Question about Muscle Memory

[mecalder]

Hello. I used to lift weights quite a lot, and feel I had a pretty decent frame, then I got lazy. It's been about a year since I've had a good routine going, and I've put on some fat.

My first priority is going to be cardio, and losing weight. I read in a different topic that in order to lose fat you have to be at a cardio deficit but to gain muscle you have to be at a cardio surplus.

While at a cardio deficit, if I lift weights to gain muscle, since my muscles should have memory of being strong once, do you believe I can put some muscle back on?

Thanks.

 

[evan]

You're talking about a calorie deficit or surplus. Meaning that you're taking in less calories than your body is burning for a deficit or more calories than your body is burning for a surplus.

Because you have not been lifting for about a year, you should be able to build some muscle while burning fat. As far as I understand, you want to maintain a small calorie deficit with a high protein diet to do this.

 

[Nobody]

I think you may be confused about muscle memory.

Muscle memory refers to the movements (in the broadest sense of the word) that the muscle makes. For instance, brushing your teeth the way you do. You've brushed your teeth a certain way for a very long time that you don't have to conciously think about it. If you stopped brushing your teeth for 10 years then started again, it would be easy because you would subconsciously remember how to move your muscles in that specific way that you did ten years ago.

Your muscles cannot have "memory" of being strong at one point. Either you have the muscle to lift a certain weight or you don't (of course, it is never quite this simple).