Epigenetics and Exercise: How Training Changes Your Gene Expression (Even Muscles Have Memory)

Starting with a Student Who “Came Back Fast After Six Months Off”

Having coached for so many years, the question I get asked most often is: “Coach, if I stop training, will all my previous effort go to waste?”

A few years ago, I coached a cyclist—let’s call him A-Kai. He was the type to hit Yangmingshan and Fengguizui week after week, and had built his functional threshold power (FTP) to a pretty solid level. Later, he was posted overseas for work and stopped training for nearly six months. When he returned to Taiwan, I was worried for him—by all accounts, six months off should have cost him a good chunk of his aerobic capacity and strength. But when he came back to training, his recovery was astonishingly fast. He got most of his form back within six to eight weeks, far quicker than a beginner starting from zero.

Back then, I could only explain it with the intuitive phrase “muscle memory.” But in recent years, research in exercise physiology and epigenetics has gradually clarified this: your past training may not just reside in your cardiorespiratory fitness or muscle fiber size—it may also be “written” into the regulation of your gene expression. In this article, I want to help you, from a coach’s perspective, understand “how training changes gene expression”—including what it can actually do, and what has been oversold.

Let me start with the takeaway: your DNA sequence won’t change just because you rode 80 km today, but the “switches” on your DNA can be flipped. That is the core of epigenetics.

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Conceptual Foundation: Genes Are the Hardware, Epigenetics Is the Settings File

What Is Epigenetics?

I like to use a computer analogy. Your DNA sequence is like the hardware and operating system—built in from birth and almost never changes. But on the same computer, different settings files make it run completely differently—some people enable power-saving mode, others crank performance to the max.

Epigenetics refers to that layer of “settings files”: regulating which genes are “read and expressed” and which are “turned off” without changing the DNA sequence itself. Through epigenetic regulation, the same set of genes can make a gene responsible for mitochondrial biogenesis express loudly, or quiet it down.

There are several ways epigenetic regulation works, but the three most studied and most frequently seen in exercise literature are:

• DNA methylation: Attaching a methyl group to specific positions on DNA (usually CpG sites). A simple way to remember it—methylation usually acts like turning the gene’s volume down, even muting it; hypomethylation often corresponds to amplified gene expression.
• Histone modification: DNA is wrapped around histone proteins, which act like “spools.” Modifying histones is like adjusting how tightly the spool is wound, affecting how easily genes can be read.
• Non-coding RNA: Certain small RNA molecules participate in regulating which messages get translated or degraded.

In this article, we’ll focus mainly on DNA methylation, because it has the most accumulated evidence in exercise research and is the easiest to measure.

To help you remember these three mechanisms, I made a comparison table that works well when teaching students:

Regulatory Mechanism	Plain-Language Analogy	Effect on Gene Expression	Relationship with Exercise
DNA methylation	Volume knob	Methylation↑ often lowers volume; demethylation often raises volume	Most evidence in exercise research; measurable
Histone modification	Spool tightness	Loosened→easier to read; tightened→harder to read	Changes both during exercise and recovery
Non-coding RNA	Courier interception	Affects whether messages get translated into proteins	Involved in immediate regulation after exercise

These three don’t operate independently—they work together like a band, determining how your muscles “play” in response to training.

Why Is Exercise Related to This?

When you train, muscle cells face a surge in energy demand, mechanical tension, and metabolic stress (lactate, calcium signaling, etc.). To survive and adapt, cells must change their gene expression: produce more mitochondria, synthesize more metabolic enzymes, and adjust muscle fiber characteristics. And “changing gene expression” is largely achieved by adjusting epigenetic marks like methylation.

In other words, exercise is a powerful signal that the body can “record.” It doesn’t just make your heart beat faster and make you sweat in the moment—it also leaves traces at the cellular level.

What Happens Inside Cells During a Single Ride?

I often describe it to students like this: imagine you’re climbing the steep slopes of Fengguizui, heart rate spiking to 165 bpm, thighs burning and aching. In that moment, a “survival drama” is unfolding inside your muscle cells—

• Energy sensors activate: AMPK and other “fuel gauges” in the muscle detect that energy is running low and begin issuing commands to “increase mitochondria and burn more fat.”
• A flood of calcium signals: Every muscle contraction is accompanied by calcium ions moving in and out, and these signals activate a cascade of downstream regulatory factors.
• Metabolic stress accumulates: Changes in lactate, hydrogen ions, and reactive oxygen species are themselves a “message” telling the cell, “The environment has gotten harsher—you need to upgrade.”

