Muscle Confusion



Q: I have read some of your material regarding working out and the 10-8-6-15 program. I just have a question:

I have been consistently lifting weights now for 3 months, and I started with this routine, which was upper body on Monday and lower body on Tuesday, then same thing Thursday, Friday. Since May I started doing chest/triceps on Monday, back/biceps Tuesday, quads/hamstrings/legs Thursday, and shoulders/calves Friday. I'm still doing this workout.

Is there anything you can suggest I change or do? Of course sticking with this same workout I'm sure my body has adapted to it. I need to confuse my muscles and continously change things to make progress, right?

Take care,
Arvind


My Answer: You've answered your own question, Arvind. Yes you do need to change things up, because 3 months is way too long to be on a program. Your body will adapt to a program within 3 weeks.

If you're thinking of switching to the Hypertrophy Training for the Ectomorph (HTE) program, then that would be a good start. The reason is that you're currently training each body part directly only once a week. If you switched to the HTE program, then you would be training each body part directly 3 times a week. This change in training frequency will build more muscle at a faster rate.

Keep in mind that you must adhere to the principles outlined in the article. One exercise per body part done 3 times per week. Four sets per exercise. If you add anything else or change the program around, then you are messing around with the training parameters.

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