+ 2 MUSCLE CONFUSION VS REPETITIVE TRAINING??? AN INFORMED ARGUMENT.
The age old topic of muscle confusion versus repetitive training has come up in discussion quite a bit lately. Which is better for gains? How often should I change up my workout? Why are some exercises considered indispensable while others are ok to switch up?
I'm a personal trainer and I literally spend 10 hours a day in the gym. All this means is, I spend a lot of time at the gym and I talk to a lot of meat heads. I don't think I know it all. But everyone has an opinion on the topic of the best way to train.
The majority of people I talk to seem to believe the same thing, that muscle confusion is the way to go. Everyone has their own ideas about how frequently to change a routine, but most believe it should be in the 4-8 week range. I tend to agree with this, based on my own gains and listening to my body when it tells me an exercise is becoming less effective.
But let me take the other side of this argument for a minute. Ronnie Coleman, by his own admission, worked chest 2 days a week. One day he would do flat bench, incline bench and decline bench. The other day he would do the same 3 exercises, except with dumbbells. That's it. Just the same old boring stuff, repetitively. Now I get that Ronnie is a once in a generation genetic freak and we can't all do walking lunges with 365 lbs and be Mr. O. But other examples are everywhere I look. I live in the south and we have a lot of countryboy-strong fellas down here. They grew up on a farm doing the same tasks every day. They all share similar physical characteristics. Huge forearms, big shoulders, and thick backs. I can assure you most of them have never heard of muscle confusion. It's the same with guys that sling a sledge hammer everyday, or any other mundane task that involves moving something heavy over and over again.
As I said above, I don't know everything. So, I'd love to hear some opinions from you guys and girls, based on experiences and observations. I'd especially like to hear from those of you that keep your training very simple and repetitive because I hear a lot from the muscle confusion camp already, and as I said above, I am currently in this camp as well.
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here is my view on this... what ever regimen your one I believe keep doing it till your gaines stop or slow to a crawl. Then change it up... my theory is if its not broke don't fix it...
I found this article awhile ago about 4 week programs and adapting...
http://www.t-nation.com/training/biggest-training-lie
There was an interview with Arnold one time and he was talking about muscle confusion. He said "the human body can adapt to loads that would fell a horse." So that means you must change up your workout all the time, right? No. He was saying you need to increase poundage, reps, or program order. Arnold had a set routine of core exercises. He rarely ever chsbged his core exercises, he mainly would change the filler, the order of the exercises or switched from barbell to dumbbell
Great info mTor! Thanks for sharing.
Darius-IProgressive overload is the key to growth, no more no less. And it doesn't matter how you get that progressive overload - more weight, more reps, better form, faster more explosive reps, more time under tension.
So when anyone is "confusing muscles" and getting results it's because they're implementing progressive overload without knowing it.
Ok so I really never keep it the same and I believe "routines" are a terrible definition of an exercise regimen. Reason being is that your body is a biological instrument and is constantly searching for a point of equilibrium, called homeostasis...so after inflicting exercise trauma on your body it then begins it's point of healing, recovery and growth.
Ever notice how if you stuck to a "routine", that after about 2 weeks you aren't as sore or whipped from the workouts as much? Probably cuz your body reached it's equilibrium recovery point and has adapted to the trauma...accepting it as a norm. Well IMO if you always want progress with growth, you DO need to confuse things to keep it guessing and growing. But then of course this is all goes into consideration what your goals are too.
Crossfit has it's objectives on bodily results as does powerlifting and they all sort of follow some sort of "pattern" like a "routine" but there's probably more chaos than order to the workout regimens than the average person knows about, say that is your avg joe/jane. The majority of the population doesn't get a real snapshot of what a competitor really does with workouts. The stuff posted in mags and shit is just a snapshot of ONE particular day in the gym, not weeks worth. Idk, make sense? That's how I feel
I'm with you guys. My routine is rarely the same. I'm changing the order of exercises, or the rep range, etc... I hardly ever make drastic changes, just little things like you guys describe. But I cannot get past looking at those hard working laborers that have certain body parts that I just envy, and I know half of those guys have never hit the weight room. They get those Popeye forearms from slinging a hammer all day, everyday.
I try to keep things pretty consistent for 3-4 weeks so I can gauge my strength progression. It would be to difficult to see if I'm adding weight and reps if I changed my workouts every week. Not that i really care about strength but I think its a decent indication of my progress, if I'm losing strength while cutting I can imagine I'm losing a little muscle or my diet isn't structured properly and if same thing with bulking, if I'm not getting stronger i know either my diet isn't right, or my recovery is off. But every 3-4 weeks Ill change from dumbbells to barbells, or Ill switch from doing straight sets of like 4x8-10 to something like 15 8 8 5, Or ill just change the order of exercises. On chest day ill usually do like 5 exercises and during these phases I try to keep my first 3 the same, incline, flat, then i like this plate loaded hammer strength incline machine, but my last two exercises can change every week depending on if someones using them and i don't feel like waiting. It will either be like pec dec, incline cable flys, seated cable fly, and dips, so ill pick two of those depending on how I'm feeling that day and whats not being used. And by doing things like this and keeping some things the ams and always changing others i really don't plateau ever. Its when I keep thins the same for to long that I stop growing.
Honestly I never have one workout like another ever. I never have really gone into the gym every week and do the same workout for the same body parts. Of course there some exercises that always are incorporated into my workouts but I always change the order and rep range.to me doin the same exact thing in the gym everyday of the week .week after week would get very boring. Even my cardio I'm constantly doin different types but.I see a lot of guys like clockwork jump on the treadmill for exact time at exact pace.