Muscle confusion is a training principle that states you should not let your body adapt to any one training method. Constantly challenge the body with different exercises, set and repetition schemes and weight. If you do the same program regularly, your body will adapt and cease to improve. Changing your routine will compel the body to respond to the new stimulus. Switching up different variables of your program will help to strengthen your body.
Instructions
Step 1
Split your routine into two workouts—upper body and lower body. Work out four days per week. Schedule an upper body workout on day one, a lower body workout on day two. Rest on day three. Day four will be upper body again; you will repeat your lower body on day five. Days six and seven are rest days.
Step 2
Day one and two will be light workouts. Choose two compound exercises that hit the major muscles. For your upper body, you can do dumbbell chest presses and bent-over rows. The lower body exercises may include step-ups or lunges. After warming up, perform three working sets of each exercise, eight to 12 repetitions each set. Choose two or three isolation movements that target the smaller muscles. Triceps presses, biceps curls and lateral raises target the upper body muscles. Leg extensions and hamstring curls isolate the leg muscles. Perform two sets of each isolation exercise, 10 to 12 repetitions each set.
Step 3
Day three and four are heavy workouts. Choose two compound exercises; do not repeat any exercises you did on day one or two. Leg presses or squats work the lower body. Lat pulldowns and dumbbell chest presses are compound exercises for the upper body. Perform three sets of each, alternating the two exercises. Use heavier weights that fatigue the muscles in six to eight repetitions. Choose two or three isolation exercises. Do not repeat any movements from day one or two. Perform two sets of each exercise, six to 10 repetitions each set.
Step 4
For subsequent weeks, change the order of workouts and what days are heavy versus light. Do a heavy, lower body workout on day one and a light, upper body workout on day two. Continue to switch up these variables every week.
Tips and Warnings
- Learn new exercise variations to include in your workouts. Always rest at least one day before working the same muscle.
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