Muscle confusion is a term commonly heard in fitness circles which implies you should constantly be changing your exercises and workouts for optimal results.
Shock your muscles into growth!!
Keep your muscles guessing!!
Or something like that.
It’s a great way to sell more exercise programs but the idea of muscle confusion lacks much credibility.
Muscles contract or relax. They don’t get confused.
Furthermore, some exercises are simply superior to other exercises.
For example, a supine dumbbell tricep extension will always be a better exercise than a dumbbell tricep kickback.
It’s physics.
Mixing up the two exercises will not produce improved results beyond what would have been achieved by simply sticking to the better exercise and steadily increasing the weights and reps.
Here are some extra reasons why muscle confusion is probably not the best way to approach your workouts:
No Progressive Overload: The principle of progressive overload is a foundational principle of proper training. It states that in order for muscles to adapt and grow you need to gradually increase the stress placed on them. This is typically achieved by increasing the weight lifted or the number of reps completed. Constantly changing exercises makes it much harder to track and ensure proper progression.
Harder Skill Development: Many exercises require a level of skill and coordination to perform correctly. Constantly changing exercises will likely hinder skill development and technique mastery.
Lack Of Focus: Regularly changing exercises and routines might lead to a lack of focus and specificity in training. A well-designed program targets specific muscle groups and goals. It doesn’t try to keep the body guessing!
Less Consistency: Long-term results in fitness come from consistent training, effective exercises, progressive overload, good nutrition and healthy recovery practices. Constantly shifting routines makes it harder to establish a consistent routine and means you will likely spend less time working with the most effective exercises.
It’s A Marketing Gimmick: The concept of muscle confusion has been heavily marketed by certain fitness programs as a selling point. This marketing angle can lead people to believe that they need to keep buying new programs to see results which simply isn’t true.
The only real plus side I can see to muscle confusion is enhanced mental stimulation and enthusiasm for your workouts.
And if your goal is simply to exercise regularly - that’s cool.
It’s definitely MUCH MUCH better than doing nothing!
But for best results it’s a training principle you can probably erase from your fitness thinking!