Muscle confusion
Check out the exercise breakdown. Have you heard about muscle confusion? There may be some terms that you come across while you’re getting your fitness on. We’re gonna provide the breakdown so that you can get the most out of the workout.
Your workout journey may sometimes lead you to a plateau. Your workouts can feel less satisfying, you can stop losing weight, or just reach a point where you don’t feel like your workouts are doing… anything. It’s discouraging, but there are some things you can do to change that!
You can start with muscle confusion. According to Gold’s Gym The term “muscle confusion” first became popular with branded workouts that offered different ways to stay out of a rut by constantly changing your routine. It was used to sell the idea of constantly changing your workout to confuse the muscles and avoid plateaus.
This doesn’t mean you have to change your workouts too quickly, focus on finding a balance.
It’s true that you don’t want your body to completely adjust to your training. Changing your training every day, for example, can lead to overtraining. “We’re not giving the body time to adapt to the training stimulus,” Monaco says.
How to change your workouts?
So, basically if you change up your workouts, you can continue to push your body to its potential. Gold’s Gym gave us some areas to focus on when changing:
Resistance training variables
- How much resistance
- Type of resistance (machines, free weights, bodyweight, etc.)
- Number of exercises
- Number of sets per exercise
- Number of repetitions per set
- The order of exercises
- Time under tension (how long a repetition takes)
- Surface (stable vs. unstable)
- Bilateral movement vs. unilateral movement (for example, both limbs together or one limb at a time)
- Muscle groups worked together
Cardio training variables
- Intensity of exercise (measured by heart rate or perceived exertion)
- Duration of exercise
- Number of exercise sessions
- Type of exercise (intervals, long distance, etc.) Mode of exercise (run, bike, elliptical, rowing, etc.)
Hopefully, this breakdown of muscle confusion helped out a little. Remember, before undergoing any workout consult your physician for advice. Until the next exercise better!
