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Metabolic Conditioning Training - The Brains Behind Getting Ripped

As fitness fanatics or industry professionals you would have heard of different training methods such as hypertrophy training, high intensity interval training, endurance training and functional training- and would probably be able to give a text book answer if you were asked what these approaches could achieve. Could the same be true of metabolic conditioning training? Have you heard of it? Could you define it? Relatively new to the training scene (relative to others) this method is also known as metabolic exercise, metabolic training, or metabolic effect. If you want to see the best results using the most cutting edge techniques then this one is definitely for you! If you want some more one to one advice contact us at www.body-aid.co.uk

What is it?

Many programmes are claiming to be “metabolic” so it is important to point out the fakes! Metabolic exercise/conditioning is not aerobic exercise- the body needs to be pushed past it’s anaerobic threshold for it to be classed as metabolic conditioning. Another thing it isn’t….interval training- MCT involves weights so if you’re having a full body heavy weights session but having a rest for a few minutes between sets then this is not. Body part focussed (single joint) workouts are most definitely not metabolic conditioning and neither is standing one legged on a bosu ball whilst your trainer/buddy throws a medicine ball across the gym at you to see if you can balance.

Metabolic  Conditioning is defined as a system of exercises using the understanding of endocrinology, exercise science, strength and conditioning to tax the body’s major energy systems fully- the main goal being to maximise fat burning both during and after exercise. Our experts can design an MCT programme tailored to each individuals current fitness, goals and any barriers to exercise you may face can be over come with our professional advice conatct us at www.body-aid.co.uk

What is it for?

Most training methods focus on developing power, aerobic capacity, muscular endurance or hypertrophy exclusively. Metabolic conditioning however has a sole focus of burning as much fat as possible and are therefore not modelled on any other method or protocol from the past. Cues are taken from the sporting world, with parameters of fitness and challenges on all three body energy systems. In simple terms, athletes do not train to look good, it is merely a by product of their hard work and participation in their chosen discipline. Football players, Rugby players, gymnasts, tennis players, athletes and boxers all perform with a fluid steady movement pattern that can change quickly into chaotic and unpredictable bursts of strength and speed again before resuming as before. MCT is in pursuit to reproduce the nature of sport, combining intervals, resistance training, body weight exercises, plyometrics and explosive Olympic movements in one combined workout. They are hard hitting, fast paced sessions with short or minimal rest periods, using a full fatigue approach.

Combination training

Unlike the single joint, single body part methods MCT focuses on compound exercises working across multiple muscles groups and several joints (squats, power cleans, deadlifts). It also engages hybrid exercises, combining two or more exercises into one. Following the completion of one exercises it quickly moves to the next with little downtime, joining aerobic dominated lower body activities with anaerobically dominated upper body movements for example barbell push press straight into burpees.

In 2001 the Journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise published a study to support the effects of these techniques. The strategy produced a lower body fat and increased muscle gain as well as improve endurance and muscle strength, opposed to aerobics alone. There have been many more since this, with the most recent being in 2008. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research produced a ten fold greater fat loss for protocols intermixing weight training and aerobic exercise compared to separate training.

Dont go back to the dark side

A Meta-analysis (a study looking at many other studies) of over 100 studies spanning a 25 year period looking at the benefit of aerobic exercise left the exercise world shocked when it discovered in 1997 and published (International Journal of Sports Nutrition) that there was only a 2lb weight loss advantage using aerobic exercise over diet alone. A more recent study published in 2009 by Exercise and Sport Science Reviews exemplified how traditional aerobic and resistance training have no effect on stimulating the metabolism to burn more body fat. If you compare the stark contrast between these studies and those previously mentioned above it seems that MCT should begin to come into focus for fitness fanatics and trainers alike.

 Action

When training there are 4 main goals to keep in mind while doing MCT- commonly referred to as breathless, burning, heavy and heat. To ensure that you are getting the desired effect from MCT you must hit all 4 of these elements. By the time you complete the workout your body should be highly fatigued. The combination between hard compound weight sets with a mix between light and heavy weights and aerobic exercises such as Jump squats / Lunges will achieve the breathlessness and the burn in the muscle which will have your body screaming at you whilst giving off pleanty of heat, achieving all 4 elements will produce amazing MCT workouts and the results that you are after.

 

By now you should have come to the conclusion that these sessions are seriously intense, however you do not have to be super fit to tolerate them. The cardinal rule of these sessions that rest is an absolute must. If you don’t rest you will pace yourself and revert back to old school cardio- this is the last thing that should happen whilst metabolic training. Ultimately the more you rest the harder you can push, the harder you drive the more rest you will need.  Rest can happen at any time as long as you are getting it.

To summarise

MCT is creating a storm in the fitness industry and changing the way people think about their training and the way they are training others. Although relatively new it is already having an impact and will address the needs of 99% of people who train.