Learn to love confusion!!

Muscle confusion is all of the rage right now in popular media outlets. I've seen articles on my yahoo feed, CNN, and have heard of talks on Oprah and other day time shows. I'm here to announce that everything your reading, seeing, or hearing about muscle confusion is right. It is amazing.

However, there is a major misconception with muscle confusion. It is not some fad, like the Atkins diet, or the shake-weight. It is a FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLE of exercise. Many people refer to it as a more specific title to the most basic theory of all training, progressive overload.

To explain:

Progressive overload is a basic principle that states that the load placed upon the body, or its muscles should be progressively increased workout to workout. Its KEY to understand that load is not just referring to the weight of resistance in training, but to the overall intensity of a workout. So, you can always progressively overload the body by changing one of the four major variables. Amount of reps, amount of sets, amount of weights, time of rest. Furthermore, from a cardio perspective you can adjust speed, distance, and total time of workout. THUS, progressive overload states that one must constantly increase one of these variables in an effort to keep the body striving for more. If the body becomes to used to a certain stimulus (the same workout), it will stop producing results. Surely, you will not lose results, but  you will definitely not improve.

So it is key to understand that the most basic of principles states that you should change something always in your workout so that your body does not become too familiar with what it is enduring.

Muscle confusion is the same principle except for the fact that it refers to severe changes in stimulus between workouts. For example, say a man is bench pressing 135 pounds for 10 reps on Monday, and he does so for 3 sets (the most basic of exercise plans). This same exercise would be performed again on Saturday at 155 pounds for 4 sets of 6-8 reps. (Honestly the weight should adjust, even slightly, each set, but that is more advanced). Nonetheless, he has changed multiple aspects of his intensity. He is doing a heavier weight, which decreases the amount of repetitions he can perform, but to replace those repetitions he has added another set.

For the cardio buffs: Tuesday you run for an hour, speed 5.5 with an incline of 4 on the treadmill. Thursday you are back on the treadmill running for a half hour, but doing intervals of 8 speed for 30 seconds at an incline of 5. Once you get tired you lower the speed to a walk at 3.5. This pattern is done for 15-20 minutes, with a 10 minute cool down set for the end in which you just walk. See, you confused your muscles when you radically changed your workout.

So, everything you have heard is right. Muscle confusion works. It requires a wide variety of exercises, and a willingness to push the body very hard at times. However, it is a foundational principle that should be in EVERYONE'S workout.

Confuse the body....stay fit forever.