Winning without Winning!
On Day 28, the subsection “Winning without Winning” describes the longevity results of being an athlete throughout high school. And no matter where you end up on the list of accomplishments, the longevity result is the same win for all.
“I feel strong when I feel strong” starts at the cellular level and progresses through a 5-step muscle-use process.
AMPK enzymes → Satellite Cells → Mitochondria → ATP Energy→ Myonuclei
(In the book, you will, of course, learn the vital importance of the first four steps.)
According to Kristian Gundersen's study, “Muscle Memory and a New Cellular Model for Muscle Atrophy and Hypertrophy” (Journal of Experimental Biology), muscle cell memory refers to the number of myonuclei that muscle cells produce and retain for use throughout your life. The phrase “use it or lose it” is a myth! Once you create myonuclei, they become a near-permanent fixture within your muscle cells! While you may lose muscle size and strength, you can slow the rate of muscle loss based on the number of myonuclei you gained during high school athletics (and even more slowly if you maintain or restart exercise habits). This true form of muscle memory can delay the onset and severity of age-related muscle wasting well into your 80s, 90s, and beyond.
Winning without Winning
Muscle memory has nothing to do with the phrase "it's just like riding a bike.” The "muscle memory" concept, linked to "it's just like riding a bike," is embedded in your athletic brain’s motor neurons. The real “muscle memory” relates to the muscle-cell development processes (of riding a bike) that are locked within the thousands of myonuclei in muscle cells, developed during athletic training as you move through puberty, maturation, and adolescence through high school and college.
This process is known as Myonuclear Permanence.
While athletic training feels like… one step forward and one step backward, then another step forward and another step backward, finally it’s two steps forward and only one step backward. This ongoing (slow) process of moving back and forth continues endlessly… but here’s the good news: For every two steps forward, you never lose that extra step gained. Whether you're in first place or last place, you will always win without winning.
Puberty-Maturation-Adolescence-Adulthood-"Old Age”
Puberty-Maturation-Adolescence-
Your myonuclei developmental window fully opens at puberty…and closes at the end of adolescence!
Puberty is the process of adult maturation initiated by hormonal changes in the body and brain for anabolic purposes… “And there is more going on than meets the eye.”
Your primary window for developing additional myonuclei opens at puberty and closes by the end of adolescence. According to Dr. Lawrence Schwartz's research, “Skeletal Muscles do not Undergo Apoptosis during Atrophy or Programmed Cell Death, Revisiting the Myonuclear Domain Hypothesis” (Journal of Muscle Physiology)...
“Muscle growth involves the addition of new myonuclei from stem cells to accommodate larger muscle cells through the AMPK enzyme.”
As you increase your physical training, your AMPK enzymes and satellite cells fuse to create hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of new myonuclei. Although it was once believed that muscle was lost when not in use, this has never been true. (Muscle atrophy refers to the thinning of muscle tissue, not the loss of muscle components such as myonuclei.)
Dr. Schwartz explains that the thousands of new myonuclei enter a “resting” phase only when muscle activity slows or stops. Because this “resting” phase lasts longer, muscle cells shrink due to reduced mitochondrial activity. However, once the need for muscle activity returns, the thousands of myonuclei “wake up” to reactivate mitochondrial activity and restore muscle strength to previous levels.
Adulthood-”Old Age”
Anabolic maturation promotes lifelong metabolic potential.
(You just have to reuse that potential.)
As well-trained individuals transition into adulthood, their priorities may shift toward education, career, family, and other pursuits. But what doesn’t change is the muscle memory for the number of myonuclei developed during teenage maturation.
According to Dr. Ken Saladin, a professor and textbook author in Microscopic Anatomy, the average non-athletic muscle cell contains 700 to 900 myonuclei. However, a well-trained athlete with a high rate of cellular fusion may have developed more than 20,000 myonuclei.
Meaning???
By energizing your muscle cellular fusion, this enhanced muscle memory will boost your genetic expression, enabling you to maintain a new normal to obtain personal health goals into adulthood and “old age.” Then, as you continue with athletic training, you increase your genetic expression to obtain even higher levels of new norms for longevity health goals.
Your personal best changes your DNA expression for the better, and then better again!
1,000 myonuclei vs. 20,000 myonuclei
According to the study “Myonuclei are Lost with Aging and Atrophy” (Journal of Physiology), myonuclei decrease by 2%-10% per year in individuals aged 60-70. However, the impact of this decline depends on the final number of myonuclei at maturity. At a rate of…
2% if you develop and maintain a physical lifestyle or 10% if you don’t!
Good News: If you’re a teenager, read the next part slowly and thoroughly understand its message about longevity.
Bad News: If you’re an adult with little or no teenaged athletic background,
please skip to the end because you might not want to read the next section.
1,000 myonuclei (bad news)
The difference between 2% “good news” and 10% “bad news” also determines the age at which decline begins. For example, an individual with a myonuclei count of 1,000 may begin to decline at age 65 at a rate of 10% per year. By age 75, this higher rate of decline will reduce their myonuclei from 1,000 to fewer than 400. Unfortunately, this reduced rate aligns with life expectancy, as confirmed by hundreds of studies, including “Aging-Related Loss of Muscle Mass and Function” (Journal of Psychological Review).
20,000 myonuclei (good news)
Instead of beginning to decline at 65, the decline may start at 72 or later, at a slower rate of about 2-3% per year. By age 82, their myonuclei count will decrease from 20,000 to just under 15,000. Unsurprisingly, this “reduced” rate aligns with the life expectancy of this population, as confirmed by the study “Aging-Related Loss of Muscle Mass and Function” (Journal of Psychological Review).
Who do you want to be?
A 75-year-old with 400 myonuclei?
Or
An 82-year-old with 15,000 myonuclei?
If you're a teenage athlete reading this, take a moment to let your Future You appreciate what you're doing today!
The good news keeps coming. Multiple studies show that high muscle mass (myonuclei and mitochondria) is linked to the lowest risk of dementia and cognitive decline. And let’s not forget that gravity-based resistance training is your best tool for preventing future falls.
Winning without winning for the rest of your life!
While you may never win a temporary moment in your high school athletic pursuits,
you will win (and benefit from) myonuclear permanence. (The real muscle memory you want!)
Longetvity is detemined by…
Cardiovascular Health
Metabolic Control
Cellular Maintenance
Myonuclear Permanence