RippedNRich.oRg

In this journal entry, I touch on the related concepts of “muscle confusion” and the “plateau effect”.

July 13, 2007

Day 10: Shoulders & Arms

My neck did feel a little better when I woke up this morning, but it was still stiff, so I skipped Ab Ripper X today.

The Shoulders & Arms workout went better this week, mostly because I had a better idea of which B-lines Bands to use for which exercise and how to use them.

There is definitely a learning curve with P90X. Not only do you need to learn mentally about the program, the various routines, the equipment involved, the supplements to take, etc., but you also need to learn physically. You body needs to learn how to move and what its limits are. There are so many moves in P90X that it requires some coordination and muscle memory to get them all down.

In fact, the whole point behind P90X and the concept of “muscle confusion” that P90X promotes is to keep your body off balance. In so doing, it maximizes the learning curve, and thus maximizes your results by constantly challenging your body and avoiding “the plateau effect”. “The plateau effect” is where the effectiveness of your workout routine diminishes because your body becomes accustomed to the routine. The end result of avoiding “the plateau effect” with “muscle confusion” is that your results are better and faster.

Here’s my Shoulders & Arms stats:

• Alternating Shoulder Presses: 10, 10 orange; 10, 10 green
• In & Out Bicep Curls: 16, 16 orange; 16, 16 green
• Two-Arm Tricep Kickbacks: 10, 10 magenta; 10, 10 orange
• Deep Swimmer’s Presses: 10 orange, 6 green; 10, 8 green
• Full Supination Concentration Curls: 11, 12 green; 12, 10 green
• Chair Dips: 25, 25 bent legs; 30, 25 bent legs
• Upright Rows: 15, 15 magenta; 15, 15 orange
• Static Arm Curls: 16 orange, 16 green; 16, 16 green
• Flip-Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks: 10, 8 magenta; 10, 15 magenta
• Two-Angle Shoulder Flys: 10, 10 orange; 16, 16 magenta
• Crouching Cohen Curls: 10, 16 magenta; 20, 15 orange
• Lying-Down Tricep Extensions: 12, 16 magenta; 12, 10 orange
• In & Out Straight-Arm Shoulder Flys: 16, 12 magenta; 16, 16 magenta
• Congdon Curls: 10, 10 green; 12, 15 green
• Side Tri-Rises: 10/10, 8/8; 15/15, 20/20

There is much more to say about “muscle confusion”, “the plateau effect”, and P90X, so I’m sure I’ll write more about them in the future.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Exercise, P90X, Ripped. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.