Metabolic

Metabolic resistance training (or “metabolic training” for short) is a workout strategy to maximize calories burn both during and after your workout. To achieve this result, you give a maximum physical effort through a series of compound movements (using more than one muscle group at a time) for a short, intense period. The workouts are quicker but much more concentrated than a typical cardio or strength training workout.

Metabolic training is a well-documented strategy used by everyone from soldiers to athletes to average gym-goers to maximize muscle gain and shed excess fat.

The idea behind metabolic training is to do specific intense exercise intervals to increase the efficiency of your body's metabolism (hence “metabolic” training). This trains your body to burn more calories at rest - a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “afterburn” since your body is burning calories after you've worked out.

Studies show that metabolic training can be extremely effective at building muscle and getting rid of fat stores. It's no walk in the park, but, then again, you have to put in the work to get gains. Let's take a closer look at metabolic training and how you can make it a part of your fitness routine.

Metabolic training techniques has a few important benefits:

1. burn more calories while you work out: the workouts themselves are incredibly effective. By some estimates you can burn as much as 600 calories in a single session depending on which exercises you do and how hard you go
2. burn more calories at rest: called post-exercise oxygen consumption, the scientific term for the “afterburn” effect. Afterburn is when your body keeps on burning calories for hours after your workout is done.
3. build muscle faster: the third benefit of metabolic training is muscle growth. Metabolic training uses compound exercises with resistance at high intensity. This recruits and exhausts more muscle and naturally triggers the release of growth hormone which is key in increasing muscle mass. This combined with the highly effective fat burning can help you achieve a more lean, defined physique quicker than most other forms of training.
4. get a cardiovascular benefit: with most traditional weight training you will do a set, rest and repeat. Your heart will be working while you're actively lifting, but it's not much. Even though metabolic training is centred around strength moves, you don't have the same amount of rest. Your heart will be pumping hard as your body works to keep up the pace. This benefit is important for your cardiovascular health.

The best metabolic training exercises are strength training movements that target multiple muscle groups. These are called “compound” movements, as opposed to “isolated” movements which only focus on one muscle group at a time.