In the past, to build muscle strength or muscle endurance, most people would lift heavy weights to failure for building muscle or use lighter weights and do a greater number of repetitions for an endurance workout. For fat-burning, most people would head over to the treadmill or elliptical machine and spend 30 or 60 minutes moving their feet and working up a sweat while watching the clock to see how many more minutes of torture they still had to endure. This used to be the traditional approach to weight training and cardio, but there’s another alternative nowadays- metabolic training. This training method long used in the sports arena is growing in popularity among fitness devotees who want to maximize the results they get from their workouts and is the science behind my new AfterBurn video.
Metabolic training is a way to work your muscles while burning significantly more fat. It’s also a timesaver since it combines muscle conditioning with cardio – but make no bones about it. AfterBurn is one of the most challenging workouts to ever be released on video – and best of all its all low impact!
What is Metabolic Training?
Are you having trouble blasting away that stubborn layer of fat that covers your muscles? Have you tried a metabolic workout like my new AfterBurn video?
Metabolic exercises are designed to get your heart rate up while building lean body mass. They normally involve doing a resistance exercise using weights for a set period of time followed by a brief recovery, usually no more than a minute – and then proceeding to the next strength training exercise.
In my new low impact AfterBurn workout video, we do things a little bit differently by alternating a compound resistance exercise with an intense cardio drill and then repeating the same two exercises before moving on to the next interval. By replacing the normal rest period found in most resistance only metabolic workouts with an intense cardio blast your heart rate is more likely to stay in the anaerobic range that is necessary if you truly want a workout that will keep burning calories long after being completed – we call this the afterburn effect and is what my new workout is named after.
Minimal rest periods between exercises in AfterBurn mean you don’t completely recover between sets. This elevates your heart rate more and taps into your anaerobic energy system, which gives more of an after-burn effect than either conventional strength training or steady-state cardio.
It also boosts levels of fat-burning hormones like testosterone and growth hormone. This ups the rate of fat burning for hours or even a full day after a workout. Metabolic training ignites the hormonal fires that help you incinerate more fat than either cardio or strength training alone.
What Are the Benefits of Metabolic Training?
Metabolic exercise boosts fat-burning. Metabolic training gives a significant after-burn effect, meaning you’ll burn calories and fat at a higher rate even after you’ve finished the workout. This effect is minimal after moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or endurance exercise. A runner who runs long distances only burns significant calories while running. After they stop and cool down, their metabolic rate returns to baseline.
Metabolic exercise is a good way to challenge yourself and break out of the dreaded plateau. If you’ve stopped seeing gains with weight training and aerobics – or you can’t burn away the excess fat you need to look buff, a metabolic workout will shock your system so you’ll start seeing results again.
Metabolic exercises reduce boredom. It’s hard to be bored or complacent when you’re rapidly moving from exercise to exercise with little rest in between. It’s a workout that requires focus – and you’re finished before you know it.
AfterBurn is a Tough, but Effective and Fun Workout
The benefits of metabolic training are many – but make no bones about it. It’s a tough workout. When you finish, you’ll be sweating and breathless, but that’s a sign that you’ve tapped into anaerobic sources of fuel, and your body will have to work harder to recover. You’ll be burning extra fat and calories for hours after you finish your workout, even while you’re sitting just watching Tv.
Can You Use Metabolic Training to Build Muscle Strength?
Building muscle strength and muscle hypertrophy requires lifting heavier weights to near failure and then allowing the muscle to recover before stimulating it again. With metabolic training, there’s minimal recovery time between sets, which means you’re limited in how heavy you can lift. Metabolic training isn’t the best workout for muscle hypertrophy, although you can get some of the benefits of metabolic training and strength building by using heavier weights and fewer reps in a circuit-style fashion. This increases the calorie-burn and the after-burn effect.
The Bottom Line?
If you’re up to the challenge, give metabolic training and my new AfterBurn video a try. Metabolic training is ideal especially if you have limited time to work out. It’s also good functional training since you’re using multiple muscle groups and forcing them to work together. Best of all is the additional calories and fat you burn during recovery as your body attempts to restore equilibrium. That can help you rock those skinny jeans faster.
Related Articles By Cathe:
Is the Afterburn Effect You Get after a Strength Workout Overrated?
Can High-Intensity Interval Training Revitalize Aging Cells?
How High-Intensity Interval Training Slows Aging at the Cellular Level
How Do You Know if You’re Working Out Hard Enough?
3 Types of Metabolic Conditioning Workouts and the Benefits of Each
Understanding Your ATP Energy Cycle
High-Intensity Interval Training: How Long Should Your Active Intervals and Recovery Periods Be?
Types of Metabolic Resistance Training
Fitness Training: the Three Energy Systems and How to Target Them
