A recent story on NPR discussed muscle development, and the structural changes they undergo when they are exercised. This new study suggests that muscles which are worked hard (and especially worked early in life) will be better able to regain strength, even after years of lack of use, relative to unworked muscles. Your muscles can remember their former strength!
This story reminded me of a line from one of the Lord of the Rings movies (seen them too many times, perhaps?), where Gandalf is talking to the very weakened Theoden, and suggests to him that his "fingers would remember their old strength better if they grasped [his] sword."
What the interview doesn't address, and I am curious about (assuming this is all true), is whether specific muscle movement are more easily remembered. Think of the phrase, "Just like riding a bike," which is used to explain how once you've learned something, you'll always remember how to do it. So let's say you play soccer as a kid. You start in grade school, maybe play through high school. If you spend years being lazy and then decide you want to get back in shape, will you have better luck playing soccer, or will your early-in-life fitness translate to any new endeavor you undertake?
Thought provoking post. Great connection to LOTR with the Theoden example. Do you reckon' that beyond leveraging muscle memory of yore, Gandalf was trying to capitalize on nostalgia of his warrior and liberated youth to re-invigorate Theoden? Is the muscle memory of gripping the pommel of sword a gateway to nostalgia and memories of who he once was, and hence an effective platform toward freeing himself, or would the inverse happen, and the releasing of memories trigger muscle memory to help his body jolt back to independence?
ReplyDeleteThanks! And yes, I absolutely think Gandalf was trying to capitalize on the nostalgia. And it works wonders to do that, doesn't it? That's probably partially because, in many cases, we've deluded ourselves into remembering only the good parts of our past - but what's so wrong about that, if it feeds our inspiration later?
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