Sunday Story…Muscle Memory

Is not really a thing. I talk about it like it is a thing. I act like your biceps have a brain but, really, it doesn’t. It does what it does when you tell it to do what it is you want it to do. Then it stops doing that thing until you tell it to do another thing.

So, what am I saying when I talk about muscle memory? What do I want you to “get” about that phrase? I want you to internalize your movement. In other words, I want you to understand, to be so comfortable and habituated with that particular movement that you no longer have to consciously engage your brain to accomplish the task at hand. It happens by heart.

This is the process…I learn a new movement, task, method…then I repeat it…over and over and over…until, finally, I no longer have to say to my body do this, then this, then this…it has become part and parcel of my doing. When you have done that, the thing will become you.

Know things by heart. In other words, know them so well that they become part of you. What stories are you telling yourself that have become part of your heart? Are they the stories you want to have be you? If not it’s time to go to work and learn some new stories…by heart.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412