These immediate signals change enzyme activity in the short term. But when they repeat over and over, in a regular pattern, they gradually penetrate to the “further upstream” epigenetic level—adjusting the methylation status of certain genes, turning commands like “make more mitochondria” and “improve metabolic efficiency” from “temporary overtime” into “built-in default.” This is why regular repetition, more than a single brutal session, carves out lasting changes.

I often use a everyday analogy with students: a single hard workout is like walking across a snowfield once—the footprints are quickly covered by new snow. But if you walk the same route every day, the path gets packed down and takes shape, eventually becoming a trail that “remains even if you skip a few days.” Epigenetic memory is, in a sense, that trail you’ve stamped out through repetition—it takes time to form, but precisely because of that, it’s more durable. This also explains why beginners improve rapidly in the first few weeks (much of it is neural and immediate metabolic adaptation), but the deep changes that are truly “carved in and not easily lost” often require months of consistent accumulation to take shape.

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The Current Science: What Has Research Actually Found?

In this section, I’ll be as honest as possible, separating what has “solid evidence” from what is “still early and shouldn’t be over-interpreted.” This has always been my principle—better to be conservative than to hype up research that hasn’t stood on solid ground.

1. Acute Exercise vs. Long-Term Training: Methylation Responses Differ

Some studies have compared “trained individuals” with “untrained individuals” and found that their muscles’ baseline methylation status differs. Interestingly, a single bout of exercise had very little effect on the methylation of the target genes examined; rather, it was the long-term accumulated training background that corresponded to clear methylation differences. The studies also observed that endurance-trained, strength-trained, and untrained individuals showed distinguishable “cluster characteristics” in the methylation of myosin-related genes, which correlated with aerobic capacity (BMC Biology, 2024).

The direct takeaway for how we coach students: epigenetic adaptation is “accumulated,” not carved in by a single brutal workout. This echoes the old training adage that “consistency beats intensity.”

II. Just a Few Weeks of Training Can Change Muscle Methylation

Another line of research has found that approximately eight weeks of training is enough to alter DNA methylation in specific genes and metabolic pathways in skeletal muscle, and this has been observed in people with varying insulin sensitivity. Researchers identified a set of sites where methylation “increased” and “decreased” due to training, and these changes were concentrated in pathways related to metabolism and muscle growth regulation (Mayo Clinic / PMC, 2022).

In plain terms: if you train regularly for just two months, the epigenetic settings of genes related to metabolism and muscle building in your muscles have already begun to be rewritten. This is actually quite motivating—change doesn’t require waiting years.

III. The Most Exciting Part: Muscle’s “Epigenetic Memory”

Back to A-Kai’s story from the beginning. A 2024 study on the epigenetic memory of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is worth mentioning: the study had participants do two blocks of HIIT, each about two months long, separated by a detraining period of about three months. The results showed that training caused a large number of sites to be in a state of hypomethylation, and this state was retained even after three months of detraining, persisting all the way into the retraining period; corresponding memory features were also seen at the gene expression level, involving pathways such as calcium signaling and lactate transport (American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology, 2024).

Similar observations have been made in earlier resistance training/muscle hypertrophy studies—human skeletal muscle appears to retain an epigenetic “blueprint” of past training, allowing your body to get back into shape faster when you start again. This, perhaps, is one piece of the scientific puzzle explaining why A-Kai bounced back so quickly.

I want to emphasize: this is a measurement at the cellular level, and it does not mean “detraining won’t cause regression.” Cardiorespiratory fitness, strength, and body weight will certainly decline; it’s just that the retention of certain epigenetic markers might make “rebuilding” less effortful than “building from scratch.” Don’t use this as an excuse to slack off.

IV. Exercise and “Epigenetic Age”

In recent years, studies have also linked exercise with epigenetic aging, observing that regular physical activity is associated with a slower rate of epigenetic aging (PMC, 2024). These studies are mostly observational and speak to “correlation” rather than “causation,” so I usually tell my athletes: exercise can’t guarantee you’ll turn back the clock, but it is currently one of the few interventions that can influence biological markers of aging with virtually no side effects.

V. “Heritable Training Effects”—This Area Requires Extreme Caution

When many people hear about epigenetics, they immediately think, “So if I train hard, can I pass good genes on to my children?”

