When I had Jonathan Lawson test the Size Surge program way back in the late ’90s, he put on 20 pounds of muscle in 10 weeks, but…
He was regaining some of that, which is why he gained so quickly after letting his training slack off. So muscle memory was a factor in him getting bigger faster.
Even so, he added around seven pounds of new muscle during that time as well. We knew that because he’d never been that big—and this was without any steroids whatsoever (he is lifetime drug-free).
As for me and my recent Old Man, Young Muscle progress, studies show that more experienced trainees need less volume, not more, to continue to progress…
It’s due to developed neuromuscular efficiency and also the ability to focus. Muscle memory can help when getting back into training, but I never stopped…
In the first photo below, I was training three to four days a week at a commercial gym, using one-hour workouts. My progress was shitty, even for a 60+ bodybuilder, as you can see…
Then after reconnecting with Drug-Free Mr. Universe and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole, I decided to try shorter workouts centered around his ideal exercises with a few add-on moves.
You see the progress above with more precise 35-minute workouts three days a week. No drugs. And the muscle came quickly…
Plus, due to the pandemic I was forced to train in a bare-bones home gym with only selectorized 50-pound PowerBlock dumbbells, an adjustable bench, and a doorway chinning bar.
So it was not muscle memory; more my experience, developed nervous system, and ability to focus. That helped make the short workouts more productive; however…
The big key was using precision training: the ideal exercises, stretch- and/or contracted-position add-ons, and fewer sets varying the tempo to reduce damage and enhance recovery.
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