Muscle Confusion

One of the most commonly talked about terms in the world of bodybuilding is Muscle Confusion. This refers to the the idea that your muscles can adapt to particular exercises and so will gradually stop being stimulated by them and will cease growing in size or strength when you perform them.

This idea of muscle confusion is what leads many trainees to completely alter their training routine every 6-8 weeks and is even the basis of some popular fitness products sold today.

But is Muscle Confusion a real issue? Does it even exist or is it just a myth?

What Muscles Adapt To

I remember a conversation I had with a trainer who advised me on how to do more pull ups. His basic advice was to do them every day and often so your muscles become familiar with the movements involved in a pull-up and the load of your body weight, so they will find it easier.

This wasn’t a limited time advice. He wasn’t saying that I should stop doing pull-ups after 6 weeks. In fact, he was giving me permanent guidelines. He had no problem with me doing pull-ups for years and years. He encouraged it.

What this shows you is that the thing muscles adapt to are not just movement or a specific exercise. They adapt to the load being placed on them in a particular exercise. In the case we’re talking about it was the weight of my body.

As soon as my muscles became strong enough for my weight, it was easy for me to quickly add on the reps of the pull-up since all my muscles had to deal with is the volume, or the number of reps, that I wanted to do.

Power Lifting Proves Muscle Confusion is a Myth

Let’s talk about Olympic weight lifters. These are men and women who train for 4 years to be able to perform a small set of specific movements. All the need to do is snatch, jerk, and lift. No one cares about anything else. This is all that they’re judged on.

So, how do you think they train? Do you believe they change things up every few weeks or do they focus on the specific movements they need to perform?

I’m sure that power lifters do a variety of exercises. But I am also confident that they never stop practicing on these basic movements. All they’re interested in is increasing the load they place on themselves. Their muscles never get “confused”.

Muscles Are Dumb

Let’s be clear: muscles are stupid. They have no brain. You tell them to contract and they do. You tell them to release and they comply. They don’t have the ability to get confused, bewildered or anything else for that matter. They are either strong enough to do something or not.

Switching Things Up May Be Counterproductive

Muscle Confusion is worth talking about because it may turn out to be counter productive to muscle building. The problem is that too many trainees are so distraught by the idea of their muscles becoming confused that they switch their entire workout routine so often that they never give their muscles time to improve.

You actually need to take advantage of the fact that your muscles adapt to movement to be able to hit them with a greater load. This is how you build greater strength and muscle mass.

Should You Never Switch Things Up

There are certain times in which changing your routine may be necessary:

1. You suffer an injury – If you have an injury which prevents you from doing a specific exercise then by all means, work the muscle in another way until you recover.

2. You are just bored with your workouts – This is probably the main reason why people need to spice their workouts with new stuff. If you’re not really into training then you will likely grow bored with the same routine.

Have a Basic Routine and Work on That

Since changing things up too often may lead to lesser gains, it’s good to have a basic routine with exercises that you do regularly and work around that. For me these are squats, lunges, chest press, and back rows. Other than that, I’m open to change. These exercises are the foundation of my workout and I want to get as good as I can with them. This requires me to keep at them.

Bottom Line on Muscle Confusion

Muscles don’t get confused. You just get bored.

You may change your workout if you like but don’t do it often. You may be disappointed with the results. It’s better to increase the resistance you train with then try to start all over again with a different exercise. This is how you get stronger.