Q and A: Muscle Confusion

Andrew Chavez writes:

“I’m confused because people always say to confuse your muscles but how
do I do that? Could I do the Build and Burn Workout every other day for
two months and still build muscle?”

These are great questions Andrew, I’m happy to help you out.

Muscle confusion is a popular buzz word in the fitness world.  The theory is that if you do the same workout everyday, your body will get used to the same movements and intensity levels and thus plateau.  By periodically changing your workouts your body is forced to adapt to new stresors thus avoiding these plateaus.

Periodization

A more scientific approach to muscle confusion is periodization.  Periodization is a systemic approach to training program design that uses the General Adaptation Syndrome and Principle of Specificity to vary the amount and type of stress placed on the body to produce adaptation.  In laymens terms, you have to periodically change the amount and type of work you do in a workout in order to produce desired changes in your body.

You can “confuse” your muscles by changing your workouts based on the type of results you’s like to see.  If you want to increase your strength, lift 85% of your one rep max for up to six reps of slow/controlled movements.  If your goal is to be more powerful, aim for up to 10 reps of explosive movements using up to 45% of your one rep max. You can achieve hypertrophy (muscle building) by performing 12-15 reps with a weight that is 70% of your one rep max.

Should you do the build and burn workout every other day for two months?

In short, no.  In two months your body will have adapted to the workout and stop producing results.  You should do the build and burn workout for at most one month.  You will build muscle if you keep your rep range between 12-15 reps for each exercise. The cardio intervals mixed into this workout will boost your metabolism and help you to burn bodyfat.

Thanks again Andrew and keep me posted on your progress!

If you have a question for me feel free to contact me.  I appreciate feedback as well so lets start the conversation below in the comments section.

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3 Responses to “Q and A: Muscle Confusion”

  1. Julian says:

    I am a huge fan of your work thus far. With the build and burn workout. I have a tendency to get big when I workout with weights. What can I do to stop that from happening? Thank you for you workout knowledge and being a help to others.

  2. Johnny Cole says:

    Awfully educative cheers, It is my opinion your trusty audience would most likely want significantly more articles such as this maintain the good content.

  3. Joshua Daniels says:

    This is great stuff. Keep up the good work, Gustavus. Love your videos. Post some more!

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