This is currently the area most prone to exaggeration and with the least direct evidence in humans. In animal studies, there are indeed some observations suggesting that parental environments (diet, stress, exercise) might influence offspring through epigenetic mechanisms; however, extending this to “a human parent’s exercise habits can reliably, transgenerationally inherit training adaptations” is far from sufficiently supported by evidence. During generational turnover, most epigenetic markers in human germ cells undergo “reprogramming,” which acts as a strong filter.

So my stance is clear: “Training effects can be inherited across generations” should currently be viewed as an interesting research direction, not a conclusion to guide behavior. The most direct and certain benefits of exercising seriously are for “your current self,” and for providing your children with an environment that models an active lifestyle—the latter’s influence is likely more tangible than any epigenetic hypothesis.

Grading the Evidence Helps You Avoid Being Fooled by Headlines

Over the years, I’ve developed a habit: whenever I see news about “exercise changes your genes,” I first categorize it in my mind. This table is a grading system I often use when reading literature with advanced athletes, helping everyone distinguish between “what can be used to adjust training” and “what is just interesting trivia.”

Claim	Current Strength of Evidence	How Coaches Use It in Practice
A few weeks of regular training changes muscle methylation	Fairly solid (multiple human studies)	Can confidently tell athletes: 8 weeks of regular training is meaningful
Muscles retain epigenetic memory of training	Moderate and accumulating	Used to reassure those who’ve stopped training that “returning is faster than starting from zero”
Regular exercise is associated with slower epigenetic aging	Observational, correlational only	Use as extra motivation, but don’t promise anti-aging effects
Supplements can “activate good genes”	Weak, mostly marketing	Advise against it directly; save the money
Training effects can be stably inherited across generations	Very insufficient human evidence	Treat as an interesting research direction, not a guide for behavior

If you understand this table, you’ll be able to filter out 80% of exaggerated headlines on your own.

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Turning Science into a Training Plan: How to Actually Train?

Now that the principles are covered, let’s get to the most practical question: knowing that training rewrites gene expression, how should I actually structure my training?

The good news is, you don’t need to invent any special training methods for the sake of “epigenetics.” What truly triggers these adaptations are still those old-fashioned but effective principles: sufficient stimulus, consistent accumulation, and adequate recovery. Here’s the framework I actually use with my athletes.

The Three Pillars of Epigenetic-Friendly Training

Pillar	Why It Matters (Epigenetic Perspective)	Practical Approach
Consistency	Methylation changes are cumulative; sporadic training struggles to imprint a stable signal	Prefer a steady 4 sessions per week of 45–60 minutes each, rather than one 5-hour blowout per week followed by doing nothing
Sufficient Stimulus Intensity	Metabolic stress, calcium signaling, etc., are the signal sources driving changes in gene expression	Schedule 1–2 higher-intensity sessions per week (intervals, tempo rides), with the rest as easy aerobic work
Recovery and Sleep	Adaptations occur during recovery; sleep deprivation disrupts various regulatory processes	Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep per night; allow at least one easy day or rest day between hard sessions

A Sample Weekly Training Plan for Advanced Riders

This is a template I often give to athletes with a solid base who want to effectively accumulate adaptations. Intensity is based on your own FTP or maximum heart rate; the numbers are ranges, so adjust according to your individual condition.

Day	Content	Intensity Zone	Duration	Notes
Monday	Complete rest / stretching	—	—	Recovery day, don’t push through
Tuesday	High-intensity intervals (e.g., 5×4 minutes)	~FTP 105–120%	60 min	Includes warm-up and cool-down
Wednesday	Easy aerobic	HR ~60–70% of max	60–75 min	Conversational pace, can chat
Thursday	Tempo ride	~FTP 88–95%	75 min	Steady sustained output
Friday	Rest or easy commute ride	Low intensity	30–45 min	Promotes recovery
Saturday	Long endurance ride	HR ~65–75% of max	2.5–4 hours	In Taiwan, options include the North Cross-Island Highway or a loop around Sun Moon Lake
Sunday	Easy ride or cross-training	Low intensity	60 min	Swimming or brisk walking also works

The key isn’t this specific table itself, but “regularly repeating this cycle of stimulus and recovery”—that’s what’s crucial for continuously rewriting the expression of metabolism-related genes in your body.

