Training Cycles and Muscle Confusion

[JoeJustice]

The real buzz phase in fitness for a little while now has been "muscle confusion." Fundamentally, I think the idea of muscle confusion is a good one, but I don't think it's a fully realized idea in most fitness courses. Usually there's a three to four week cycle where you do a particular workout, then another four weeks where you do another workout and so on. A lot of times there's some kind of "recovery period" too where you take a week off or just focus on cardio for a week or something like that. This is the way P90X does it, but it's certainly not the only program that uses this structure.

The thing is, these programs usually just change the order of the exercises or do different exercises, the fundamental type of exercise is still the same. So this got me thinking that a way to really take advantage of muscle confusion is to actaully train differently from month to much, not just do different exercises.

For the past couple of months I've been cycling between High Volume, Pyramid Training and Ladder Training routines and have been seeing really solid growth in all areas. When I switch back to volume, I always start out higher than where I left off and vice versa. I usually switch every two weeks and since I have been having good results with this system I thought it would probably be really effective to broaden it a bit and include all of the other training protocols.

Let's take a look at the actual training protocols we discuss here...
High Volume Training
High Intensity Interval Training
Grease The Groove Training
Pyramid Training
Ladder Training
High Density Training

I think focusing on these protocols to elicit the effects of muscle confusion is the way to go, rather than just changing which exercises you do. I've been calling this Training Cycles rather than Muscle Confusion, but they're basically the same thing.

Give it a try and see what you think! If you hit a plateau, instead of just doing different exercises to "shake things up" try doing something completely different!

-Joe

[John Peterson]

Hey Joe,

You have become your own best trainer. This is exactly what I have been talking about for five years. I think what you have stated is a great insight and one other thing I'd recommend is be sure to challenge the muscles from multiple angles in order to achieve the best and most balanced development and athletic fitness.


---John Peterson

[Nathan]

Hey Joe,

John is right. You have now became your best personal trainer. We all have things that work for us but maybe not for others. But again as John said you have now found something that has worked for you now just stick with it. Good luck with all your training my friend.


---Nathan

[gruntbrain]

As usual when experimenting with different proctocols, it's wise to perform OBJECTIVE evaluations. Perhaps, "changin' up" is more psyschological than physiological ( who cares? - whatever works)

[Bruno]

I agree with the concept in general and recently wrote a similar post. One caveat would be to stay with one method for a long enough period of time to get the full benefit. I was also changing monthly and some trainers may even suggest as frequently as three weeks but I suggest 6 weeks to 3 months before switching. Others may feel differently but I think it takes some time to achieve the full benefits of any given method.

[Bruno]

Here is a post that I made on another thread somewhat applicable to the notion of muscle confusion and program duration.

Exercise physiologists, scientists and trainers have tried to determine what causes muscle to grow and it seems that different individuals respond to different stimuli for better or worse.

Some "grow" more with higher reps; others with density volume (reducing rest between sets); others still with low reps and high tension. Scientists and exercise buffs have debated volume and HIT since Arthur Jones first proposed the method and as it was later modified by Menzter.

I think that a muscle needs consistent progressive resistance. A muscle has to be stressed to grow stronger and larger. imho reps and sets should be varied every six or 12 weeks or so.

The stress can be induced by a number of different methods and programs. High volume or low rep high tension. A person should not blindly follow a rep scheme. High reps for one individual may be 12 or 20 reps.

I do high tension low rep dvr and 3 sets of 50 push ups with ipf daily sometimes for a longer period of time, sometimes for just five minutes. I presently mix and match, on this routine since October. I will take through the end of the year and then shift focus again.

The high volume can seduce a person because the muscles may grow. However, I believe that the "look" will be that of a pumper-soft and bloated. I think that push ups and pulls build density to a muscle and provide real muscle growth as opposed to a soft pumped look.

