Muscle Confusion Myth

Everyone wants to look good, and when it comes to guys, chiseled abs and bulging biceps do play an important role in grabbing attention. No wonder, all the roads are heading to gyms these days. Unfortunately for some people however, spending hours pumping weights in the gym doesn't really seem to help. They crave for those chiseled abs and bulging biceps, and in course of the same try some desperate measures to gain body mass. These desperate measures tend to work the other way round and cause much more harm than benefits. One such desperate measure is muscle confusion. It's quite popular among fitness enthusiasts, but it wouldn't have had been popular at all if people were aware about these muscle confusion myths surrounding it.

What is Muscle Confusion?
In body building, muscle confusion is a technique used to achieve maximum possible growth and development of muscles in a quick period. The technique stresses on the concept that varying your workouts frequently dissuades the body from adapting to the workout regime to an extent wherein the results either come slowly or don't come at all. Basically, it deters the body from plateauing i.e., reaching to the point of a stable state wherein chances of change are dull. Many believe that muscle confusion workouts help in getting the desired results sooner than normal routine workouts. However, they also warn that a proper muscle confusion workout will burn all the glycogen in the muscles, and hence one should ensure that they consume a carbohydrate and protein rich meal within 30 minutes after the workout. So is muscle confusion really helpful or is it just a hoax. We were skeptical about the concept and hence we tried to find out if muscle confusion is a myth?

Muscle Confusion Myth
Muscles require systematic overloading and recuperation to grow and develop, and this itself is the strongest argument to debunk muscle confusion myth. You can't just overload your muscles for a week and then shift the base to other muscles for the next week. It's a continuous process which needs enough time to overload and, more importantly, recuperate. Basically, muscles are made of two proteins, actin and myosin. These proteins are broken down to facilitate the process of recuperation, which leads to compensatory size increase of the muscle mass. In simple words, overloading breaks the tissues and recuperation rebuilds and enlarges them. If enough time is not given for the broken tissues to recuperate, then the muscles won't grow. In fact, they may even start deteriorating and become small. Read more on muscle building tips.

Muscle confusion myth is a misconception based on the concept of 'pump' in body development. The pump is a temporary phenomenon wherein the person gets a feeling that the muscles have expanded right after the workout. The feeling of a pump is basically a misunderstanding of the sensation which is triggered due to the accumulation of lactic acid and myofibril contraction, which leads to the constriction of blood flow. This in turn triggers a rush of blood into the capillaries of the working muscles making them appear as if they have expanded.

Disadvantages of Muscle Confusion Workouts
Practicing muscle confusion is bound to cause feedback confusion, wherein alternating between several exercise programs too often won't give the body enough time to accumulate feedback and use it to gain body mass. Changing routines very often will hamper the strategy of the body and whatever muscle mass is gained will be momentary, which will shed when we shift to other exercises. Changing workout routines frequently can lead to deterioration of the body mass instead of enhancing it. The simplest trick of getting bigger muscles is a successful workout regimen for a long period, causing the muscles to overload, and successful recuperation, during as well as after the workout, to facilitate compensatory growth and strength.

It's not bad to change your workout regimes once in a while to get rid of boredom caused by routine. But one has to make sure that these changes are not frequent and won't hamper your health in any way. More importantly, contrary to the age old muscle building myth, that muscles build when you exercise, you need to understand that muscles are built when your body is resting and not when you are busy pumping weight in the gym. A proper fitness regime consisting of a well planned workout and a significant resting period will make sure that you achieve your set goals at the earliest. As for people who are still living with muscle confusion myth, we can only say 'there are no shortcuts to success!'