The Truth About Muscle Memory, Diet Soda, and Steroid Use

Muscle memory is a fascinating phenomenon that allows people to regain lost muscle mass much more quickly than it took to initially build that muscle. But how exactly does it work? And what about other fitness topics like the safety of diet soda or the effects of steroid use? In this article, we'll explore these questions and more with insights from Dr. Mike Israetel, a renowned expert in exercise science and sports nutrition.

The Science Behind Muscle Memory

Many people worry that if they take a break from working out, they'll lose all their hard-earned muscle gains. While it's true that you can lose some muscle mass during periods of inactivity, the concept of muscle memory means it's much easier to regain that lost muscle when you start training again.

Dr. Israetel explains that muscle memory likely works through a process involving satellite cells and muscle cell nuclei:

"Your muscle cells have a nucleus which controls the cell and then the rest of the cell that does all the cell stuff. But the nucleus is like a town center with like a fire department and like a mail distribution service and the rest of the cell is like the rest of the city - the apartment complexes, the gyms, the factories and so on."

As your muscles grow larger from training, they eventually reach a point where one nucleus isn't enough to control the entire enlarged cell. That's where satellite cells come in:

"Once your muscle cells get big enough, there's all these little nuclei barely covered up by a cell enclosure sitting around close to that in your muscles. They're microscopic and they have almost no cell around them, they're just a nucleus. Those satellite cells, when the regular muscle cell gets big enough to where it's too big, will donate their nuclei."

The key is that once these extra nuclei are incorporated into the muscle cell, they seem to stick around even if you stop training and lose some muscle mass:

"Once nuclei go in, they seem to not come out. So if you get a bunch of nuclei, which are like the control processes of the cell that help to direct all the protein manufacture, and then you quit [training] for however long, you lose the city amount - like people will close down the shopping malls or whatever - but the fire station, police station, government, the new nucleus never closes."

This means that when you start training again after a break, your muscle cells are primed for rapid regrowth:

"When you want to build in that city again, you're like 'Okay we want to build in the city, do they even have a fire department?' Yep, and it's really close to your house and now you're the only person that lives there and you have a whole fire department to yourself. You're going to be able to build out that city real quick."

So while you may lose some muscle size during periods of inactivity, the extra nuclei remain, allowing for much faster muscle regrowth when you resume training. This is why it's often said that it's easier to regain lost muscle than it was to build it initially.

How Long Does Muscle Memory Last?

One of the most exciting aspects of muscle memory is how long it seems to last. When asked how long it takes for muscle memory to fade, Dr. Israetel states:

"We have no reason to believe that we found any time limit and every examination we take seems to be like years at least, probably decades, and maybe forever."

This means that even if you took years off from training, you would likely still benefit from faster muscle regrowth due to the muscle memory effect. It's great news for anyone who has had to take an extended break from working out.

The Truth About Diet Soda

Many people worry that diet sodas are bad for your health, but is there any truth to these concerns? According to Dr. Israetel, the evidence suggests that diet sodas are likely safe for most people:

"If you actually look at the literature from an unbiased perspective, there is no reason either via the direct empirical literature or mechanistically by supposition or population studies to suspect that Diet Coke is bad for your health."

He explains that much of the fear around diet sodas stems from logical fallacies and misunderstandings:

"On first principles there's no reason to suspect that Diet Coke is bad outside of various fallacies of logic, for example what is called the naturalistic fallacy or the argument from nature, which is a false argument. It's the idea that just because something is artificial that means it's bad for you."

In fact, Dr. Israetel argues that diet sodas may be a better choice than regular sodas for many people:

"In the context of a well-balanced diet, both Diet Coke and regular Coke etc. and all the diet regular sodas are totally fine, but if you have to get rid of something from your diet that's really making it tough for you to lose weight or stay at a healthy weight, then regular sodas are tier one - exactly the first thing you get rid of."

This is because the sugar in regular sodas adds extra calories that can make weight control more difficult. Diet sodas, on the other hand, are essentially calorie-free.

Of course, this doesn't mean you should drink unlimited amounts of diet soda. Water is still the healthiest beverage choice overall. But for those who enjoy the taste of soda, diet versions appear to be a safe alternative that won't derail your health or fitness goals when consumed in moderation.

The Effects of Steroid Use

While anabolic steroids can lead to rapid muscle growth, they also come with significant health risks and side effects. Dr. Israetel, who has personal experience with steroid use, provides some insights into how these drugs affect both the body and brain.

