Luckily, research suggests that your hard-won gains of the past can still pay dividends when you restart strength training, thanks to a phenomenon known as muscle memory.
You might associate the term with the idea that you can jump back on a bike after years of not riding one, or undertake other previously-learned activities that involve motor skills and almost instinctively remember how.
This brain-muscle connection is undoubtedly part of the story, but increasingly exercise scientists have realized muscle memory is more than neuromuscular conditioning. Changes deep inside our thread-like muscle cells may also explain why previously trained muscles grow back more quickly the second time around.
