Corrections to Muscle Memory

Under Development.. Started May 5 2026 will be finished soon 

Thank you.. enjoy 

 With "AI" as part of most internet browsers today, any information can be requested and a reasonable explanation supplied. However, as we have seen with "AI" there is a need to research the supplied answer as it may be confused with other information found on the internet.

  Asked "What is Muscle Memory in Sport Performance ?" and the following google AI reply is "

Muscle Memory" is defined as "the ability to automatically execute complex movements after repeated practice (motor learning) and the capacity (of the brain) to rapidly regain lost muscle strength and mass after a period of inactivity (physiological memory).

When as a Sport athlete with "Precision Performance" we work to understand and build "Muscle Memory"; we are concerned with the first part of the answer. ("the ability to automatically execute complex movements after repeated practice (motor learning))

The second part refers to Body building or weight lifting and the muscle's (physiological memory). This aspect of the answer explains in "The Journal of Physiology" is "‘Effects of training, detraining, and retraining on strength, hypertrophy, and myonuclear number in human skeletal muscle’. In simple words the muscle's cellular neurons allow to recreate the previous strength of a previous training (weight lifting) of recreate a previous muscle mass (body building).   In sport performance, it is good to know after a winter of no performance that our muscles will regain their strength; but we are more concern with the return of our "Precision Performance". 

The above diagram is from "Science for Sports" and their website offers a very detail explanation of Muscle Memory. However, as Closed sport athletes we are concern with the instinctive performance of our delivery, whether a Bowl Roll, a Tennis swing or a Soccer kick.  A Closed sport is where we are closed to the actions of other players during our performance, however Soccer is an "Open Sport" during most of the team performance and a "Closed Sport" as to the individual's performance. 

AI Deep Dive

Walk softly on new information offered by the internet, as like practice of your sport over time all development will reach the required point. The photo right isthe same question asked of "AI" which found over 6,200 results and of course is very detail. But if you are interested in a "Deep Dive" you can become buried in all the detail aspects of "Muscle Memory"

 The First search reply also had the following " It is a combination of neurological, long-term, procedural memory that makes skills automatic" which we will discuss here.

In a March 3, 2025 blog on "Communication with the Subconscious" , it was shown how Muscle Memory performance has "Tells" similar to the "Poker player Tell" because during the time of performance of the Muscle Memory action there is a particular moment of "Void" of absence of thought. During this "Absence of thought" which all athletes with a developed "Muscle Memory" experience, the subconscious mind performs instinctively the action. Like the braking of the car in time of danger, we are not thinking (consciously) what to do but because of experience our actions are performed.

The problem is as simple as two children each wanting to play with the same toy. The "conscious" mind wants to instruct the muscle of what to do while the "subconscious" mind, knows what to do and wants to not be interrupted. Since a thought is a conscious action often requesting a conscious muscle performance; a too long a thought during a "Muscle Memory" performance will return the muscle's control to the conscious mind. A "Tag" is used to insert a thought into the "Pre-Performance" of the Muscle Memory and not interrupt the actual performance.

Like a clothing shopping client who has just found what they would like to buy and now looks at the "Price Tag" to know if it is worth the expenditure; the "Muscle Memory Tag" also allows the thought without interruption of the performance. The "Tag" to be inserted into your muscle memory performance is an action which has no effect on your performance but which is a remainder thought of something you want to avoid or remember to do. A simple thing like tapping a foot before starting you performance.

To the shopping client (above) if the price was too expensive they simply leave the item; so also if the thought duration is too long the subconscious leave control of the muscle to the conscious mind. Simply said. Think of the muscle action you want included, and the conscious mind will tell the muscle what it thinks need to be done for the action to occur. But to insert a remainder thought into your performance which is just before the "Muscle Memory", if it is of a micro second duration you have a good "mini-thought" and will not interrupt your performance.

Tiger Wood

Tiger Wood in a Youtube Video about being in the "Zone" of performance perfection says "Between my back swing and seeing the ball in flight up the fairway, I have no memory of what happen" The "tag" will allow you, if you have a developed Muscle Memory to like wise feel the "Void" or "Absence of Thought" while making a change to your "Muscle Memory Performance".

As I said to "Andre" last night. "When you see that the mistake you want to fix has returned to your delivery, Place the "Tag" into you "Muscle Memory Performance". When you are not making that mistake you don't need to use the "Tag".  Eventually the "Tag" will not need to be used, but after the correction of the Muscle Memory Action, do not re-use that same tag for another action. I have seen the subconscious go back several years and still remember an un-used "Tag".

To explain, At 81 my balance is a major part of my bowls Delivery, About 15 years ago, a level 3 coach showed me that I had a habit of catching my balance by twisting my ankle of my forward step. At that time, after a few games my ankle was so sore I had to stop bowls practice. I used a "Tag" to remember to walk forward instead of stopping with that forward step during my delivery.

