P90X Muscle Confusion

A little confused by what Muscle Confusion actually is? Well, lets break it down and see why P90X takes advantage of this strategy. The body has a tendency to adapt very well to stresses on the system, including exercise. Professional athletes train in “blocks” which consist of working out certain muscle groups in a particular way followed by a recovery phase. As you progress through the phases of each block, the goal is to alter your routine so that the body has difficulty adapting and thus you continue to get results.

The better shape you’re in, the quicker your body can adapt, so you must constantly be moving into the next phase or block. The process of continuously changing up your exercise routines is called Muscle Confusion and P90X utilizes this technique as the heart of the program.

As your body adapts it strives to achieve efficiency. The more efficient you are with any given task the easier it is to accomplish that task, and the less it really affects you, so your results hit a road block, in the P90X program this phenomenon is called the Plateau Effect.

Once you hit that plateau you have to change things up and start in on another block. The recovery phase of each block allows the body to heal and get stronger for the next block. With this technique the P90X system allows you to increase the intensity of each block, and maximize the results you get during the time you spend on your daily workouts.