Metabolic Resistance Training Workouts Exposed
Discover the truth about metabolic resistance training workouts in this article from Certified Turbulence Trainer, Scott Rawcliffe.
Metabolic workouts…… what the heck are they you might ask. Well, they are a seriously good
way to lose fat quick while getting a lot of exercise done in a fraction of the time. What’s
even better is that you are not just isolating on one or two muscles, for example International chest day (otherwise known as Monday in most gyms), you are using your entire body and ramping up the metabolism.
This type of workout is becoming more and more popular with both my own clients, as well
as at gyms around the world. There is a bucket load of science that backs up the
effectiveness of using metabolic workouts, but I’ll save this for another day for any of your
fellow nerds out there. Basically I chalk up the popularity of metabolic workouts to one
reason……… cardio sucks!
Now before any of you cardio-holics out there start praying I drop a dumbbell on my head, let me clarify my statement. For many people, myself included, there is nothing more boring
than jogging away on a treadmill for an hour, or going out and pounding the pavement for a
few miles. Worst of all, most people who spend all this time running think that this will in
some form help them lose fat. Well do I have some bad news for you; the only thing you’re losing is the cartilage in your knees and the tread on your shoes. So, if you are getting ready to run a half marathon then running long distances is what your should be doing. But, if you are like most people you are trying to lose some weight and get into better shape, so follow
me and jump on the metabolic bandwagon.
There are more ways to do metabolic workouts than Starbucks in New York City (if you’ve been there you know what I’m talking about), so instead I’m going to give you a couple of my favourites that you can bring to the gym today.
The 30/30 Dumbbell Circuit
1) Dumbbell Squat & Press
2) Dumbbell Renegade Row
3) Lateral Lunge to Press
4) Dumbbell 1 Arm Snatch (right arm)
5) Dumbbell 1 Arm Snatch (left arm)
For the guys out there a good weight to start with to try this is a couple of 10 or 12 lb
dumbbells. Ladies, try a set of 5lb dumbbells and see how you go. Use the first round to get
a feel for all the exercises and whether you picked an appropriate weight. Rest 90 seconds
once you’ve completed your first round and then go for it on rounds 2 and 3 to see how many
reps you can get done. But never sacrifice form to lift heavier dumbbells, so guys make sure
you check your ego, especially any of my fellow meatheads. This whole workout should
only take you 18 minutes to finish and you’ve probably done more work than half the people
in the gym.
This next one is a great workout for someone who wants a quick total body workout but can’t get to the gym, and all you need to own is a stability ball. You will really give your core a workout with this one!
The Stability Ball 6
1) Stability Ball Push Ups with feet on the ball (to make this a little easier put your shins
on the ball)
2) Stability Ball Rollout
3) Stability Ball Hamstring Curl
4) Stability Ball Jacknife
5) Overhead Stability Ball Squat (hold the ball over your head while performing a squat)
6) Stability Ball Prone Step Offs – with this exercise you will set up the same way you
did for the Stability Ball Push Up but instead of using your arms you will stay strong
through the shoulders and core and gently take one foot off and place it on the ground
beside the ball. Next bring that same leg back up onto the ball and then switch legs.
It may sound easy but be warned it will really challenge your core so make sure you
brace before you attempt to take your leg off.
Perform each exercise up to 12 repetitions of each exercise or until you think you could only do 2 more reps with perfect form, whichever comes first. Then move straight on to the next exercise. Once you’ve finished all 6 exercises rest for 90 seconds and then perform up to 5 more times. Oh wait; you may need a towel as well as the stability ball because after 2
rounds of this simple looking circuit you’re going to need one.
So the next time you catch yourself making excuses about not having enough time to get a good workout in, make time for one of the metabolic workouts I just shared. You can thank me for it later.
Always looking for ways to improve, always working to get better.
Metabolic Workouts
Many people assume that it’s not possible to burn fat metabolic workouts using resistance training. They think the two are totally separate and that one must be exclusive of the other. This couldn’t be further from the truth. With a little knowledge and whole lot of effort, you can burn fat while simultaneously increasing strength and musculature. It’s far from easy but it’s a lot more fun than staring at a wall while mindlessly trudging on a go nowhere track as it goes round and round beneath your feet. The answer to your fitness and physique lies in metabolic training.
What is a metabolic workout?
