If you want to get the most out of your exercise and weight loss program in the shortest amount of time, there are two words that you should become very familiar with - muscle confusion.

In order to lose weight, you have to expend more calories than you take in. That is the basic formula for fitness that we have all known for years. However, what a lot of people don't know is that whenever you engage in an exercise program, your body adapts to that activity very quickly.

In other words, your body finds ways to use fewer calories, even though you are working just as hard!

Well, that doesn't seem fair does it? Here you are busting your butt to get in shape, and your body is working against you! You body isn't actually working against you, but rather it is simply doing what it has been taught to do for thousands of years - to adapt.

The only way that you can stop your body from adapting to your exercise program - and keep up the calorie burn in the process - is to change up your exercise routine on a regular basis. Never give your body the chance to adapt to what you are doing, and it will never have the chance to cut down on the number of calories that are burned during any given activity.

Muscle Confusion

Muscle confusion is simply the process of working your muscles in a different way than they are used to, causing them to utilize more resources (including calories) in order to do any given activity.

For example, if you are a jogger, and you frequently run 3 or 4 miles per day, that's great. However, your body will get used to that activity after awhile, and you will cease to get as much out of it. Possible ways to confuse your muscles could include:

• Running shorter distances, but at higher rates of speed
• Running longer distances than you are presently used to
• Stopping during your run to do bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, squats, or lunges
• Running at intervals where you run at a certain speed, then speed up, then slow down, speed up, slow down, etc.

That same principle of muscle confusion can be a part of any fitness routine. Not only will it keep your caloric burn at an all-time high, but you will get the most out of your workouts as well. Muscle confusion has the following benefits, in addition to a higher calorie burn:

• Allows your muscles, tendons, and ligaments to be used from several different angles, rather than repetitively working them from the same angle all the time. This prevents overuse injuries, and strengthens those tissues for a myriad of different lifestyle activities.
• It keeps you from getting bored with the same routine over and over again. By incorporating muscle confusion into your workouts, you will enjoy the change of pace, and will also modify your mindset when exercising, rather than just looking at the same boring routine all the time.
• Muscle confusion cranks up your metabolism to a screaming high level. Your metabolism - simply put - is the rate at which your body utilizes calories and other resources. By constantly confusing your body about how much energy is going to be needed, your metabolism will go up to higher levels during your workouts, and stay cranked up longer after your workouts.

Many of the Beachbody programs incorporate muscle confusion into the workouts, which is one of the many reasons why they are so effective. For maximum muscle confusion - and thus maximum results in the shortest amount of time - P90X is the present industry leader in muscle confusion workouts.

Divided up into 12 separate routines done consistently over a 12-week period, the P90X success stories speak for themselves. Check out this video of Aaron, who lost over 100 pounds using P90, the less intense pre-cursor to P90X. If Aaron could get these results with P90, imagine what you could get with P90X!

What questions do you have about muscle confusion? Drop a comment below or shoot me an email and I'd be happy to help you out!

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