Muscle confusion is a principle which seems to have fallen by the wayside in recent years. Most of the time, when we enter the gym, we have a pretty good idea what our routine will look like. We tackle the same several compound movements, and a few isolation movements. After all, there really aren’t that many different approaches one can take to exercise – there are only so many movements. We usually complete 6 to 12 repetitions of a movement, then rest for several minutes. Then we increase the weight by 10 to 20%, and we complete fewer repetitions. We do this several times for each exercise, and then we call it a day.

The problem with traditional training is that our bodies adapt to challenges very quickly. If you’ve been training in this manner for several years, there is a good chance your muscles have adapted to this style of training. You aren’t surprising them anymore, and there is a good change you’re not challenging them anymore as a result. Without a way to shock and confuse the muscles, they are not forced to grow. As a result, they stay the same size, and so do you.

Luckily, there are ways to mix up your training so that your muscles never see the workload coming. There are indeed new ways to stimulate your body into growing. These involve non-traditional set schemes. One such scheme involves the use of stacking sets. This means you place several sets inside other sets. This practice isn’t used often, but when it does, it can lead to some interesting results. Your muscles will absolutely not see this coming! Here is a sample shoulder routine.

Set One

• 5 reps dumbbell side raise, immediately followed by

• 5 reps seated military press, immediately followed by

• 8 reps bent-over dumbbell laterals, immediately followed by

• 5 reps seated military press, immediately followed by

• 5 reps dumbbell side raise

Set Two

• 4 reps dumbbell side raise, immediately followed by

• 5 reps seated military press, immediately followed by

• 10 reps bent-over dumbbell laterals, immediately followed by

• 5 reps seated military press, immediately followed by

• 4 reps dumbbell side raise

Set Three

• 3 reps dumbbell side raise, immediately followed by

• 8 reps seated military press, immediately followed by

• 12 reps bent-over dumbbell laterals, immediately followed by

• 8 reps seated military press, immediately followed by

• 3 reps dumbbell side raise

Set Four

• 3 reps dumbbell side raise, immediately followed by

• 5 reps seated military press, immediately followed by

• 8 reps bent-over dumbbell laterals, immediately followed by

• 5 reps seated military press, immediately followed by

• 5 reps dumbbell side raise

At the conclusion of set four, you will likely be completely done training shoulders for the day. If you still have a little bit left in the tank, you should keep training, by all means. The goal of splitting supersets is to train the muscle to its absolute maximum while confusing it at the same time. You can apply this practice to any body part. You can split and stack sets for legs, chest, and arms, just as easily as we did for shoulders here. Additionally, to throw your muscle for an extra loop, you can always mix body parts, completing movements for biceps and triceps in the same stacked set, for example. Training using stacking sets may prove difficult in a crowded gym. This practice can require several different sets of dumbbells or barbells, along with more than a single bench. It is ideal for training at home, where limitations on equipment use do not exist.

If you like this article, click here to share: