Whether you’re a personal trainer or just a fitness enthusiast, the understanding of the metabolic conditioning program helps you and your clients achieve fitness goals faster. In this article, I’m going to share all about metabolic conditioning (MetCon), such as definition, workouts, and routines with PDF so you can download it for future use.
What is Metabolic Conditioning?
Metabolic conditioning (MetCon) is a kind of workout program designed to burn more calories using High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Traditional Circuit Training (TCT), and a combination of these exercises.
Features of Metabolic Conditioning Workout Program (MetCon)
- It includes various types of workouts, such as bodyweight HIIT, strength training, CrossFit, and Tabata.
- The MetCon workouts are performed at standard to fast pace.
- Metabolic conditioning exercises burn more calories and support weight loss.
- MetCon exercises strengthen and tone muscles.
- Metabolic conditioing boost metabolism, increase VO2 max, and improve aerobic and anaerobic fitness.
Related: Top 10 Gym HIIT Workouts With Workout Plan
What Metabolic Conditioning Workouts Do?
MetCon exercises boost metabolism and metabolic rate.
Metabolism is a process through which your body converts food into energy. The process includes numerous activities such as walking, lifting, pulling, pushing, etc.
Metabolic rate is the rate at which your body burns calories throughout the day.
The higher the metabolism, the better your body performs and vice-versa.
You can boost your metabolism through workouts and various activities, such as HIIT workouts and resistance training.
Is Metabolic Conditioning good for Weight Loss?
Metabolic Conditioning workouts burn more calories and help you lose or maintain weight.
Burning more calories throughout the day is the ultimate goal of every overweight person. And metabolic conditioning exercises do this work.
The HIIT and CTC training are the best ways to burn maximum calories during and post-workout. Thus it helps in your calorie deficit program.
Moreover, the metabolic conditioning program also boosts your metabolism and allows your body to release calories even after a day.
If you follow a calorie-deficit diet and metabolic conditioning workouts, this will surely accelerate fat loss.
the benefits of metabolic conditioning Workouts
Let’s see some of the best benefits of metabolic conditioning that will motivate you to do MetCon workouts.
1. Metabolic Conditioning workouts improve heart and lunge health
Moderate to high-intensity workouts are a great way to increase heart rate and blood flow, allowing your lunges to utilize the maximum amount of oxygen during exercises and ultimately boost breathing efficiency.
Metabolic conditioning workouts improve cardiovascular fitness, reduce the chances of heart attack, and help you live longer.
On top of that, it also fights against aging hormone that makes you look young.
2. Metabolic Conditioning workouts saves your precious time:
If you’re a fitness enthusiast with a busy schedule, it can be useful.
MetCon program is designed for a minimum of 15 mins to a maximum of 60 minutes. So you can have an effective workout session in a short time.
3. MetCon exercises help you lose weight build muscle at the same time
Increasing Skeletal Muscle Mass1Live strong and prosper: the importance of skeletal muscle strength for healthy aging – Springer Open Choice while losing body fat is one of the important benefits of Metcon workouts.
Metcon training is a great way to build muscles and lose fats at the same time.
Can you Build Muscle with Metabolic Conditioning?
The MetCon workout isn’t effective for Mass Gain.
Metabolic conditioning training includes moderate to high-intensity calorie-burning exercises that are suitable for weight loss but inefficient for hypertrophy2 Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods – National Institute of Health Database.
Muscle grows when you lift maximum weights throughout the workouts. Lifting heavier weights engages more muscles, especially type II muscle fiber, which is responsible for mass gain.
Metcon exercises are intense bursts with little rest between sets, so you won’t get enough rest, and as a result, you won’t be able to do exercises with proper form and execution.
Although, Metabolic conditioning program builds muscles but only at a certain level. After that, you won’t see much progress.
Please Note:
No wonder exercise is one of the best ways to stay healthy and fit. However, workouts like HIIT may create a problem for some people.
So before starting this kind of training, it’s always essential to consult with your doctor if you have any issues.
What are the best Metabolic (MetCon) Exercises?
Some of the best examples of metabolic workouts include Moderate Intensity Inerval Training (MIIT), High- Intensity Inerval Training (HIIT), Tabata, Crossfit and Resistance Training.
1) Moderate Intensity Inerval Training (MIIT)
As I said earlier, the MetCon program is a combination of several workout types, such as MIIT and HIIT. Medium intensity exercises are done at 70 to 80 percent of maximum heart rate, followed by a short interval of resting time.
Moderate intensity exercises combine with high-intensity workouts to design the best MetCon workout program.
For beginners, MIIT workouts would be an excellent way to start Metabolic conditioning.
MIIT is as good as HIIT when it comes to controlling type 2 diabetes – showed in a study published by the Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation.3 Moderate-intensity continuous training: is it as good as high-intensity interval training for glycemic control in type 2 diabetes? – National Institute of Health Database
2) MetCon High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is designed to work on the full-body with little or no equipment.
HIIT exercises are intense bursts and are performed in a couple of intervals. For example, 30 seconds work and 30 seconds rest.
Various studies proved the importance of HIIT for overall health and fitness. You can check out the crucial benefits of HIIT.
Most of the HIIT exercises are bodyweight, so you can even do them anywhere you like, such as a living room or gym.
HIIT is a part of the MetCon training, but not all HIIT exercises includes in the metabolic conditioning program.
The selection of HIIT workouts, level of intensity, intervals between sets, and duration of a workout session all depend on your or your client’s goal.
Examples of HIIT workouts you can incorpoate in the metabolic conditioning.
- High-knees
- Burpees
- Squat Thruster
- Jumping ropes or jacks
- Mountain climbing
- Running
- Push-ups
Related: A Complete List Of HIIT Workout
3) Metcon Tabata Workout
Tabata is when you do five to six exercises for a set amount of time without a break into a circuit. You’ll need to do each workout as fast as you can.
The primary goal of Tabata is to boost stamina, VO2 max, burn more calories, and lower body fats.
An example of circuit training might consist of 6 exercises; pull-ups, push-ups, squats, burpees, high knees, and Crunches.
Duration – 3 minutes
You can do the below exercises in the following manner to complete one round.
- Do as many pull-ups as you can in 30 seconds
- Do push-ups as fast as you can for 30 seconds
- Complete as many squats as you can in 30 seconds
- Do as many burpees as you can in 30 seconds
- Perform High knees for 30 seconds
- Do as many crunches as you can in 30 seconds
Again, you can increase and decrease the work time depending on your fitness level.
4) Metabolic conditioning CrossFit
CrossFit is one of the most effective and challenging workout program you can incorporate in Metcon training.
It includes activities that we perform in our day in day out activities, such as pulling, pushing, running, and squatting.
Some of the examples of CrossFit workouts include:
- Clean & Jerk
- Box Jumps
- Pull-ups
- Spiriting
- Snatch
- Thruster
- Jumping Ropes
- Kettlebell Swing
- Split Jerk
I’ve already written a couple of articles on CrossFit exercises, so you can check out some of the below posts.
HIIT CrossFit Workouts And Workout Plan (PDF)
5. Metabolic Resistance Training Workout
Whether you’re a male or female, underweight or overweight, beginner or pro; you can incorporate weight training in your Metabolic conditioning training to enhance cardiovascular health, muscles growth, and body composition.
You can plenty of compound workouts, such as deadlift, clean and press, bench press, overhead press and squats.
If you work out at home, you can do dumbbell compound exercises, such as IYT raises, dumbbell pullover, squat to swing, and many more.
Related: A complete guide to Free weights Exercises
How Often Should You Do Metabolic Conditioning Workout?
It depends on what you want to achieve, but two or three times a week would be good to go if you’re a beginner.
However, don’t force yourself. Always listen to your body. When you’re start, focus on technique and form and build a good foundation in the beginning.
Sleeping and rest are also crucial for muscles recovery.
Metabolic Conditioning (MetCon) Workouts PDF
References
- 1Live strong and prosper: the importance of skeletal muscle strength for healthy aging – Springer Open Choice
- 2Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods – National Institute of Health Database
- 3Moderate-intensity continuous training: is it as good as high-intensity interval training for glycemic control in type 2 diabetes? – National Institute of Health Database