Different Training Types Stimulate Different “Genetic Directions”

As mentioned earlier, research has found that the methylation characteristics of endurance-trained, strength-trained, and untrained individuals can be distinguished from one another. This actually makes perfect sense—whatever stimulus you give your body, it adapts in that direction. The table below is a conceptual summary to help you understand why “if you want a specific adaptation, you need to provide the corresponding stimulus.”

Training Type	Primary Stimulus Source	Direction the Body Tends to Strengthen	Common Scenarios in Taiwan
Long-Distance Endurance Riding	Prolonged aerobic metabolic stress	Mitochondria, fat metabolism, capillaries	Sun Moon Lake loop, Beiyi Highway, Eastern coastal routes
High-Intensity Intervals	Severe metabolic stress, calcium signaling	Lactate processing, mixed anaerobic/aerobic capacity	Riverside bike path intervals, climbing sprints
Tempo / Threshold Riding	Sustained moderate-to-high intensity output	Lactate threshold, sustained output efficiency	Yangmingshan cruising, maintaining pace on long flat sections
Strength Training	High mechanical tension	Muscle fiber cross-sectional area, power	Gym, bodyweight training at home

A well-designed training plan will proportionally combine these stimuli based on your goals—like mixing a drink tailored to your needs, rather than pouring the same thing every day. For riders seeking well-rounded development, I typically recommend a large base of easy endurance work, paired with a small amount of intervals and strength training, so that the weekly stimulus is sufficiently varied.

Lifestyle Factors That Influence Epigenetics (Not Just Exercise)

Many people forget that markers like methylation are also highly sensitive to “nutrition” and “lifestyle.” Below is a summary of commonly discussed factors, with values given as conceptual ranges only—not prescriptions:

Factor	General Principle	Practical Tips for the Taiwanese Context
Sleep	About 7–9 hours per night, consistent schedule	Don’t stay up late regularly for binge-watching or overtime; catch-up sleep can’t fully compensate
Protein	General adults: about 1.2–1.6 g per kg body weight per day (higher for those with large training volumes)	When eating out, rely on chicken breast, tofu, salmon, and boiled eggs; don’t have fried food at every meal
Vegetables, Fruits & Fiber	Sufficient quantity, variety, and color	Sweet potatoes, salad boxes, and unsweetened soy milk from convenience stores are all quick options
Hydration	Adjust based on sweat loss	Taiwan’s summers are hot and humid; be sure to replenish fluids and electrolytes on long rides
Stress Management	Chronic stress disrupts multiple regulatory processes	Commuting by bike or hiking on weekends are excellent stress relievers in themselves

I want to offer a word of caution here: many products on the market claim to “regulate epigenetics and activate good genes.” Based on current evidence, no supplement has been proven to reliably and safely achieve this effect. Rather than spending money on pseudoscience, focus on the fundamentals—sleep, fruits and vegetables, and consistent training. These are the “epigenetic regulators” backed by real evidence.

Case Studies: Three Trainees, Three “Epigenetic-Friendly” Adjustments

With the theory covered, I’d like to walk you through three real-world scenarios to show what these principles look like in practice (scenarios are adapted for illustrative purposes; data reflects common ranges, not specific medical records).

Case One: Hsiao-Lin, an office worker who eats out and rides regularly. He could consistently ride 4 times a week, but his diet relied almost entirely on bento boxes from downstairs at work—severely lacking in protein and getting zero vegetables. I didn’t tell him to take any supplements; I only asked him to do three things: add a serving of blanched vegetables or a salad box to every meal, swap half his white rice for sweet potato, and add a cup of unsweetened soy milk in the afternoon for protein. Three months later, not only did he feel he recovered faster, but the soreness after long rides also decreased. The key was never supplements—it was filling the basic nutritional gaps so the body has the “raw materials” to execute the gene expression activated by training.

Case Two: A-Che, an overworked engineer with a massive sleep debt. He trained hard and with sufficient intensity, but had been sleeping only 5 hours a night for a long time, and his progress had stalled. I asked him not to add more training, but instead to cut one hard session and push his sleep to over 7 hours. A month later, the quality of his interval sessions had noticeably improved. Adaptation happens during recovery; not getting enough sleep is like discounting the signals you worked so hard to create.