Look at power lifters or olympic lifters Not bodybuilders that view their bodies as a collection of bodyparts. power lifters and olympic lifters lift in an integrated fashion with compound movements. power lifters and oly lifters have a hard muscular look. To me much more appealing than a present day Mr. Olympia. I mention power lifters and oly because they usually use heavy weight and low reps which if you extend the analogy to this forum would be low rep high tension.
Power lifters train three lifts- bench, deadlift and squat most throw in overhead press as an auxiliary lift. Here we can perform low rep high tension push ups, say a slow 30 to 60 second push up, high tension bw squat similar to the Miracle 7 squat only low rep and deeper, we can perform vrt deadlifts and handstand push ups. Effectively, we can create a fantastic physique without weights.

Transformetric students also can exercise in an integrated fashion with pull ups, push ups, handstand presses, plank, bridges, bw squats etc. Those exercises even perfomed in low reps with high tension will build a much better build imho than 75 to 100 reps of whatever the pumpers will perform.

I could see one set done to failure/near failure of any given exercise (b/t/w/ is what mos

[tom]

I'm glad to hear you have found something that works.

High Volume Training
High Intensity Interval Training
Grease The Groove Training
Pyramid Training
Ladder Training
High Density Training

Everybody may define things differently, but to me Ladder, Pyramid, and Greasing are all High Volume, just different ways of counting in the volume.

Another category could be Max Strength.

Keep it up,
Tom

[Karateka]

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[tom]

I used to think like Kruddyka. He is right if you are going to measure yourself in any specific way: do such and such a number of push-ups, run the mile in some time, have an overpowering step punch, etc. However, if you just want to have a fit body, it makes no difference what you do as long as you do something.

Let's take two extremes. One guy does a well thought-out pushup program for a month. The other guy does something different every day - push-ups, sprints, horseback riding, mountain hike, ballroom dancing, mosh pit, gardening, bowling, rollerblading, kruddy, cycling.

After a month, the first guy will have a skill, something youtubable. The other won't. They will both be equally fit and healthy.

When I was younger, I did the Kruddyka thing, sticking with a routine for weeks, months, years, (I'm closing in on a half century on some). Now, I don't think it matters unless you have a specific skill goal you have arbitrarily decided is important to you. Fitness-wise, happy-wise, longevity-wise, it doesn't matter.

Happy and healthy is all that matters. (I'm only including healthy because this is a fitness type place.)

(I miss that smiley with the sunglass 'fro dude)
Tom

[gruntbrain]

There's lotsa roads to "fitness Rome". Author Ted Skup does his single style pushups, author Steve Justa does everything including lifting the kitchen sink

[Bruno]

Lots of roads,it's true and for mental health and fun variety is great but sometimes when you do everything you wind up with nothing.

[gruntbrain]

Bruno's point is well taken . To address that point, one should consider applying objective evaluations to see if you're really doin' somethin' beyond just enjoying the ride.

[tom]

The first objective evaluation I would suggest is a blood pressure test.

Then a jump in front of a mirror to see how much keeps moving after you stop.

Then a blood test.

Then a dunk (bodyfat %) test.

Maybe do the jump one last.

Tom

[gruntbrain]

How about a slam dunk test to evaluate the effectiveness of a jumping pgm?

[A1C Evans]

This is one of the things I struggle with the most, creating a long term plan. WIthout one, you can make shorter term plans but if you dont know where you're going after that, it kind of falls apart, for me anyway. There is a lot of info out there about different cycles and periodizations to go from month to month and year to year but I still havent found what im looking for, isnt that part of a song? I'll keep looking and working on it though.

Jared

[tom]

Basketball rim - good test if jumping high is the goal. Shorter people than I always could and I never could. Oh well.

To continue:

Then Pierini and Grunt's heart rate monitor (for moving exercises)

Tom

[JoeJustice]

Personally, I stick with a routine for around a month, give or take depending on if I think it's working or not. But maybe I'm just changing to keep from getting bored. (Which is another factor, if you as me, but no one did, so I won't say anything about it. Oh wait, I just did. :shut-mouth:)

-Joe :smile-big:

[gruntbrain]

One approach is to establish a foundation like JP's Trinity; you do it every day or at least every workout day & add other "gooddes for extra crdeit"