You can develop muscle memory without rote memorization by doing exercises. There, you end up memorizing facts by solving problems and therefore building intuit

You can develop muscle memory without rote memorization by doing exercises. There, you end up memorizing facts by solving problems and therefore building intuition. I agree that you need some level of memorization when you first "perform things," but if you're performing, it's not rote memorization. Rote is memorizing integrals with flash cards. Building intuition is doing exercises. Might seem pedantic, but the difference is huge pedagogically.