MUSCLE MEMORY

 Muscle memory..

refers to the muscles ability to achieve a certain size again after previously being there. If a pro bodybuilder that was 120kg of solid muscle was put in a coma for some reason for 2 years, and shrunk to 80kg in this time, his body would remember having this muscle. This is because the muscles casing (fascia) has been stretched to this size previously. If this bodybuilder had an identical twin with the same genetics, who had never been over 80kg, and they both began working out together, the twin who had been 120kg would pack on the pounds much faster than his brother. His muscle would fill out the casing much easier as it had already been previously stretched, much like a rubber band stays partially stretched if you keep it stretched for a long period of time. You can use this to your advantage when bulking and then cutting. Any muscle lost during the cutting cycle will be much easier to gain the next time around when you are bulking, and this very much plays into the idea of cycling your diet regimes.