# muscle. memory



## da white shoe (Mar 10, 2009)

I think that it could be more accurately described with a different term... maybe, "repetition conditioning."
Golfers absolutely have to perfect it to be competitive, as do bowlers, quarterbacks, free throw shooters, pitchers... and on and on.
If you do anything over and over enough, you gradually get closer and closer to repeating the process _*exactly the same way every time*_... without having to think about it. 
The benefit of this state of mind in archery is... the more you eliminate the things that require your conscious thought to repeat, the freer the conscious mind is to focus on the point of aim.

Your new buddy, Dave, probably was having trouble because working out had changed the way his shot process felt to him.


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## TheAncientOne (Feb 14, 2007)

da white shoe said:


> Golfers absolutely have to perfect it to be competitive, as do bowlers, quarterbacks, free throw shooters, pitchers... and on and on.


For those of us old enough to remember Jackie Gleeson - there was a story that when he lost a lot of weight it changed his form significantly enough that it adversly affected his golf swing. It seems that he was used to swinging around his stomach. Changing your musculature will change how the levers work in your draw.

As for the term muscle memory - pianists use it to describe playing a well learned piece. It should probably be called neuro-musculature memory - where there are well conditiond pathways from your brain to your muscles. 

Just remember that practice makes perminent - only perfect practice makes perfect.

TAO


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## ron w (Jan 5, 2013)

yea, the term is just a generalization, referring to the of moving of a conscious command process into the sub-conscious command process through repetition. it is something that the larger muscle groups do somewhat better than the smaller groups. they require less neuro-guidance to run than say our fingers when doing a complicated task. that's why we can't finger a trigger and aim at the same time.....both require loads of nero-guidance,....more than our brains cam put out, without loosing track of what it's doing.


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

It's a general term that isn't quite as accurate as one would hope, but it sort of gets the point across. I've always looked at it, not as memory in the muscle (which is not possible) but memory in the brain of the muscle action involved. 

We can and frequently do perform actions with no apparent thought. So it's as if the memory or programming for the action is in the muscle. It's not a technically accurate term, but it's sometimes useful.

If you think that "muscle memory" is an inaccurate & much discussed term, go to the traditional forums and read the arguments on "instinctive aiming". People get really crazy about that one. 

JMHO,
Allen


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## TheAncientOne (Feb 14, 2007)

aread said:


> If you think that "muscle memory" is an inaccurate & much discussed term, go to the traditional forums and read the arguments on "instinctive aiming". People get really crazy about that one.


What would Charles Darwin say to that one?

TAO


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## bardman (Oct 18, 2006)

Love the term, Really glad my muscles remember, cause I have CRS..


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

TheAncientOne said:


> What would Charles Darwin say to that one?
> 
> TAO


It would depend on his aiming method. Gap, Instinctive, Point of Aim?  But I don't recall a mention of archery in "The Origin of Species".  He did write "I will not attempt any definition of instinct." It's been quite a few years, so if I misquoted, please forgive me. He was a pretty smart guy, so he probably would have stayed out of the discussion.

It's almost like some of the trad guys are discussing religion when they talk aiming. It's sort of scary.

Allen


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## TheAncientOne (Feb 14, 2007)

aread said:


> It's almost like some of the trad guys are discussing religion when they talk aiming. It's sort of scary.
> 
> Allen


Same with NTS, I was almost excommunicated because of a dissenting opinion.

TAO


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## subconsciously (Aug 22, 2009)

Muscles do not have any memory. It is only the build up of the neurological pathways between the brain and and the muscle. The more a person trains the pathways grow stronger. 

It is easy to debunk "muscle memory" - Target Panic. The muscle doesn't change- the mind does.


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