Exercise does wonderful things for your body. Regular sessions lower your risk of diseases such as coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and even some types of cancer. It also improves the efficiency and function of your body. However, many people work out just so that their outside looks as good as their inside. Use the principle of muscle confusion to keep your body changing and your health improving.
Muscle Adaptation and Confusion
When you perform the same workout, whether it be cardio or resistance training, your body adapts. The workout that was so hard the first few days becomes easy after a few weeks. This is a normal physical adaptation to exercise. What you need to do in order to see continual progress is to employ the concept of muscle confusion. This literally confuses your body so that it has to again adapt and you see more results. You can choose to perform slightly different workouts each time you exercise or do the same program for four to eight weeks and then change it up.
Sample Full Body Workout
A full-body resistance training workout is a good way to train your whole body two to three times per week. Choose one exercise for each major muscle group, advises the American College of Sports Medicine, and then perform one to three sets of eight to 12 repetitions per exercise. A sample workout could look like this: seated rows for your back; bench presses for your chest; dumbbell presses for your shoulders; squats for your legs; barbell curls for your biceps; pushdowns for your triceps; standing calf raises for your calves; decline crunches for your abs.
Changing Your Full Body Workout
When you apply the principle of muscle confusion you still work all the same muscle groups you just change the exercises you perform. You can also change your sets and repetitions for even more physical adaptation. Your new full-body workout can look like this: pullups for your back; incline presses for your chest; upright rows for your shoulders; leg presses for your legs; preacher curls for your biceps; parallel bar dips for your triceps; seated calf raises for you calves; and rope crunches for your abs.
Cardio Exercise
Change your cardio routine as well as your resistance training. Try incorporating high-intensity interval training into your workouts for increased intensity and calorie burning. HIIT is a method of exercise where you alternate short-duration, high-intensity bouts of exercise with longer duration, lower intensity active recovery segments. For example, if you are a runner who always runs 30 minutes at 6.0 mph you could change up your workouts with HIIT training. Warm-up for five minutes at a brisk walk. Run 30 to 90 seconds at 7.0 mph followed by a jog at 5.8 to 6.0 mph for one to three minutes. Alternate running and walking for the duration of your workout.
References
- "ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription"; American College of Sports Medicine; 2010
- "Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning"; National Strength and Conditioning Association; 2008
- ExRx.net: Designing a Full Body Workout
- Bodybuilding.com: Full-Body Workout for Extreme Fitness
- American Council on Exercise: What is High-intensity Interval Training and What are the Benefits?
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