Case Three: Mei-Hui, a mother and rider anxious about time off. She had stopped training for four months to care for her family, and returned feeling guilty, wanting to pile the training load back on all at once. Instead, I advised her to slow down: for the first two weeks, only easy aerobic work to “wake up” that epigenetic blueprint, then progressively reintroduce intervals in the third week. She returned to her pre-break level in six weeks, without injury. Trust the body’s memory and progress gradually—that’s smarter than rushing to make up for lost time.

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Common Mistakes and Corrections

These are misconceptions I repeatedly see with my trainees, and the areas where this topic is most often misapplied.

Mistake One: “Since muscles have memory, I can safely stop training”

Correction: Epigenetic memory means “rebuilding may be faster,” not “you won’t regress.” Your VO₂max, FTP, and strength will still decline during time off. Treat memory as a “tailwind when you return,” not a “get-out-of-jail-free card for stopping.”

Mistake Two: “I want to use a special workout plan to ‘hack’ my genes”

Correction: There is no mysterious workout plan that specifically targets epigenetics. What drives these changes is regular, sufficient, and well-recovered training. Fancy programs often sacrifice “consistency”—which ends up being counterproductive.

Mistake Three: Treating “correlation” as “causation,” or directly applying animal studies to humans

Correction: Many attention-grabbing headlines (especially about transgenerational inheritance and anti-aging) are based on observational or animal studies. When you see claims like “exercise changes your genes and can be inherited,” ask yourself: is this causal evidence in humans, or is it animal or correlational data?

Mistake Four: Copying high-intensity plans while ignoring health conditions

Correction: The training plans above are for healthy individuals with a foundation. If you have hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, or other chronic conditions—or even a family history of cardiovascular disease—high-intensity intervals may not be suitable for you. Please consult a physician for an evaluation first. Taiwan has National Health Insurance, making cardiovascular assessments and exercise ECGs relatively accessible—don’t skip this step.

Mistake Five: Spending a fortune on genetic testing, then giving up based on “determinism”

Correction: I’ve had trainees come in with a sports genetic testing report, dejected, saying, “It says I’m not suited for endurance sports.” My response is always the same: that report’s predictive power is far less reliable than your body’s actual response to training. More importantly, epigenetic research tells us exactly the opposite—gene expression is “modifiable by behavior,” not fixed by fate. Don’t let a piece of paper extinguish your effort.

Mistake Six: Thinking “as long as I train, it’s fine,” completely ignoring recovery and sleep

Correction: Many people put all their energy into “how much I train” while ignoring “how much I recover.” But adaptation (including epigenetic rewriting) primarily occurs during recovery. Chronically sleeping too little and pushing hard every day is like constantly sending signals without giving the body time to execute them. Treat sleep and recovery as part of the training plan, not optional extras.

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Actionable Advice for Readers at Different Levels

If You’re a Beginner Just Starting to Exercise

• Focus on showing up first; optimize later. Epigenetic adaptation requires accumulation. Your most important task right now is to “build consistency.” Three times a week, 30–40 minutes of easy riding or brisk walking, sustained for 8 weeks, and your body will begin to change.
• Don’t rush to chase intensity; first make exercise a part of your life.
• Getting sleep and nutrition right at the basic level matters more than any advanced technique.

If You’re an Intermediate with Some Foundation

• Start structuring “stimulus–recovery” cycles deliberately, using the weekly plan framework above as a reference.
• Schedule 1–2 high-intensity sessions per week, with the rest easy—avoid the “gray zone” of moderate intensity every day.
• When time off is unavoidable (injury, business trips), don’t panic—the blueprint you’ve accumulated is still there. Just progress gradually when you return.

If You’re an Advanced or Competitive Athlete

• Prioritize recovery and periodization even more, to avoid long-term overtraining disrupting normal adaptive regulation.
• Maintain scientific skepticism toward news about “anti-aging” and “transgenerational inheritance”; focus on evidence-based training and recovery management.
• If you’re curious about your adaptive responses, track long-term power and heart rate data—this is far more practical than any expensive genetic test.

A “Do-It-Today” Action Checklist

No matter your level, these five things are evidence-backed and can be started right away—“epigenetic-friendly” actions that don’t require waiting or spending a lot of money:

1. Schedule fixed training slots this week first, even if it’s just 3 sessions of 30 minutes each—establish the “routine.”
2. Move your bedtime 30 minutes earlier tonight, working toward 7+ hours.
3. Add one serving of protein and one serving of vegetables to your next meal, giving your body the raw materials to carry out adaptation.
4. Layer your training intensity: mostly easy, a little hard—don’t get stuck in the moderate zone all week.
5. If you have a chronic condition or uncertain health status, book a medical evaluation first, securing your safety baseline before talking about progression.

