Is Muscle Confusion a Shortcut to Fitness?

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Just like anything else, practice makes perfect—and working out is no exception. If you’re a veteran jogger, you can probably think back to the days when you could hardly run a mile without stopping. Now, you scoff at the idea. Or if you’re a regular gym buff, you can probably remember when you used to lift 25 lb. weights. Today, you’re topping 50. And now that you’ve hit those fitness goals, you may notice your body no longer responds to changes in the same ways that it used to. Has your body “gotten used to” all the hard work you’ve been putting in? The answer: Maybe so. The idea behind muscle confusion comes from the notion that doing the same workouts, day in and day out, results in the body adapting and not being challenged to change or progress. Pete McCall, MSCS, senior exercise scientist and personal training expert with the American Council on Exercise, adds that the idea is based on “consumer-oriented” exercise programs that focus on alternating periods of intensity throughout a workout. “The concept of periodization was developed by Soviet Union sport scientists who recognized that periods of high-intensity exercise (high stress) should be followed by a period of low-intensity exercise (low stress) to let the body to fully recover from the workouts and allow the time for the physiological adaptations to occur,” he says. Though the program sounds promising, the “confusion” part has not been proven. “Scientifically, it is actually referring to the body’s nervous, endocrine, muscular, cardiovascular, respiratory systems that are coming together to try to balance the effort that high-intensity training puts on the body as a whole,” clarifies Jacque Crockford, senior exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise. That means when the body is put under extra stress, it has to work extra hard to keep up with its usual functioning parts. So, how do you implement this “extra stress”? “Including high-intensity intervals with short low-intensity rest intervals is the general pattern. The length of time of each interval as well as the exercises performed are dependent on the fitness level of the individual,” Crockford suggests, for muscle confusion workouts. High intensity or not, it is important to switch up your workouts to challenge your body. In the same way that your cooking skills would not improve if you cooked the exact same thing every day for weeks on end, your body, too, requires difficulties to overcome in order to see results. “The body responds to the stress placed upon in,” Crockford says. “This is the principle of overload. If the system is no longer being challenged, it will cease to make progress or changes.” Get inspired by these gym hacks to make exercise less of a chore.

• Exercise may help prevent: breast cancer

  
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  You know that daily exercise benefits your body and your brain. But another hidden plus of going to the gym: It can reduce your risk of cancer.Moderate to vigorous physical activity can reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to a 2009 study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. After analyzing 50 studies, researchers found a 20 percent reduction in the formation of breast cancer. Exercise might prevent the growth of breast tumors by lowering hormone levels and by regulating insulin levels, which may improve your immune system, according to the National Cancer Institute. These are 30 other simple habits to prevent cancer.

• Exercise may help prevent: lung cancer

  
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  According to the American Lung Association, about 158,040 people were expected to die from lung cancer in 2015. The National Cancer Institute examined 21 studies and found that physical activity may decrease the risk of developing lung cancer by up to 20 percent. However, it was difficult for researchers to accurately rule out the effects of smoking on the results. Even if you are physically fit, here are symptoms of lung cancer you should not ignore.

• Exercise may help prevent: prostate cancer

  
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  The Prostate Cancer Foundation estimates that almost 3 million men in the United States currently have prostate cancer. (Watch out for these silent signs of prostate cancer.) A 2005 study in the Journal of American Medical Association Internal Medicine followed men for 14 years and found that those 65 years or older had a lower risk of fatal prostate cancer if they exercised vigorously. Although being diagnosed with prostate cancer may cause one to become depressed and inactive, it is important to try to keep your body moving. These are health secrets your prostate desperately wants you to know.

• Exercise may help prevent: endometrial cancer

  
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  The National Cancer Institute estimates that 2.8 percent of women will be diagnosed with this type of cancer, which forms in the lining of the uterus, during their lifetime. A way to prevent being a part of this percent: daily activity. A 2004 study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggested that women with a higher BMI and low physical activity were at higher risk for developing endometrial cancer. These are cancer symptoms women are likely to ignore.

• Exercise may help treat: colon cancer

  
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  A 2013 study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that more physical activity before and after a colon cancer diagnosis led to a lower mortality rate. The study by the American Cancer Society followed almost 2,300 cancer patients. They found that even 2.5 hours of walking per week could have a significant impact on one’s mortality rate. Although going to the gym may not cure colon cancer, it certainly can’t hurt. Here are signs of colon cancer not to ignore.

• Exercise may help treat: brain cancer

  
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  Brain cancer can be one of the terrifying types. In fact, brain tumors are the most common cancer for those ages 0 to 19, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. However, a 2011 study by the Duke Cancer Institute found that brain cancer patients who exercise regularly live longer than those who remain more sedentary. The study suggests that physical activity’s affect on the patients overall mood might also add to its life-extending abilities.

• Exercise may help treat: bone cancer

  
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  When a cancerous tumor forms in the bone it essentially eliminates healthy bone mass. Biomedical researchers at Cornell University discovered that weight-bearing exercise, like weight training or running, might reduce the formation of bone tumors. According to their 2013 study, making your bones stronger by physical activity seems to make tumors weaker and even prevent their growth. It is a win-win situation, building bone strength and preventing future bone cancer.

source : Reader's Digest (http://www.rd.com/)

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