Know Thy Self

Muscle memory… the muscles contract in order to perform work and memory is the retention of knowledge. So what actually does the muscle remember? In the case of the muscles, knowledge is gained through experience. The experience, acquire through repetition, allows the muscles to perform more efficiently without an overly excessive waste of energy. Energy is conserved when only the muscles necessary to perform a certain task are contracted. Associative learning, the process of learning by means of repetition, also conditions the Central Nervous System (CNS), which the muscles are wired into via motor neurons. When dealing with the CNS, repetition transforms voluntary action which emerges from the motor cortex into a reflex action which emerges from the spine. So muscle memory is more of a process of muscle wiring which is heavily influenced by repetition. What can impede the affects gained by repetition? Thyself… the greatest amount of resistance can be found within. Besides the environment, you affect the rate of conditioning (by way of repetition) of the CNS and the muscles.

The muscles are a bundle of fibers, much like the bundle of cables in a suspension bridge. The parallel alignment of the cables and fibers, within the bundle, provide strength and stability. Unlike suspension cables, muscles have the ability to contract and perform work. The muscles, when learning a new motor skill, become more efficient through repetition. Repetition teaches the muscles to contract only the muscles needed to perform the movement. By selecting only the necessary fibers, the muscles conserve energy which would otherwise be wasted in the form of heat. Activating unnecessary muscles fibers not only causes overheating, it causes more oxygen to be consumed in the reaction with glucose. This reaction supplies the energy demands of the muscles. The increase in muscle activity increases the energy demands. When oxygen is in abundance, the reaction (aerobic) makes available all the energy needed to power the muscles. Yet when there is a deficiency of oxygen, the inefficient reaction (anaerobic) creates vast amounts of byproduct know as lactic acid. Unable to receive the required energy to keep up with demand, the muscles become fatigued by the overabundance of lactic acid. Repetition allows the muscles to learn how to perform more efficient movements which equates to a reduction in muscle fatigue, either through overheating or an overabundance of lactic acid. The reduction in muscle fatigue equates to an increase in the overall power output because the muscles are able to sustain work for a longer period of time. From a baby trying to stand to an elder person practicing Tai Chi, we all learn and retain knowledge through repetition.

Muscles, operating by chemically induced electrical impulses, are integrated into the CNS by means of motor neurons. The thought to perform a voluntary action (oppose to the involuntary action of the heartbeat), which originates in the brain, causes a series of electrical impulses to chain react in the motor cortex. The electrical impulses exit the brain stem and travel down the spine where the impulses branch off to the corresponding motor neuron which contracts the appropriate muscle fibers. Through repetition, the path which these electrical impulses is shorten. The voluntary action, which originates in the motor cortex, is transformed into a reflex action, like walking, which originates from the spinal cord. The path, which the electrical impulses travel, is also strengthen by repetition. Use it or lose it. This phrase refers to the process of conditioning by means of repetition. The more a movement is repeated, the easier it is to recall and perform that movement. Even as the body sleeps, the network of connection, in the brain that allow for the flow of electrical impulses, continues to be strengthened. I liken the strengthening of this path, which guides the flow of electrical impulses, to the strengthening of the path which water flows. No matter what surface water flows over, it always seeks the path of least resistance. Once this path is sought and the flow of water is increased, erosion gouges out a deep path through the surface. Repetition is the erosion over time. The act of gouging is an act of conditioning. The more electrical impulses that are flowing to contract the muscles, the stronger the connections that form the path.

Thought experiment: When the generation of potential energy (action potential) by the motor neurons, which cause the muscles to contract, is measured in millivolts (one millionth of a volt), it becomes apparent that mindful repetitive actions have a greater potential to perform work than idle repetitive actions. Muscles conditioned by mindful repetitive actions encounter less resistance as a result they are able to perform work longer and with a greater efficiency. When the rate at which electrical impulses travel through the CNS is measured in milliseconds (one millionth of a second), it becomes evident that any reduction in distance, which the electrical impulses travel, provides a quicker contraction of the muscle fibers. When dealing with systems with time scales of milliseconds, focusing on mindful actions increases the overall potential of the system, the body. The mind leads and the body follows. Lethargic actions are begotten by lethargic thoughts. The greatest impediment to muscle memory is thyself. The body will retain the knowledge of any movement that is repeated but the quality of that movement is dependent on the mind. Mindful thoughts are neither preoccupied with a thought to act nor lacking the will to perform. Mindful thoughts spawn mindful actions. Mindful actions have the greatest potential to influence the knowledge gained through repetition.

The muscles are hardwired to work at optimal efficiency. Therefore, mindful intent to focus on form is what guides and enhances the retention of knowledge… muscle memory. In a competition, the match/bout/event is often decided in fractions of a second. The one that has the knowledge to manipulate actions, within this time scale, has an advantage over the combatant that doesn’t have the same knowledge. Repetition allows the muscles to conserve energy by working more efficiently. Working more efficiently guarantees that only the muscles needed are the muscles contracted. This action reduces the rate at which lactic acid builds up in the muscles and the potential for the muscles to overheat. Repetition also allows the CNS to learn how to process information (electrical impulses) faster by operating more efficiently. Simultaneously, the path which the electrical impulses flow is strengthen. Through the study of form and motion, voluntary actions become reflex actions and reduce the time to act by reducing the distance the electrical impulses need to travel. Know thy self. Know that how an individual trains is how an individual performs.

-William Giles