It is important to keep one’s body healthy and fit. A balanced diet and exercise are necessary to achieve this. Sometimes people find that despite their best efforts they are unable to lose weight or gain muscle tone as well as they hoped to. This often leads to one abandoning the fitness training schedule. The concept of muscle confusion is not a new one in the world of body building. However, it is only recently that trainers have started making people, who wish to lose weight, aware of the importance of muscle confusion.
When the body performs a set of exercises and repetitions in a certain pattern, it starts to get accustomed to it, and is not as effective as it initially was. In order to ensure that the muscles work out adequately, it is important to ensure that the body does not get used to a certain exercise routine. Thus, one would need to regularly change the cardiovascular and strength training exercises that are part of one’s fitness regime.
Many people, who work out on a regular basis, find that they encounter a ‘plateau effect’. This essentially means that despite exercising well, the body and muscles show little change. This can be quite disheartening. To avoid this from happening one should try to follow a variety of exercise programs, instead of performing the same sets or repetition of exercises. This would challenge the muscles into optimal performance. It is not just important to vary the work out program that one follows but also the rest periods that one takes between repetitions.
Experts recommend that one change the fitness routine every four weeks. It would also be a good idea to include varied styles of exercise. For instance one could do aerobics on one day and schedule a power yoga class on another day. Yoga, tai chi and dancing are also excellent options to the conventional gym routine. The term muscle confusion does not refer to undertaking a difficult work out that would confuse the muscles or the body. It means that one has to plan the fitness schedule in a manner that the body does not become comfortable with a specific routine without being challenged.
To gain the best results it is important to be consistent and regular with one’s fitness program. This would include a work out of a minimum of 45 minutes. One may like to concentrate on specific parts of the body on different days. You could include sets of upper body training on one day, while on another day one could concentrate on the lower region. It is also important to do stretching movements at the start and end of the program. Varying the work out routine also ensures that one is not bored easily. This is especially important for beginners, and for people who find it difficult to keep to a fitness regime. Creating a work out schedule ensures that the fitness routine can be followed easily. One may also wish to work with a trainer to select appropriate exercises.