Metabolic training is a highly effective and efficient method of working both the muscular and cardiovascular systems. It is an intense, fat burning, physique-defining workout incorporating supersets or circuits composed of compound movements in rapid succession with incomplete recovery. Metabolic training effectively utilizes both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems, making it highly effective in conditioning the cardiovascular system. There are two types of metabolic training that can be used separately or combined, depending on your fitness goal.
Metabolic training for conditioning
This type of workout consists mainly of numerous, multi joint, compound exercises put together in a circuit type format. Very little rest is taken between circuits, allowing for only a partial recovery before beginning the next round. The training is very similar to high intensity interval training, creating the same effects and benefits on the cardiovascular system while providing an improvement in muscular endurance. The fat burning potential and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) is similar, if not even preferable to that of an interval sprint workout since every muscle in the body is being worked.
Metabolic conditioning workouts are designed to use high reps and either light weight or body weight exercises in a multi exercise, circuit type session. All exercises are multi joint, compound movements to allow for as much stimulation as possible while pushing into the anaerobic threshold. For example, a circuit may include 5 exercises like body weight speed squats, chin ups, burpees with a push up, prisoner lunges and body weight dips with a rep range of 15 to 20 and no rest between the exercises. Enough rest is taken between circuits to nearly fully recover and the circuit is then repeated. This is how metabolic training can be compared to interval training. The heart rate skyrockets and you are well into anaerobic territory.
Metabolic resistance training
Metabolic resistance training is the same concept as metabolic conditioning but with a strength focus as opposed to muscular endurance. Heavier weights are combined with fewer reps in a superset or circuit design to stimulate a growth and/or strength response along with working within the same energy systems as conditioning circuits.
A typical workout may use a superset combination of deadlifts and a one arm incline dumbbell press for 8 reps for example, or a barbell split squat followed by a one arm dumbbell row for 10 reps. The point again is to use compound movements while alternating body parts and muscle groups in order to keep the heart rate up while allowing rest and recovery. While circuits can be done, the number of consecutive exercises will need to be limited depending upon the weights used and exertion put forth. If your workout consists of numerous big exercises like squats, deadlifts, rows and bench presses, with weights heavy enough for an 8 to 10 rep range, it may be best to group them into 2 or 3 at a time. Pushing the limits is crucial, but you also want to have the steam to give the workout everything you’ve got.
Benefits of metabolic training
The positive gains from metabolic training are seemingly limitless. Both the resistance and conditioning specific metabolic training methods have a huge effect on fat burning, in a number of ways. First of all, the calories required to complete one of these workouts properly is immense. Depending upon your current condition, body composition, genetics and most importantly, the effort put forth, you can expect to assign hundreds of calories to the task.
Metabolic training creates a significant oxygen debt, or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. This means your body will be hard at work paying back that debt for hours after you down your post workout shake. It requires energy (calories) for our systems to return to a state of homeostasis, and the harder we’ve worked, the longer that process takes, melting the fat off at the same time.
Fat burning hormone spike
The combination of working every muscle in the body, little recovery time and constantly switching energy systems, creates a spike in fat burning growth hormone and adrenaline. This precious rise in growth hormone and adrenaline lasts for a limited time. By using the 60-minute post workout time frame to refuel those exhausted muscles, you can take full advantage of this muscle and strength building opportunity. The greater the intensity is during the workout, the larger the spike in fat burning hormones will be, so keep that in mind to maintain motivation.
Time saving
Metabolic training workouts are typically short. You simply cannot put forth such intensity for long, extended periods of time. If you can, you’re not working hard enough.
That means this type of training is perfect for those of us with a busy schedule. Not having enough time will no longer be on the list of excuses for a missed workout.
Less stress on the joints
Endless hours on the treadmill or pavement can lead to joint pain, injury, lost toenails and a number of other conditions. Similarly, repeated sets and numerous reps of isolated exercises working the same body part or muscle group can lead to tendonitis or other joint problems that can hinder your workouts. Metabolic training can spare you from these annoyances since the exercises involved are compound, multi joint exercises limiting the repeated load placed upon one single joint. The muscles and joints work together, supporting, pushing and pulling weight in a combination of movements and different planes of motion. Assuming the prescribed guidelines are adhered to, there is less risk of incurring an injury due to overuse.
Metabolic Training Summary
Click here for Mike Whitfields gut busting Workout Finishers
While metabolic training is intense and exhausting, the hard work is well worth the outcome. Good things come to those that work hard and those that work smart. By combining the two and adding metabolic training to your program you will drastically increase your fat burning, undoubtedly improve your health, fine tune your muscle development, increase your cardiac capacity and turn heads on the beach.
