Muscle memory has been used synonymously with motor learning, which is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition. When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task, eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort. This process decreases the need for attention and creates maximum efficiency within the motor and memory systems. What does that mean? And why should I care?! Click after the jump to see how that will help you become more functional in life. The more you do an action... the easier it becomes. *Mind-blown* I know this sounds so easy, but really, how much time does one use to accomplish a task? For example: If someone wants to get used to performing a task such as a Turkish get-up, snatch or clean, how does your body get used to the movement and the strength required? One word: proprioception. It is the awareness of how your body is moving in space. If you try to learn a task such as dancing, what do you do? You are constantly looking at the image and mimicking the action. You see it in toddlers and infants all the time. How do they learn how to speak and learn? By constantly mimicking or practicing what they see! It isn't any different when trying to learn a functional task. For instance, look at farmers. How are farmers and their kids so strong? Because they are constantly performing positional changes that are keeping core stability the top priority. In that case they constantly are incrementally getting better day by day. When watching a CrossFit video not too long ago, Jason Khalipa was talking about Rich Froning's secret workout regime. The secret? He worked out a lot and spent time on his weaknesses. The truth is, for the most part we want to work on what we are good at and spend not enough time on what we need to do. At CrossFit Hagerstown, we are redoing the ME Time. This will be 10 minutes a class devoted to working on an area in which you can improve. The ME Time will connect by week. So instead of taking the ME time and working on a certain move, the whole week will be broken up to make you more efficient. For example: A thruster broken down into- Monday (Clean and Front Squat), Wednesday (Push Press), Friday combination to transition into a complete thruster. Each week we will set up three stations in which you can just work on your desired goal and then retest on Fridays. (Some advance movements will take 2 or 3 weeks depending on your goals.) ALSO: To make stronger muscle memory connections, it is imperative to continue to work on the skill at the home. Just like in physical therapy, you progress not just with the therapist but by those extra reps of exercises between sessions. In the coming days and weeks, we will put out blog posts or messages on Facebook giving you tutorials that have helped us on our form throughout the years. Remember, these tips we give you are guidelines, and any video you might see on YouTube or other places are a good basis. But the trainers do not know you personally, which means you might need to do a certain modification based on your body type; so please put that in the bigger picture while watching the video. Let the games begin! Click here for week 1.
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