My muscles are fine, it's the fat cells that need to forget.

Jokes on them they can't remember what they didn't have

Anecdotally I've always heard this and experienced it myself, interesting to see it's backed by evidence!

Four touchdowns in a single game, Peg

Do they remember all the video games? Will they retain those mad Elden Ring skillz?

Shit, they must be very disappointed with me...

That's kinda cool to hear! Not that it's been terribly long so it might not even affect me, but I finally got myself into the habit of working out doing simple body weight exercises for over a year and then I either tore something or got tendonitis in my elbow at work and had to stop for like 4 months now... Glad to know I won't be losing as much as I thought if I have to say off the arm for much longer.

When I was about 17 I started training for my first backpacking trip. First shakedown hike I loaded my pack up with about 40 or 50lbs, and I think I lasted about 5 minutes before I went back to my car to lighten my load because I was dying carrying it.

Worked my way up to doing it no problem over the next few months, and for the next few years I hiked and backpacked pretty regularly. I never exactly got in good shape, I had a gut the whole time but I could carry a heavy backpack 10 or occasionally 20 miles a day up and down mountains no problem.

I've been a lot more sedentary the last few years just due to being a busy adult with a wonky schedule. I still squeeze in some hikes here or there, but nothing with a heavy pack, and rarely doing more than 10 miles, and usually not going up and down any significant mountains, and I'm definitely not hitting the gym or anything, and I've probably packed on about 50lbs of mostly fat since I was 17.

But still, a couple months ago I went backpacking with a friend. Didn't really do anything in particular to prepare for it, and I still carried about 40-50lbs in my pack

And I did just fine. Definitely huffed and puffed a bit more than when I was in my prime backpacking shape, and I was definitely a bit sore and had some blisters after it, but I was able to hit the trail with a heavy pack and almost no prep and I definitely couldn't have done that when I was just starting out at 17 years old despite being generally younger, healthier, and more active back then.

So to a pretty great extent, my body definitely "remembers" how to backpack.

Awww my muscles must be depressed as fuck

Muscles on my right hand after I’ve found GF

Fun story:

I restarted playing volleyball after more than 10 years of not playing.

The reflexes were kinda still there (i'm getting old so I am slower), but the muscles weren't.

First block I do, I hurt my shoulders stabilisators. They still hurt to this day, but I never really stopped to recover until now.

So they might remember, but they need time to reactivate and become strong again haha

I’d say that’s true. It’s easier to get strength back than it was to get it in the first place. Anecdotally I went to the gym regularly for a long time. It took weeks to add weight increases. I quit because covid, work, etc. Started going again years later and it was far more rapid weight advancement, however it was harder to hit the higher weights I’d done previously. Just getting older, I guess.

TIL my muscles have a laudable imagination.

Yeah! I can feel it!!

Is this sort of like the nursing home ladies saying that some frail looking men would still have grips of steel? Is that why they are still so "strong" in that sense?

Honestly I find this to be true. It's not like starting over, my body wants to return to fit & skinny, it's easier for me. Just like they say bodies remember fat they remember fit.