Muscle Building Our muscles have memory for training success

If muscles have been well-trained, they will grow faster later

Muscles have a memory, found researchers from Keele University in England. In DNA accumulation, the muscles store memories of earlier growth and later benefit from them when rebuilt. According to the scientists, they grow stronger and faster if they have been well trained before. The previous training had changed the gene activity in the muscle cells in such a way that the genes in the muscle "remember" an earlier growth, which helps them to become bigger in the further life course.

Using the latest techniques, researchers at the University of Keele, Liverpool John Moores, Northumbria, and Manchester Metropolitan have studied over 850,000 human DNA sites and discovered specific chemical labels. These markers have linked the researchers to the fact that a muscle grows faster when exercising when it has been trained and returned to normal. The research results were published in the scientific journal "Scientific Reports".

Muscles remember earlier stages of growth and grow faster in future training episodes. (Image: theartofphoto / fotolia.com)

How do the muscles remember??

The "markers" or "tags" epigenetic modifications discovered by researchers in the muscles control the gene and determine whether it should be active or passive, more or less like an on / off switch. The actual gene itself is not changed. Dr. Adam Sharples, lead author of the study, explains how the genes with the epigenetic information are unlabeled when they are exercised. "Importantly, these genes will not be marked even if we lose muscle again," Sharples said in a Keele University press release on the study results. This condition is linked later in life to muscles responding to exercise with greater muscle growth.

Far-reaching consequences for athletes possible

For professional athletes, these findings could have serious consequences, because the scientists found that the muscles also remember the results that were achieved by performance-enhancing drugs, or doping agents. This means that an athlete permanently benefits from faster muscle growth once he has achieved better training results with the help of a doping agent. Thus, short-term bans on doping sinners would not be appropriate as they have caused long-term changes in DNA through doping.

Doping could have lifelong consequences

"When a top athlete uses performance-enhancing drugs to build muscle mass, his muscle can retain a memory of that previous muscle growth," explains Robert A. Seaborne, who also participated in the study. If the athlete gets caught and gets a ban, it may be that short bans are no longer appropriate. They would continue to have the advantage over their competitors because they used to take doping products, even though they are currently no longer using any doping agents. To confirm this clearly, more research with drugs for muscle building is required.

The influence of genes in sports injuries

The research findings could also affect the way athletes train and recover from injuries. "If an athlete's muscle grows and then injures and loses muscle mass, it can contribute to a later recovery if we know the genes responsible for the memory of the muscles," says Sharples. Further research is important to understand how different training programs can help activate these muscle memory genes.

Training for research purposes

To test the results of the study, the team trained Sharples eight athletes for seven weeks intensive training. Thereafter, the participants were allowed to pause for seven weeks and then had to do another seven weeks of sports. During this period, the athletes were monitored by the researchers and the muscle mass and strength of the men was measured at regular intervals. In addition, samples were taken from the subjects.

The results of the training confirm the research

In the first round, the athletes were able to build over six percent more muscle mass and the power increased by more than nine percent. In the subsequent break strength and mass decreased again, but remained at a higher level than before the first training start. In the second intense training, the athletes were then able to build up twelve percent more muscle mass and the power increased by 18 percent, twice as much as the first run. (Vb)