I had known about the concept of muscle confusion for some time before studying the P90X routines, but never before had I seen someone so successfully implement it and demonstrate its potential for growth and rapid muscle development. Muscle confusion is a term coined by bodybuilders to describe using exercises in such a way as to avoid adaptation of muscles to any one particular routine.
Of course, mastering an exercise is essential for success, especially when applied to such things as athletics. The muscles need time to learn the movements, and apply all the neurons toward contracting and controlling the direction and amount of force applied. Yet, for bodybuilders this formula only works so many times; in other words, the muscles soon “plateau” and cease to be stimulated enough to produce growth. Anyone who has done the same exercise too many times in a row can attest to this. The muscles grow some at first, then stop.
There are essentially three ways to induce muscle development: increase the weight applied to the movement; increase the intensity; and, integrate new exercises often enough to keep the muscles “confused. Since the first two ways are usually mastered fairly rapidly, using muscle confusion can and does very efficiently throw the body off just enough to keep it from adapting and plateauing.
Tony Horton uses push-ups effectively in his chest routines. They are pitted against pull-ups and other back exercises, where they trade off without any rest until several sets are done. Imagine going back to push-ups three or four times in between back exercises! It does work, let me tell you. The second week, the push-ups are ratcheted up a notch, to include jumping push-ups, as seen in the infomercials. To keep the muscles confused, dips are thrown in for good measure. The third week, an isometric exercise is included. Each week, intensity is kept high, the workload is increased, and confusion is applied.
After three weeks, there is an “off week”, where core exercises are done to promote stamina, endurance, and most of all, a “ripped” appearance. The fourth week takes one back to week one, but with new, harder moves and more intensity. The effect is quite startling to say the least, but would not be possible without throwing something foreign to the muscles in a constant and ever-increasing way.
Several of the exercises in P90X I could not do, due to having previous injuries that aggravated my shoulders and knees. I did, however, incorporate the same philosophy into my own routines with the same fantastic results. Now, I do push-ups, pull-ups, dips, knee bends, pilates, yoga, and gymnastic moves in addition to my weightlifting. I decreased the time in between sets to almost nothing and never fail to get pumped beyond belief nearly every time I go into the gym. Anyone can do this effectively without spending a dime more than what is already laid out.
Watch the informercials for clues to new moves. Try them and see what they do. It’s all about using what works. Of course, there is much more to this equation, but muscle confusion by far is the reason for Tony’s incredible success.
