Benefits of "Muscle Confusion"

Benefits of Muscle Confusion

Exercise regimes often become stale after only a week or so. The body knows well how to adjust to the current activity being performed everyday and when the body learns and adjusts, the exercise just does not provide the higher levels of calorie burn needed to continue burning calories and building muscle. Imagine a retail manager that walks 30,000 to 40,000 steps a day. Those steps are not counted as exercise; they are simply a normal activity for that person body. The same happens with exercise. Here in lies the beauty of muscle confusion.

When starting an exercise plan, a white board is the perfect tool to have. Not the treadmill or the elliptical, a white board or dry erase board. On this board you will write down 20 different exercise activities (functional movements) broad jump, push up, sit ups, pull ups etc. Each day, when the time comes to exercise you will choose a different exercise, it is important to use as much intensity as you can handle. The key is to use the muscles of the body every day, but in different ways than the day or the week before. Constantly changing the angle you are working the muscles will increase calorie burn and muscle building.

When the muscle is constantly confused, it never adjusts the activities and thus consistently provides a higher calorie burn and a steadily decreasing number on the scale. Muscle confusion will work with every style of workout. Cardio, weight lifting, and even more passive exercise choices like vigorous housework or hop scotch can be utilized to keep those muscles totally oblivious to what is going on.

Once the list of 20 exercises has been depleted, do not start out at the top. Erase the board and write a new fresh list of exercises. These exercises can be either one activity done over an extended period of time or several activities broken up throughout the time you have chosen to exercise for the day. No matter how you go about completing your daily burn, as long as the muscles are confused, the calories burned will remain higher.

Weight loss is all about burning more calories than consumed. While exercise in general is always beneficial for the body, the concept of muscle confusion is the most effective way to prolong those high calorie burns for an indefinite period of time. Burn more, burn longer and keep that body guessing with the concept of muscle confusion for maximum benefit.

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Eric Stratman /Master Trainer

Founder of "4 Your Fam"