This checklist looks unassuming, but what it covers are precisely the levers with the strongest current evidence for genuinely influencing your gene expression.

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Quick Q&A (FAQ)

Q: Can genetic testing tell me whether I’m “better suited for endurance or strength”?
A: Currently, commercial sports genetic tests have very limited predictive power—don’t treat them as training gospel. Your body’s actual response to training (data, how you feel, recovery status) is the most reliable basis.

Q: Are epigenetic changes permanent?
A: Some markers are more stable and can persist for a period (such as the muscle memory mentioned earlier), while others gradually revert when you stop training. Overall, it’s dynamic and adjustable—which is actually good news, because it means you can influence it at any time through your behavior.

Q: Does diet really affect gene expression?
A: Nutrition is indeed one of the important factors influencing markers like methylation. But that doesn’t mean some “superfood” can miraculously transform you—the key remains a long-term, balanced, and varied dietary pattern.

Q: I have a chronic condition—can I still train?
A: Most people with chronic conditions can benefit from appropriate exercise, but the intensity and modality must be individualized and should be carried out under the guidance of a medical team. Please get a medical evaluation first; don’t blindly copy high-intensity programs from the internet.

Q: How long can the “memory” last after I stop training?
A: Current research has observed that some markers persist for several months after detraining, but this isn’t an indefinite guarantee, and it varies by individual and training history. Rather than obsessing over “how long it lasts,” make the most of training when you can—memory may fade, but when you come back, it’s still there to help you.

Q: Is HIIT better at etching in these changes?
A: Research has indeed observed significant methylation changes with HIIT, but that doesn’t mean you should do HIIT every day. Excessive high-intensity work increases the risk of injury and overtraining. A combination of large volumes of low-intensity work + small amounts of high-intensity accents is the friendliest for long-term adaptation and the most sustainable.

Q: I’m older—is it too late to change gene expression?
A: It’s not too late. Epigenetic plasticity doesn’t disappear with age, and many studies have observed adaptations across subjects of all ages. For middle-aged and older adults, exercise is actually one of the few high-value options that simultaneously supports muscle, cardiovascular health, and metabolism—just with more individualized intensity and greater emphasis on recovery.

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Conclusion: Every Training Session Is a Conversation with Your Genes

Back to the original question: “If I stop training, was all that effort wasted?”

Science gives us a gentle answer—your body remembers the effort you put in far better than you think. Every regular ride, every serious interval, isn’t just burning a few hundred kcal; it’s leaving signals at the cellular level, gradually adjusting how your genes are expressed.

But I also want to be honest: epigenetics is a fascinating field that is still developing rapidly. Many details remain unresolved, and many eye-catching claims (especially regarding anti-aging and transgenerational inheritance) require more, and more rigorous, human evidence. Rather than chasing promises that haven’t yet stood firm, return to the most solid fundamentals: train regularly, sleep well, eat properly, recover smartly. These “boring” things are precisely the most evidence-backed ways to genuinely change your gene expression.

You don’t need to hack your genes. You just need to keep training—consistently, patiently. In time, your effort will be etched into the deepest places.

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This article is educational content and does not replace individual diagnosis or treatment advice from a physician, physical therapist, or nutritionist. If you have a chronic disease or special health condition, please consult a qualified medical professional before starting or adjusting an exercise program.

References

• BMC Biology (2024), DNA methylation of exercise-responsive genes differs between trained and untrained men — https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-024-01938-6
• Can Exercise Training Alter Human Skeletal Muscle DNA Methylation? (PMC) — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8953782/
• Human skeletal muscle possesses an epigenetic memory of high-intensity interval training, American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology (2024) — https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/ajpcell.00423.2024
• Physical Activity Is Associated With Decreased Epigenetic Aging (PMC) — https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12163535/

Related Reading

• Epigenetics and Training Adaptation: Research on Training-Induced Changes in DNA Methylation
• Exercise and Genes: The Interplay of Innate Talent and Training—The Science and Myths of Heritability, Responders, and Genetic Testing
• Individual Differences in Training Adaptation: Genetic Factors in Performance Changes Under the Same Program
• The Science of Habit Formation: How to Automate Training Without Relying on Willpower