MUSCLE CONFUSION

MUSCLE CONFUSION

HOW DO I GET MORE GAINS IN THE GYM?

Muscle confusion is a practice of changing up your lifting or fitness programs to produce better results.  If you remain stagnant and perform the same exercises, at same rep count, and same number of sets . . . your performance will remain stagnant as well.  Muscle confusion occurs by changing up exercises, rep numbers per set, and length of rest periods. If you hit a sticking point in your training point and you cannot break through a plateau try one of the following:

Super Sets: Compound sets are great for an athlete looking to gain muscle but limited on time. How do Super Sets work?  You will work opposing muscle groups with no rest in between.  (Example- 1 set of bench for chest, followed immediately with a set of lateral pull downs).  This allows for your chest muscles to rest and stretch while you keep focus on a completely different motion and muscle group.  
Rest Pause: Changing how you do your standard exercises can assist with breaking through sticking points or plateaus.  Rest Pause is another example of this.  If you are doing a set of 10 reps, you would complete 10, rest for a few seconds, then do several more reps to break the muscles down further.  
Continuous Tension: This is not a full range of motion for the exercise.  It keeps the muscles tense, no lockout, and no rest.  Let's use the chest as an example.  Using a weight that will challenge your muscles, come down slowly towards the chest (roughly 3 seconds).  Touch the chest (0 second pause).  Push the weight away from your body (roughly 2 seconds to peak).  Your peak is before your elbows lock up.  You want to keep tension on the chest and triceps . . . no pause, and no locking of the joints.  This is very effective with squats. 

These are some examples of muscle confusion techniques.  Doing something as simple as switching up number of reps or weights can also assist in producing different results.  Remember there is no magic program that will guarantee success.  Use fitness science to guide you towards your goals.