subject: Muscle confusion? - I have a bridge in brooklyn to sell you too! [print this page] Muscle confusion? - I have a bridge in brooklyn to sell you too!
"Advanced training requires that you change your exercise program every three to six months (1) It will provide the variety of movement to develop every area of every single muscle and muscle group, (2) force the body to do new and unexpected movements to help shock it into further growth, and (3) helps keep you from getting bored." - The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding p210
Arnold was not talking about muscle confusion in this quote. In fact there is no such thing as muscle confusion. Ok pick up your jaw; sit down take a deep breath and I will try to explain as simply as I can.
The main concept of muscle confusion is by doing several different types exercise in a workout you confuse your muscles, so the muscle continues to grow rather than, reaching a level of growth, then slowing in growth as is the case with some more conventional workout programs. So let's look at the claims of muscle confusion, versus the facts. First things first, skeletal muscles have two basic functions. The first, is to contract, causing body movement the second is the provide stability for body posture. That's it there is nothing to confuse or trick into doing something differently. No matter what you are doing the skeletal muscles are only going to do one of those two things.
Muscle confusion workouts build lean muscle
Simply put yes, you will gain lean muscle, but not for the reasons that you may have been lead to believe. A main form of muscle grow is caused by hypertrophy."Muscular hypertrophy is an increase in muscle mass the increase in dimension is due to an increase in the size (not length) of individual muscle fibers. Progressive overload is a means of applying varying and intermittent levels of stress to skeletal muscle, making it adapt by generating comparable amounts of tension. The muscle is able to adapt by increasing the size and amount of contractile proteins, which comprise the myofibrils within each muscle fiber, leading to an increase in the size of the individual muscle fibers and their consequent force production" http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/hypertrophy.html
In a nutshell you gain lean muscle from these types of workouts because of the overload and stress that is being put on the muscle. This is what you are doing with any workout is adding stress to the muscles and overloading them. So why do the muscle confusion workouts seem to give such good results?
Metabolic cardio
Muscle confusion work outs combine weight resistance with cardiovascular exercise. This is known as metabolic cardio (yes, the same concept as N-Motion Fitness) I have written on this topic before and the medically tested and cited benefits of this type of exercise. Basically this type of workout not only builds lean muscle mass it also raises your metabolism burning fat, at a much higher rate than just weight training or cardio alone.
Arnold stated it is necessary to add variety to your workout to make sure you are hitting ever angle of all the muscle groups, and that is one of the main benefits of these so called muscle confusion workouts. The muscle confusion workouts rely mainly on body weight resistance, you moving you (sound familiar?). Unlike weight resistance workouts that most of have become accustomed to body weight resistance not only incorporates all muscle groups, body weight resistance exercises develop muscle endurance that is hard to achieve in other methods. So you should run out and get a DVD and start training right? Well not so fast lets look a couple things.
Variety is needed to make a noticeable difference and keep you from getting bored. The DVDs out there today are good but they lack the verity needed to keep you from getting bored and lose interest. N-Motion Fitness's work outs are not only mostly body weight oriented workouts but, the workouts are always changing. Ask any client of N-Motion Fitness and they will tell you that the longer you stay with N-Motion the more challenging the workouts become.
Motivation
Motivation is often hard to get from a DVD; the one on one interaction is another important component of the N-Motion concept. We believe that each client is unique with their own special needs and concerns. N-Motion is not a one size fit all exercise plans, personal grow and improvement is the main concern of our trainers. We make a customized workout plan that is specific for each client. We coach, encourage and motivate our clients to reach their goals and find the success they are looking for.
Put down the DVD jump online and email N-Motion today and let us get you ready for the summer, and put you on course to have a healthy and sustainable lifestyle that only N-Motion Fitness can help you reach!
