Muscle Memory Maximized by Vinny Galanti Four years ago I thought I would never compete again; I was burned out from eating chicken breast out of Tupperwear, and had no desire to continue to even touch a weight. I opened my personal training studio at the same time, and decided to focus my energy on the business, and put off bodybuilding for a little while. One week of rest turned into 1 month, and then 3 months, and next thing I know its 13 months later, and I was fat bastard. I couldn't believe how out of shape I was. I was at the point of being sick of eating bad and actually thought eating out of Tupperware sounded pretty good again. Soon I was hitting the gym again.I had about 4 months under my belt by the time April of 2003 rolled around. Every time I woke up in the morning, everything ached… My joints in general and back in particular were killing me constantly. Two good friends had started to train for November shows, and I thought training with them might be a good idea. It was rough at first because of the intensity that they were maintaining. Suffice it to say, making a trip to the bathroom to puke during leg day was a ritual. I was shocked at how long it was taking my body to regroup, my body fat was taking a long time to come off, and my muscles were taking forever to look like they used to.By the end of 2004, my physique started to look like it was ready to start training serious again, and in January of 2005, I decided to return to the stage.I was out shape in 13 months, and it took about 2 years to look decent again. The more I got back into training, the more I got back into bodybuilding. And the more I got back into bodybuilding, the more I wanted to compete again. I was very pleased at my “comeback” taking 1st place in the East Coast bodybuilding championships, and a 5th place in the NPC Nationals in November of 2005. In the past, I have always taken a few weeks here and there to rest the body, from any injuries that come from hard core training. But 13 months was crazy--a few times I didn't even want to enter the gym, it was rough, and it sucked big time. But I pushed forward, and ignored the thought of giving up, if I never regained my bodybuilding form, I at least keep telling myself, you need to feel better and exercising was an important factor . About 18 months back into the gym, it was leg day. At this point I had not squatted past 225. Every time I tried, my back would kill, and I just did not feel comfortable like I did in the past with 465. On this particular day when I squatted 225, it was light, everything was smooth. The next set I went up to 275 and was cautious and was going to only do 6 reps to get the feel, but I when I got to the 6th rep I just kept going until I reached 15 reps. Next set was 315 and the weight was going up and down very easy and smooth again, and I finished my last set of squats with 365 that day for 8 reps, and I knew from that point on, I was back. This past year has been a full good year of off season training, and I am looking forward to the NPC Masters Nationals in July of 2007.I had a little set back for 4 weeks back in August with a partial bicep tear of the tendon. But this time, I never stopped eating well, and continued with good nutrition. Even though I did not touch a weight for 4 weeks to rest the tendon, it was easy to get back into training. This is where experience and muscle memory pay dividends.