Muscle Confusion Workout Plan

In the muscle confusion workout, cross training and periodization techniques are used, for which order of exercises along with addition of exercises are the methods utilized. As the name suggests, this workout plan is used to forbid the body from getting used to the same set of exercises over a period of time. Therefore, often this workout plan is recommended when people hit a plateau and find it difficult to lose weight.

In other words, the theory used is that with constant change in exercises the muscles are forced to respond, which helps in achieving weight loss. Different types of routines are mixed up in one routine, due to which the body finds it rather difficult to adapt and settle in the exercise routine. The goal of this exercise routine is to keep the body guessing and not let it get accustomed to a particular workout routine.

When you are designing a muscle confusion workout routine, you will have to take your current workout into consideration. This means that it is important that you have some sort of workout in place and only then will there be the need to change the workout plan.

When you are starting off new, the muscles will be confused with the new activity that you take up nevertheless.

If you combine strength training and cardiovascular exercises everyday in your workout routine, then you will have to divide the workout. It means on day 1 you will have the cardiovascular exercises, followed by strength training on day 2. The pattern will continue for the rest of the week.

If your workout consists of cardiovascular exercises and strength training on alternate day, then you will have to design a workout plan, which will include strength training and cardiovascular exercises on all days that you workout.

If you are primarily into strength training then do no more than 10 to 15 minutes of cardio exercises (which are a part of your warm up) and you target one muscle group on day 1 and another muscle group on day 2, then you will want to include some cardiovascular exercises in your routine.

Are you the kinds, who believes in doing only cardiovascular exercises and have no strength training exercises in your routine? Then to confuse your muscles you will want to include some bodyweight exercises or strength training exercises in your workout routine.

After having made the above mentioned changes in your workout routine, there are a few more changes that will have to be included in the workout. The number of repetitions and the number of sets will have to be changed as well.

To confuse the muscles, one idea is to increase the number of repetitions per set and decrease the number of sets. The other version is to decrease the number of repetitions and increase the number of sets.

Similar changes can be made by increasing the weights used to do the exercises and increasing the number of repetitions while you decrease the number of sets.

Similar changes have to be made to the strength training routine, changes will have to included for cardiovascular exercises as well. When you are designing your workout to confuse your muscles and you currently go for a brisk walk, then you may also want to include some sprinting in the routine. The other change that can be included is to add walking up and down the staircase. If you use the treadmill, then you may instead swap it with using the elliptical trainer or vice versa.

The other types of changes that can be included, while designing muscle confusion workouts for men or women is to change the exercises itself.

For example, if you have been doing the squats exercise for your legs, then stop doing the squats exercise completely and instead choose to do the lunges. Similarly, if you have been doing crunches to work the abdominal muscles, then you will rather want to switch to sit ups.

These were some important tips on designing a workout plan to confuse the muscles. It is best to make the changes after consulting your trainer. There may be some exercises, which may not work the best for you. The trainer will be in a better position to recommend the right type of exercise for a particular part of the body. So that you do not hit a plateau it is recommended that you bring about a variation in your exercise routine after every 3 to 4 weeks of doing the workout.