How Elite Athletes Use Muscle Memory as a Competitive Advantage
In sports, the term muscle memory typically refers to one’s ability to execute a skill flawlessly without thinking. It takes an enormous number of repetitions to commit a complex skill to one’s muscle memory.
Certainly, it’s not too difficult to see why muscle memory is important to athletes. When an athlete commits the tactical part of executing a skill to muscle memory, they’re more accurate, faster, and more efficient. These benefits are a no brainer and therefore every athlete and coach approaches muscle memory in this way. But focusing only on the tactical part of muscle memory doesn’t provide a competitive advantage. The true competitive advantage of muscle memory goes beyond just the tactical part of executing a skill.
Nearly every athlete in a particular sport learns the same tactics. What makes one coach, team, or athlete different from another is strategy. In the heat of competition, the ability to make real time strategy adjustments is often the difference between average, good, and great.
Average coaches, teams, and athletes struggle because they only focus on tactics. Good coaches, teams, and athletes do better because they adjust their tactics as they recognize what’s not working. Great coaches, teams, and athletes are the best because they anticipate when and why things will and won’t work, and then use muscle memory to be more accurate, faster, and more efficient in each situation.
Committing Strategy to Muscle Memory
While it’s common sense to commit tactical skills to muscle memory, it’s not so common to commit strategy to muscle memory. With tactical skills it’s all about repetition of the how. Very little, if any thought is put into the when and why. Memorizing the how does take time and discipline, but that’s it. It doesn’t require much logical or cognitive effort.
On the other hand, committing strategy to muscle memory requires time, discipline as well as logical and cognitive effort. By definition, strategy is situational. As a result, one must first be aware of the vast majority of potential situations in order to prepare for those situations. The fewer situations one prepares for, the less beneficial strategic muscle memory is. This means those who are best at analyzing and anticipating will also have the biggest repertoire of strategic skills in their muscle memory.
What’s more, this proactive approach to strategy is a step above simple game planning. The target of game planning is a specific opponent and rarely provides reusable benefits. While strategic muscle memory is 100% about executing skills regardless of opponent.
In summary, it’s one level to unconsciously have the ability to execute a skill. It’s a much higher level to unconsciously have the ability to recognize in real time the moment when a skill is best put to use as well as when executing a skill makes you vulnerable. Unquestionably, it’s the combination of all these abilities that makes muscle memory a competitive advantage.