Metabolic Resistance Training Routines Vs. Strength Workout routines
The fight of metabolic workouts vs. strength workout has been epic. You don’t need to choose one over an additional. They both assist you to with fat loss. They also allow you to do cool stuff like this:
Keep your strength while you shed fat
Add a new dynamic and challenges to your workouts
Improve your conditioning
Gain muscle and lose fat (say it ain’t so!)
First, let’s take a look at metabolic workouts. Many people want to just sound cool so they say, “Yep, I’m going to the gym and performing a metabolic workout”. Then they end up sitting on the bike for 45 minutes and do a set of jumping jacks in the end. No.
Metabolic workouts are intense, fast-paced supersets and circuits with much less rest, but with less resistance and usually more reps. They generally consist of a variety of bodyweight movements, some KB exercises, and even some TRX workouts. It is like taking a bucket down to the Great Times River, filling it up, and pouring it all over yourself.
For instance, a metabolic workout might be a circuit of 10 workouts, beginning out like this: KB Swings, Superman Push-ups, Lunge Jumps, and Ab Wheel Rollouts. That’s just the very first four moves, so your body and brain are all like, “Oh crap! What’s going on? I don’t know! We better burn fat until we know although!”. Seriously, it’s about getting a metabolic response and burning tons of calories in a brief quantity of time.
Strength workouts use much more resistance with typically much more rest than metabolic workouts. For example, your first superset could be a Deadlift (8) and a DB Chest Press (8). By the way, if you’re ever truly short on time, that superset provides you lots of bang for your buck for time invested. It is nasty, but very efficient – you’re welcome.
There are also strength circuits, but either way, strength workouts are created to reshape the body while blasting fat. Would you like a conversation outlook on this 1? Sure factor – your brain and body are all like, “Oh my gosh, why is he/she lifting such heavy objects? My muscles are all torn and stuff. Now I’m going to have to burn a ton of calories so I can repair them. What will I use? Oh cool, I’ll use this belly fat”.
Strength coaching also allows you to maintain your strength whilst dropping fat. By keeping or even enhancing your strength indicates you’ll be lifting much more weight. When you lift much more weight, you burn much more calories. Burning calories rocks – we all know that.
Here’s the thing – our bodies can only take so many intense metabolic workouts (if carried out with the correct intensity). The same goes for strength coaching. Although they give us the same outcome, which is a much better physique and improved health, you can only perform each of them a lot of times a week prior to burning out your self and your nervous program.
How about we get the very best of both worlds from metabolic workouts and strength workouts? We can enhance our conditioning and blast fat using the unique dynamics and challenges that metabolic workouts give us, and we can maintain or even enhance our strength whilst even gaining muscle with strength coaching workouts. Boom goes the Awesomeness dynamite! Here’s how – this really is an example of how you can incorporate both into your program:
Mon – Strength Workout
Tue – Metabolic Workout
Wed – Rest
Thu – Strength Workout
Fri – Metabolic Workout
Sat- Rest
Sun – Rest
It goes with out saying that you should most likely do Some thing on your off day, but not something that does not permit you to recover. Keep it simple and light – like a walk using the dog, a leisurely walk or jog, or beating up a printer that does not work; things like that.
Now, I know what you are thinking, “Hey, what about those awesome workout finishers?”. If you’re not thinking about that, I’ll wait until you do.
Great? OK, great.
Here’s exactly where to “plug in” some metabolic finishers – after your strength workouts. Why? In the event you do a metabolic workout correctly, you’ll discover that you simply basically wouldn’t have the ability to perform a finisher in the end of it. Your shirt can only get so wet. Honestly, it’s not needed. A quality metabolic workout will probably be enough stimulus to your nervous system.
Take a look in the large picture. You’re working out four times a week, and 2 of the workouts are metabolic workouts. By adding finishers in the end of the strength coaching workouts, you wind up using the perfect blend of strength and metabolic conditioning effects, such as gaining muscle and burning fat in the same time.
Hip-hip hooray for fat burning and muscle building, whilst not burning out. On a side note, when attempting the type of schedule above, particularly with TT’s Metabolic Resistance Coaching, I would really recommend just sticking towards the program without the finishers and see how the body responds before implementing them.