Muscle Growth and Steroid Use

Steroids can dramatically accelerate muscle growth, in part by enhancing the muscle memory effect:

"Steroids do incorporate satellite cells faster as they grow muscle faster because the number one reason satellite cells are incorporated is when the cell gets too big to run itself without more nuclei. And so steroids can grow your cell so fast that you just add satellite cells faster when you're on steroids than not."

This means that even after stopping steroid use, individuals may retain some enhanced muscle-building capacity:

"When you stop steroids, you still have them all incorporated. That's one of the reasons why many sport scientists have now sort of taken the position that steroid use, for especially long periods any time in your career, is a permanent enhancer, a permanent cheat code."

This lasting effect is why some argue that athletes who have used steroids in the past should not be allowed to compete against drug-free athletes, even if they are no longer using steroids.

Brain Changes from Steroid Use

Steroid use doesn't just affect muscle growth - it can also impact brain function and behavior. Dr. Israetel describes some of the potential cognitive effects:

"Some of the suspicions are that it is neurotoxic, like it's harmful to your neurons in your brain. Some of the other indirect evidences [suggest] it might lower certain types of intelligence in the person who takes them for a long time at very high doses."

He also notes that high doses of steroids can alter mood and behavior:

"Steroids also alter your processing about mood and stuff like that. They make you more male in every respect mentally, and so you become, for example, less apt to exchange emotional information with other people... You begin to have lower throughput of social interactions, lower ability to have empathy. You become quicker to become aggressive or angry or see things as affronts because the dominance hierarchy becomes really really front and center in your mind at a subconscious level."

These changes can lead to increased anxiety, depression, and difficulty regulating emotions. It's important to note that many of these effects are dose-dependent and may be more pronounced with higher doses or longer periods of use.

The Future of Fitness: A World Without Exercise?

While regular exercise is currently essential for building muscle and maintaining health, Dr. Israetel speculates that future technological advances could dramatically change this:

"AI is growing exponentially and it's super powerful, it's going to do all these great things. But one of the things that is not actually - AI doesn't even have to exist for this, but because AI exists this is going to come much sooner than later - is the idea of looking at the body and being like 'Okay, so when we're exercising, how does exercise make us more muscular and healthier and all these other things?'"

He explains that exercise primarily works by triggering cellular changes:

"It turns out it just actually just does it in really one way - a few others, but they're very very small contributors. The most direct way is something about exercise is detected by your cellular machinery and your cellular machinery changes how it operates and it produces more proteins of some kind, less of another kind, and then it upgrades your body to give you what you want."

With advances in AI and drug development, it may become possible to trigger these same cellular changes without the need for exercise:

"We're getting to this point where we have known for generations that the body is a very complex machine and then if you turn various genes off or if you turn various proteins on and off or turn them up and down, you can sort of get whatever you want out of it within the realms of like biological feasibility. But now we're actually having some traction in this."

Dr. Israetel predicts that within the next 5-10 years, we may see the development of drugs that can modulate muscle mass and overall health without the need for exercise:

"We're going to have super [GLP-1 receptor agonists] coming out and we're going to have drugs that can modulate your muscle mass and modulate your health. And so like yeah, with like two or three pills a day you could have an incredible amount of health, muscularity, etc."

While this may sound like science fiction, some early examples of this approach are already emerging, such as drugs that can dramatically reduce appetite and aid in weight loss.

Of course, even if such technologies become available, many people will likely continue to enjoy exercise for its mental health benefits, social aspects, and the satisfaction of physical achievement. But for those who struggle to find time for regular workouts or have physical limitations that make exercise difficult, these developments could offer a way to maintain health and fitness without spending hours in the gym.

Conclusion

From the lasting effects of muscle memory to the safety of diet sodas and the complex impacts of steroid use, the world of fitness and nutrition is full of fascinating insights. As our understanding of human biology grows and new technologies emerge, we may see dramatic changes in how we approach health and fitness in the coming years.

However, it's important to remember that there's no magic pill or shortcut to optimal health. While future developments may make it easier to build muscle or maintain a healthy weight, the foundations of good health will likely always include a balanced diet, adequate sleep, stress management, and some form of physical activity.

As we navigate the ever-changing landscape of health and fitness information, it's crucial to rely on evidence-based approaches and trusted experts like Dr. Israetel. By staying informed and maintaining a balanced perspective, we can make the best decisions for our individual health and fitness goals.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgwBccZpSu0