Why Do I Need To Confuse My Body?

HeyJudii

I chose things to do for physical fitness and activity that I love. I run for 60 minutes 5 days/week. I hike for over 2 hours a day on the weekends (so many interesting and varied trails to choose from) and will be adding 30 minutes of weight training Saturday & Sunday, starting in June. I stay active for at least 10 hours each day, never doing sitting what I can do standing or moving about, I dance about when I enter the room where I have the music playing. (And then there are the 250 steps/hour that my Fitbit reminds me to do if I forget.)

I chose things that I know I can keep up for the rest of my life. I am not looking to compete, bulk/cut, etc. I just want to be able to maintain (without resentment) what I worked so hard to achieve. If I want to run a marathon, compete or bulk/cut, then I know I need to add the proper training, and make any additional dietary adjustments, there is that. So to maintain my physical level, why not continue doing what I am doing.

But, I frequently read articles or posts that talk about how I need to keep shaking things up, how I need to "confuse" my muscles so they don't become complacent. I can see adding new activities that I discover I like, or if I get bored with my current routines, but to always need to change because if I don't I will gain weight and lose all progress just seems depressing.

Has anyone managed to maintain their weight loss over time, with a set routine that seldom varies?

stanmann571

Put your forehead on the end of a baseball bat, and have a friend time you spinning quickly around the bat. after 15-30 seconds, stop spinning. You'll find your body is confused.


For health and fitness it's utter nonsense. Do what you like, and you'll get better at it, choose programs that have meaningful progression built in, and when you hit a level at which you're happy select an appropriate program to maintain that fitness level as you get older.

Confuse your body is nonsense, given for those who have hit the inevitable end of beginner training and have grown bored or frustrated with a slower rate of progression, or are chasing "the pump" or DOMS or some other sensation or perception that a workout is "working"

For running/walking- You know it's working by tracking your speed and by monitoring your HR over a given distance/time. If you're going faster and your HR is lower for a given distance/time. You've improved.

For strength training it's even easier. Are you lifting more than last month/last year/last week. However, this is where the confuse your body woo comes in. You get 3-6 months of fast easy progression as you condition your body to a movement pattern. After that progression slows down, and rest requirements go up so you need to find a protocol that cycles or waves work/rest so that you continue to progress and force the necessary adaptations. Eventually(2-3 years) you'll get to a point where progression slows even further and the cycles and waves of progression become more complicated to program and progression is measured seasonally and in smaller increments. At this point, you'll be fairly strong, and switching to a less complicated maintenance style program is perfectly acceptable. There are limits to how strong you can become. These were determined for you between birth and the end of puberty. Unless you're stacking PEDs, you will not exceed your natural limits. Some peoples limits are higher or lower, but they generally fall into predictable ranges based on height/weight/age/gender.

TavistockToad

you dont

L1zardQueen

I walk every day for exercise and have maintained my weight loss for a year. I love walking or hiking and do not plan on stopping ever.

Confuse your muscles is hokum. Do things you love.

Stockholm_Andy

As the others said you don't and indeed can't confuse a muscle.

They can't get complacent, smug, modest or egotistical because their muscles.

Mainly they just contract and expand

I'm afraid you've been reading the wrong articles.....

LivingtheLeanDream

No you don't have to change up your workouts regardless of what some people or articles would have you believe.

I'm a creature of habit, I do the same kinds of workouts week in/week out, have done for several years, I did it to lose and I keep doing it to maintain, its total hogwash that we need to change up our exercise imo.

stanmann571

You do need a certain amount of variety in your programming or you will regress to a certain degree.

For example, if you try to always run exactly 5 miles in exactly 1 hour on exactly the same course, over time you'll begin to stagnate or even lose ground, but that's a matter of acclimatization. And is easily cured with a bit of variety.

HeyJudii

Stockholm_Andy wrote: »

As the others said you don't and indeed can't confuse a muscle.

They can't get complacent, smug, modest or egotistical because their muscles.

Mainly they just contract and expand

Stockholm_Andy wrote: »

I'm afraid you've been reading the wrong articles.....

Not all of the articles I read promote this idea, but I see it enough to make me wonder...

HeyJudii

I love these responses, thank you!

ninerbuff

All muscles become accustomed to load put on the them if the routine is repetitive. But that just means they're CONDITIONED for that type of physical activity. When people state you need to "shake them up" it usually means changing your program to hit DIFFERENT muscles that AREN'T being conditioned doing whatever program you're currently doing. Usually this is said when people stop getting results. So really the only thing you need to do if this happens, is just UP your current intensity in your current program. In most cases, that just means doing it longer, faster or with added resistance.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

rainbow198

I don't confuse my body and I'm maintaining nicely with just mainly brisk walking and bodyweight/resistance band work. Plus I enjoy it which makes me look forward to my workouts.

I guess it depends on your goals, but I'm very happy with my body, health and fitness level and don't feel a need to confuse my muscles or add in intense exercise.

h1udd

Its people being pedantic ... yes you cant confuse a muscle BUT, your body is very adapt at become efficient at a repetative task.

For example if you were to get on a bike and ride at the same speed every day for the same amouint of time you would progress fitness wise up until the point your body has adapted to be able to do what you ask in the most efficient way .. it doent know you want to get fitter. Like wise with lifting ... the first time you pick up a barbel and press it, you will have muscles fireing all over the place .. but eventually your body will workout the most efficient way of lifting it and how much muscle to recruit .... and you will stop progressing.

the idea of shaking it up and confusing it is to make the body adapt more you can do this with progressive overload .. ie increase the weight or reps to spend more time under tension and make the body recruit more muscle. Or change the variation of the lift so different muscles are recruited to complete the task.


your body does not know what you want, all it does is adapt to the environment you put it in ... you need to change the variables of that environment IF your body is no longer responding

cwolfman13

HeyJudii wrote: »

I chose things to do for physical fitness and activity that I love. I run for 60 minutes 5 days/week. I hike for over 2 hours a day on the weekends (so many interesting and varied trails to choose from) and will be adding 30 minutes of weight training Saturday & Sunday, starting in June. I stay active for at least 10 hours each day, never doing sitting what I can do standing or moving about, I dance about when I enter the room where I have the music playing. (And then there are the 250 steps/hour that my Fitbit reminds me to do if I forget.)

I chose things that I know I can keep up for the rest of my life. I am not looking to compete, bulk/cut, etc. I just want to be able to maintain (without resentment) what I worked so hard to achieve. If I want to run a marathon, compete or bulk/cut, then I know I need to add the proper training, and make any additional dietary adjustments, there is that. So to maintain my physical level, why not continue doing what I am doing.

But, I frequently read articles or posts that talk about how I need to keep shaking things up, how I need to "confuse" my muscles so they don't become complacent. I can see adding new activities that I discover I like, or if I get bored with my current routines, but to always need to change because if I don't I will gain weight and lose all progress just seems depressing.

Has anyone managed to maintain their weight loss over time, with a set routine that seldom varies?

You don't...I've been cycling for years as my primary form of exercise...I've maintained for over 5 years.

MichelleWithMoxie

HeyJudii wrote: »

I chose things to do for physical fitness and activity that I love. I run for 60 minutes 5 days/week. I hike for over 2 hours a day on the weekends (so many interesting and varied trails to choose from) and will be adding 30 minutes of weight training Saturday & Sunday, starting in June. I stay active for at least 10 hours each day, never doing sitting what I can do standing or moving about, I dance about when I enter the room where I have the music playing. (And then there are the 250 steps/hour that my Fitbit reminds me to do if I forget.)

I chose things that I know I can keep up for the rest of my life. I am not looking to compete, bulk/cut, etc. I just want to be able to maintain (without resentment) what I worked so hard to achieve. If I want to run a marathon, compete or bulk/cut, then I know I need to add the proper training, and make any additional dietary adjustments, there is that. So to maintain my physical level, why not continue doing what I am doing.

But, I frequently read articles or posts that talk about how I need to keep shaking things up, how I need to "confuse" my muscles so they don't become complacent. I can see adding new activities that I discover I like, or if I get bored with my current routines, but to always need to change because if I don't I will gain weight and lose all progress just seems depressing.

Has anyone managed to maintain their weight loss over time, with a set routine that seldom varies?

re the bold: yes. you do not need to confuse your body. that's a load of woo.

Lillymoo01

I have reached a point where I am happy with my fitness. My body isn't perfect but health wise I am just fine as I am. Rather than continually seeking gains I can content to just be, with both my weight and exercise. I couldn't bare the thought that I had to continually make progress. To be bigger, stronger, faster. I will instead continue to enjoy what I am doing by maintaining my weight and fitness level.

cass412014

Because your body will learn your tricks and is like "I know what's coming up next, I will prepare for it".

Stockholm_Andy

h1udd wrote: »

Its people being pedantic ... yes you cant confuse a muscle BUT, your body is very adapt at become efficient at a repetative task.

For example if you were to get on a bike and ride at the same speed every day for the same amouint of time you would progress fitness wise up until the point your body has adapted to be able to do what you ask in the most efficient way .. it doent know you want to get fitter. Like wise with lifting ... the first time you pick up a barbel and press it, you will have muscles fireing all over the place .. but eventually your body will workout the most efficient way of lifting it and how much muscle to recruit .... and you will stop progressing.

the idea of shaking it up and confusing it is to make the body adapt more you can do this with progressive overload .. ie increase the weight or reps to spend more time under tension and make the body recruit more muscle. Or change the variation of the lift so different muscles are recruited to complete the task.


your body does not know what you want, all it does is adapt to the environment you put it in ... you need to change the variables of that environment IF your body is no longer responding

IMHO Hludd there's a difference between the progressive overload and progression you are describing and which we all utilise to get bigger, stronger, faster, whatever. And the pseudo-science of Muscle Confusion peddled by expensive online courses like Bodypump, P90x, and ClassPass.

The reason people don't see progress isn't because they're not varying their routine constantly it's because they don't have the attention span to stick with a program WHILE ensuring progressive overload.

Muscle confusion advocates, that exercises constantly vary and no two days are alike. It's a new set of exercises every single session.

For me you work a specific muscle or function (e.g., your quads or running) in a specific manner, progressively adding intensity and/or duration over time. Hard days are followed by easy days and prolonged periods of intensity are followed by prolonged periods of recovery. Repetition and consistency are key. Results don’t occur overnight but after months of sticking to the same(ish) routines.

Yes you do switch things up eventually, I've recently started a PHUL after doing 531 for about 12 months. But there's no need to do it daily IMHO.

stanmann571

Stockholm_Andy wrote: »

h1udd wrote: »

Its people being pedantic ... yes you cant confuse a muscle BUT, your body is very adapt at become efficient at a repetative task.

For example if you were to get on a bike and ride at the same speed every day for the same amouint of time you would progress fitness wise up until the point your body has adapted to be able to do what you ask in the most efficient way .. it doent know you want to get fitter. Like wise with lifting ... the first time you pick up a barbel and press it, you will have muscles fireing all over the place .. but eventually your body will workout the most efficient way of lifting it and how much muscle to recruit .... and you will stop progressing.

the idea of shaking it up and confusing it is to make the body adapt more you can do this with progressive overload .. ie increase the weight or reps to spend more time under tension and make the body recruit more muscle. Or change the variation of the lift so different muscles are recruited to complete the task.


your body does not know what you want, all it does is adapt to the environment you put it in ... you need to change the variables of that environment IF your body is no longer responding

IMHO Hludd there's a difference between the progressive overload and progression you are describing and which we all utilise to get bigger, stronger, faster, whatever. And the pseudo-science of Muscle Confusion peddled by expensive online courses like Bodypump, P90x, and ClassPass.

The reason people don't see progress isn't because they're not varying their routine constantly it's because they don't have the attention span to stick with a program WHILE ensuring progressive overload.

Muscle confusion advocates, that exercises constantly vary and no two days are alike. It's a new set of exercises every single session.

For me you work a specific muscle or function (e.g., your quads or running) in a specific manner, progressively adding intensity and/or duration over time. Hard days are followed by easy days and prolonged periods of intensity are followed by prolonged periods of recovery. Repetition and consistency are key. Results don’t occur overnight but after months of sticking to the same(ish) routines.

Yes you do switch things up eventually, I've recently started a PHUL after doing 531 for about 12 months. But there's no need to do it daily IMHO.

And varying effects in an aerobic program like speed distance and time.

I believe 531 and PHUL both feature reads and flat bench as core lifts.

MelanieCN77

I've maintained for over a year doing steady state cardio every day, and weights a couple times a week (not scientifically, sometimes I even do upper and lower body in the same session *gasp*) and hike on weekends like you do. I'll throw in a run once in a while, on the treadmill, or a 5k with friends (shiny medals yay). I like the workouts, so those are what I do. I tried HIIT and didn't care for it, same goes for pretty much any group workout, and mixed circuits in general, so I just don't do those.

Diatonic12

There are gym muscles vs. real life strength muscles. Our ancestors didn't need to confuse anything. They were working the daylight out of their muscles/metabolism every single day in the very same ways. The last thing on their mind was switching things up for a thigh gap. Gym engineered muscles don't always translate to hard work out in the field. Start slow but lift heavy things and increase your muscle mass naturally without brutal hours of training in the gym. Your muscles will keep working for you in positive ways. I read about a father/son combo. The son spent all of his days in the gym but when it came time for the hard work in the yard moving boulders, the father could run circles around the son. He'd never spent one day in the gym but could move them all by himself. The son could hardly budge a single one. You don't need a gym to get strong. Do everything on your own terms.