Every training program should involve muscle confusion techniques. Muscle confusion is vital for progress in any routine. If you don’t attack and challenge your muscles from different angles consistently, they will become accustomed to the movements, used to the resistance, and muscle memory will stunt your growth. This is how plateaus are reached.
In order to avoid plateaus, or to break free of one, you have to vary your workouts and confuse your muscles. Throw them off so that they’ll be saying to themselves, “….i don’t remember doing this exercise”. Maybe you want to do different exercises for each muscle group on the different days you work them. Maybe you want to use different tempos of concentric vs. eccentric on different days. You can also switch up your rep ranges, training for strength one day, endurance the other day, and maybe power the next day.
I like to do 2-3 full body resistance training sessions a week. On Monday I will train for strength, and Friday I will train with plyometrics for power. On Wednesday if I feel up to it, I will train for endurance, doing reps till failure with light loads. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I will practice Muay Thai and do sprints on the treadmill afterwards. I also have a workout “A” and a workout “B” for every resistance routine. This weekly outline allows for plenty of variety in my program and always challenges my muscles in different ways.
Speak to your personal trainer to make sure that your program incorporates a significant degree of muscle confusion, and feel free to comment on this post to share the ways you construct your program to keep your muscles guessing.
Vancouver Personal Trainer Virgil Isaacs- Kalev Training in Yaletown
w: http://www.KalevTraining.com
t: 604-518-4691
e: Kalev@KalevTraining.com
b: www.rippedmansecrets.com
Isnt ‘muscle confusion’ just a bs thing trainers say so they dont have to prep properly for thier clients. A good training program should be designed around a specific goal and if you chase too many rabbits would you not agree that you proably will never catch any of them.
Please dont throw terms out there that the public takes as gospel that really has no backing in the scientific community. it makes the industry look Mickey Mouse.
Cheers
Ryan
Ryan,
Try not to look at it as “catching rabits”, but more as “painting pictures”. You’re right, its easier to focus on one picture then to multitask three or four. However, many people have more than one goal in mind. An individual may want to work on power and strength just as much as they want to improve their flexibility. So 3 days of heavy lifting combined with 2 days of yoga per week may be an ideal “muscle confusion” approach. “Muscle confusion” can even be incorporated into a program focused on one goal only. Like my strength training routine for example; I have a “A” workout and a “B” workout that I alternate between, each composed of completely different exercises. “Muscle confusion” can be as simple as that, and according to my size and strength gains over the past little while, its definitely not “BS”.
Pingback: Macro, Meso, and Micro - Vancouver Personal Training Tip | kalevtraining.com