5 Intelligent Strategies For Achieving "Muscle Confusion" -

Countless people make the mistake of constantly switching up their training program or jumping from new exercise to new exercise because they “crave variety” or “get bored easily.” In my 15+ years of coaching, these words have been uttered to me on an abundance of occasions. Many believe they are ”shocking or confusing their muscles” by never doing anything for more than a few weeks. Some people even “switch it up” after just a few days. After all, isn’t this largely why P90X became so popular?

Rather than constantly changing your workout program and trying to ”shock” or ”confuse” your muscles or to “keep your body guessing,” follow a fundamentally sound program that addresses YOUR needs and goals, work at improving your form, and apply the principle of progressive overload. If you do so consistently and indefinitely, you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised at what happens. This is especially true when you are in the beginning stages of a strength training program. Simplicity, consistency, and mastering the fundamentals are key.

That being said, there is nothing wrong with wanting variation, especially after you have mastered the basics. However, if you are serious about achieving your performance, health, or even aesthetic-related goals, these variations must be implemented intelligently. Guesswork won’t get you very far.

Here are 5 strategies that will help you achieve variety without taking away from the overall effectiveness and integrity of your training program.

#1) Altering Your Stride Length

You can “confuse” your muscles and achieve variation with the same exercise by adopting a different stride length. Lunges are a great example. If you want to target more quadriceps, adopt a shorter distance between your front and back foot, position your knee so it is in closer proximity to your toes (only if this feels good), and keep your torso upright. Conversely, if you want to target more posterior chain, adopt a greater distance between your front and back foot, position your knee so it is in closer proximity to your heel (your shin will be in a more vertical position), and lean your torso forward (but not too much). You can employ this strategy with all lunge and split squat variations.

On another note, this was the first video tutorial I ever shot and I was SO nervous!

#2) Change Your Grip

Rather than abandoning mastering a movement for variety or to confuse your muscles, you can achieve the same goal by performing the same exercise and simply changing your grip. Let me use pull-ups as an example. Instead of using a regular pronated grip in which my hands are just outside of shoulder width apart, I am using towels and have more of a neutral grip.

Here are two more examples where I am “shocking” my muscles by using a different grip (or hand width).

Pull-Ups + Fat Gripz

Wide Grip Pull-Ups

Bottoms-up kettlebell presses are a great way to perform the same pressing movement while “shocking” your muscles due to the different grip.

Half Kneeling Single Arm Overhead Presses With Dumbbell

Half Kneeling Single Arm Bottoms-Up Presses

**When you are adjusting to the different grips, you might need to start off using less weight than you do with your “go-to” grips.

#3) Changing Up The Tempo Or Using Pause Reps

Rather than using the same tempo for all of your movements, and once you have mastered the basics, you can begin to perform the same movements using different speeds. You can do negative reps and focus on performing the eccentric component very slowly (I like to use a range of 3-5 seconds). You can also perform exercises more explosively. The key is that you are able to maintain proper form and control through 100% of the movement.

So you can see the difference, the first video shows regular front squats. The next one shows negative front squats in which I am performing the eccentric component in about 3 seconds.

Regular Front Squats

Negative Front Squats

Pause Front Squats

More videos to highlight the difference. The first video is of regular barbell RDL’s and the next is of negative barbell RDL’s in which I am performing the eccentric component in about 3 seconds.

Regular Barbell Deadlifts

Negative Barbell Deadlifts

And finally, showing the difference through pull-ups. The first video shows regular pull-ups and the next 2 show pull-ups in which I am using different speeds and incorporating pauses into each rep.

Regular Pull-Ups

Negative Pull-Ups

Six Pause Pull-Ups (3 pauses during concentric, 3 pauses during eccentric)

#4) Using Different Forms Of Resistance To Achieve Progressive Overload

Many people are under the impression that they can ONLY achieve progressive overload by adding weight to the barbell or using heavier dumbbells. Adding band or chain resistance are both great ways to achieve progressive load and also variety. Plus they look pretty badass, particularly the chains!

Trap Bar Deadlifts + Chains

Renegade Rows + Chain Resistance

Landmine Deadlifts + Band Resistance

#5) Incorporating An Unstable Surface Or Unstable Object

Let me be very clear, I am not a fan of most forms of unstable surface training particularly when it comes to training the lower body. I discuss this here and here. However, when used properly, unstable surface training can be beneficial and a great way to keep people interested.

Chaos Push-Ups

This push-up variation (originally from Tony Gentilcore who gets “forever” credit) is an “unstable surface” exercise I really like. It is SO much tougher than it looks, and it demands a lot of shoulder and scapular controlled mobility and lumbo-pelvic stability.

Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats With Back Foot On Band

This is an extremely challenging split squat variation I decided to try out sometime last year. The idea came to mind, and this exercise absolutely did not disappoint! Essentially, using the band takes most of the back leg out of the equation and really forces the front leg to do the majority of the work.

Negative Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats + Overhead Barbell With Hanging Kettlebells

Here is an extremely advanced split squat variation in which I am incorporating an unstable object into a basic movement using a stable surface. Difficulty = 10/10