One of the first things I remember learning when I began going to the gym was that we had to “confuse” our muscles in order for them to grow.
I was confused.
How the hell do I confuse my muscles? Do random exercises? Do exercises I have never done before?
So, I remember going to the gym and doing any workout that I thought of for that day. Never any direction, no plan, no program, just some workouts that I thought were working. And I thought they were working because I was seeing results. Little did I know, anything I did would have caused a young kid to see results.
With muscle confusion, the idea stems that each workout is a new stimulus, and in short term studies It shows that “muscle confusion” has similar strength improvements (Baz-Valle E, Schoenfeld BJ, Torres-Unda J, Santos-Concejero J, Balsalobre-Fernández C (2019) The effects of exercise variation in muscle thickness, maximal strength and motivation in resistance trained men).
Studies like this are where things can get confusing. So we take a short term study and these findings. Now is It worth It for me to get on a program that works on similar movements and exercises each week? YES.
The reason we do movements repeatedly is so we can practice that movement. So we can get better at those movements, and in turn get stronger in those movements. Not only do we want to practice, but these types of programs also show us what works and what doesn’t.
If we switch things up every week, we don’t have a real idea of what works better or worse for us.
The idea is to not always be doing the same thing each session. On the same note, not to be doing different things every session either. In most cases we want to be somewhere in the middle. Being able to add some variety and change let’s say anywhere between 3-8 weeks.
This gives us time to learn the exercises, practice those exercises, get good at them, and then get strong with them.
Over that period of time we are progressing and seeing increases when possible. Once things progress to a point, then It will be time to change up some variables. Each week our body is doing everything It can to adapt to the stress you are putting on It.
As the body tries to adapt, that is how we progress. It is our body doing what It can to handle that movement more efficiently.
Now, It is a good idea to stick with a program closer to the longer side of that 3-8 week window, but that can get very boring. So we have to factor in our attention span and even our eagerness to train.
If we find ourselves so bored after week six that we are dreading our workouts then those last two weeks will be less effective than they could have been. I like to say, find a rotation where you aren’t yet bored with the last cycle/program but eager to see what is in the next cycle/program.
The moral of the story, take your workouts as practice and get really damn good at them.
In good health,
Jeff
P.S Whenever you are ready, here are 3 ways I can help you change the way your body looks and feels…
1.) Would you be interested in testing out our program for two weeks… With no payment?
Right now you can give our program a shot for two weeks with no payment and get on the road to looking and feeling how you really want.
If you are interested in this free test, reply “TEST” to this email.
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We are letting you get a better idea of where your starting point is by getting a free InBody scan. This can test your body fat, muscle mass, and water levels.
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I have been toying with the idea of creating programs for anyone to use and follow. They would come complete with videos, descriptions, and program demos.
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