 Several years later I thought of using that tag for a "Off-Bias" draw delivery as a remainder to not twist my wrist when doing my "Laydown" of the bowl to the green. The subconscious started me doing my forward step walking Delivery. To correct a balance problem during delivery I did a common Australian Tag, That of my balance hand instead of being on my knee being bend across my chest and touching my delivery arm elbow.  Like said above, only used when I find the error needs to be corrected. (Like the Poker Tell this action when seen by an educated coach is a Tell of correction).

With this information in mind and a quote from the above mention blog on "Communication with the Subconscious"

"However, a problem can occurs during the introduction of this corrective action. If the "Tag" become the thought of "Tap you toe" instead of "Bowls" (for the auditive person) or seeing the "memory  image" of the Bowl's Bias (for the visual person); you are now consciously instructing the muscles to move your foot. The "Tag" is an non-interruption communication to the subconscious mind and the right word or image must be heard or seen prior to  the "Muscle Memory" performance or it becomes an "Muscle Memory interruption".

Last month a Petanque athlete was explaining to me his "Muscle Memory" correction of wanting to finish his performance with an open hand which is palm down facing the ground with fingers together. This action is a simple "follow through" and in Petanque is important because of the short duration of time between the end of the "Muscle Memory" performance and the athlete seeing the result of his "Takeout" shot.  In Lawn Bowls there is about 14 or more seconds (on Canada's outdoor's rinks) before the athlete see the final resting place of his delivery and any action which the lawn bowler performs after the "Muscle Memory" performance does not affect the finishing result.

But in Petanque, because the "Takeout" shot as in the Youtube Practice video of "Mark Wildeboer Petanque Shooting" there is such a short time between the release of the Petanque ball and the ball contact with the target; that the athlete's conscious mind want to see the result of the shot. In wanting to see the result, the Muscle Memory is interrupted before it is completed. To allow the muscle Memory to finish it performance requires a thought or action to extend beyond the final movement of the Muscle Memory. (the release of the thrown ball). By attempting to open his hand and fingers he is creating an action which is interrupting the Muscle Memory"

In this problem, the athlete is creating a Muscle movement to be performed. The solution is to incorporate a thought before the "Muscle Memory Performance is started; which allows the Muscle Memory to finish it action as if to think to do an action afterward. Here, a Toe taping which in petanque is a memory viewing of a memory from previously seeing the shot which occured several times in the past. After several times of this "Tag" being used by Mark to extends the duration of the Petanque Performance  it has remained and is a "Tell" of a mental action. To the petanque player a major problem is to not have the competition of the "Muscle Memory Performance" during a takeout shot.

In brief, the athlete was attempting to perform a muscle action which became an interruption to the Muscle Memory performance instead of inserting a small mental remainder action (a Tag) prior to the start of the Muscle Memory which instructed the Subconscious to finish the shot action and then allow the conscious mind to wait for the result as the Visual image viewing to finish. If the athlete was a verbal individual he would have instead of   The Tag as a "Toe tapping" might be the thought of "Finish" or hearing the sound of the ball strike. The "Thought Tag" is a remainder that "a good takeout shot must also have the memory being viewed as competed".

This same incident occurs with a Curling athletes who come to Lawn bowls for the summer and discovered their Curling "Muscle Memory" has become their delivery "Muscle Memory.   They are so similar that it is easy for Curling athlete to take up  Lawn Bowls. There are a few differences in the two sports, the most common being that the stone in curling is aimed at the broom and the bowl is aimed at a Delivery line which give the bias. A easy alteration of where you aim. 

The problem in the Muscle Memory of Curling becoming Lawn Bowl's delivery, is that in Curling, during the release of the Stone the curler does a small wrist "twist" to cause the stone to curl on the ice. This flick of the wrist causes a problem in Lawn Bowls because the perfect delivery should be a smooth releaseoff the fingers, hand release.  With Hans, a second year lawn bowler from curling; he was able to correct this problem with a "Tag" of two toe-tapping before his release of the bowl. It forced him to think not to turn his wrist at the end of his release. Yes he could remember to include this in his thoughts, prior to his delivery but the physical action of the toe-tapping was a remainder where a new bowler still has not prepared a Pre-Mat Routine.

 Many first and 2nd year lawn bowlers have not yet developed a Pre-mat routine of thought and actions before going to the mat for their delivery. In an after thought coaching correction for players with Muscle Memory developed and identified, the "Tag" is a quick fix. The proper fix would be 2nd and 3rd year coaching to club members who now have a good couple of years and only need a fine tuning coach. 

When I started Lawn Bowls in the 90s there was 12 or 15 things we learned to do before going to the mat. Some physical like checking bias, some mental like a action plan; but all were part of the waiting for the opponent to finish their delivery and "Don't Forgot" thoughts as stepping to the mat. Now, new players see our greats lawn bowls like Canada's Ryan Bester or Australia Mark Casey; simple step to the mat and do an amazing shot.  These elite athletes should have a number sweater which indicates the number of years experience, so learning players now watching Youtube videos realize that perfection takes many years of work.