Barry,
you brought up a very good point, Muscle Memory, So many pilots go straight to trying 3D and attempt to master all the tricks they can, What many don't realize is that they fail to work on all aspects of orientation ( Nose in, Inverted flight. all positions!! I spend more time honing my inverted skills and purposely putting myself in situations only to get comfortable knowing that regardless of the attitude you may end up at, you can without thinking make the right split second decision to right the so called wrong. I was one of these guys that back in the day if I had one little bobble, I would lock up like a computer and the heli would fall like a 3 holed brick. Not bragging by any means but I can tell you I don't crash for the sake of freezing up, I never stop flying the heli if I endded up in a sticky situation. I tend to do a lot of my flying Very close to the ground and Inverted at that. You will get to a point like Matt, Nick Maxwell and the other Pros, where if they end up in trouble, they don't think when it comes to recovery. they just become automatic and are able to retain there composure. all tricks derive from knowing were you are at, at all times. I end every flight with a few minutes allocated to practicing my Flying vocabulary.