Muscle Confusion or Simple Progressive Weight adding

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gmhaggie06
gmhaggie06 Posts: 207
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello Everyone,

I've been back in the gym for about two months. I threw shotput during college and benefitted from some great Strength and Conditioning coaches, so I'm not a gym newbie, but I have a question now that I'm getting back into it.

In another couple of months or so will I need to change up the lifts I'm doing (switch between barbell and dumbell, body weight exercises, etc) or just keep on adding weight whenever I can rep out 3x5?

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  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,641 Member
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    depends on you honestly...

    I like mixing up rep ranges from 3-12 myself.

    But generally you can just add weight. Muscle confusion is marketing.

    I'm guessing you would use up linear progression on a 5x5 type workout pretty quickly considering your history and how quickly you're going to progress to an "advanced/elite" lifter again as you keep lifting.
  • kALcyoum
    kALcyoum Posts: 8 Member
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    That would depend on your preference. Mixing up your routine in general, whether its frequently to create "muscle confusion" or just to mix up your routine, can help you prevent your workout results from plateauing. You could gain steady results by continuing to add weight and repeating your routine. I did this early on when I started working out years ago and it does produce results, but eventually, you will notice (and you may have already if you were a shotputter in college) that eventually your gains will slow down.

    Mixing up your routine is definitely recommended, but how frequently you change it up is completely up to your preference. If you follow certain workout routines, often times, the changes will be done automatically for you. If you are comfortable with your own workout routine and want to maintain that routine, steady increase in weights is not a bad way to go, but it is probably more recommended for those who are just starting up their workout.
  • kALcyoum
    kALcyoum Posts: 8 Member
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    depends on you honestly...

    I like mixing up rep ranges from 3-12 myself.

    But generally you can just add weight. Muscle confusion is marketing.

    I'm guessing you would use up linear progression on a 5x5 type workout pretty quickly considering your history and how quickly you're going to progress to an "advanced/elite" lifter again as you keep lifting.

    As John indicates, "muscle confusion" is definitely a marketing term (I think Beach Body/Tony Horton made it up for P90X). It's just making sure you change up the routine to maximize your gain. It's a concept that's been around for forever, they just put a catchy name to it.
  • gmhaggie06
    gmhaggie06 Posts: 207
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    nice info guys, thanks a heap. I'll keep stacking plates on until I start to see a taper off of improvement, then i'll probably switch up some reps.
  • FrnkLft
    FrnkLft Posts: 1,821 Member
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    Yeah muscle "confusion" is bull****. All you need to do is make sure that you're incrementing the weight up over time. Progressive overload. That's all.

    Work in the 3-5 rep range for strength, and 8-12 for hypertrophy. Eat to win. Done.

    Also, make sure you're not being a bonehead and get on a program if you're not already. SL 5x5, ICF 5x5 if you're a beginner, or 5/3/1 if you've been lifting for around a year.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Work in the 3-5 rep range for strength, and 8-12 for hypertrophy.
    If you alternate low rep days with high rep days, do you see both benefits (diminished, of course)?
  • FrnkLft
    FrnkLft Posts: 1,821 Member
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    Nah, nothing diminishes. I actually do an upper/lower split, and I use the 4 main lifts as my "days".

    So I'll have heavy bench day, with some lighter pressing afterwards. Then I'll have heavy squat day, with lighter deadlifts after.

    Then I'll have heavy press day, with some lighter benching afterwards, and then heavy deadlift day, with lighter squatting.

    All of my assistance work is higher rep. Low rep strength training is meant for big compound movements, not for assistance and isolation movements. You're just asking for injury, and they don't progress as evenly and/or consistently as the big 4 do anyways.

    ... and also nobody gives a damn what you can curl, so...

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