Metabolic Resistance Training Workouts 101 (Burn Fat & Build Muscle In Half The Time)

Metabolic Resistance Training is the best workout strategy to burn fat and build lean muscle at the same time.

Metabolic Resistance Training is what you get when you combine cardio and muscle training at the same time.

If you’re short on time then Metabolic Resistance Training will be a great workout solution for you.

Even if you don’t go to the gym you can still do Metabolic Resistance Training workouts at home.

You’ll maximize the number of calories your body burns off while increasing your metabolism.

This will cause your body to burn off more fat than you otherwise could do with any other kind of workout.

The bad side is Metabolic Resistance Training workouts will be much harder than what you’re used to.

Metabolic Resistance Training is incredibly more effective for fat loss than steady state cardio.

Your body will create a “metabolic disturbance” when done correctly. It will have your body burning calories up to a day and a half after your workout.

Follow the strategies laid out here for Metabolic Resistance Training to maximize your fat loss. Expect to also build toned muscle in the shortest time possible.

If you’re looking for Metabolic Resistance Training workout plan then I’d take a look at you have to check this out.

benefits metabolic resistance training

The main benefit of a Metabolic Resistance Training workout plan is you’ll maximize fat loss at the same time you’re building lean muscle.

When most people workout they want both fat loss and lean muscle building.

This is where Metabolic Resistance Training steps in. You can easily burn more than 600 calories when using the training correctly.

If you have a busy life and strapped for time to workout this will help tremendously. You can get twice the results in half the time you would worth traditional training methods.

The good news is you don’t have to be an advanced athlete or gym rat to be able to reap the benefits of Metabolic Resistance Training.

I first heard of Metabolic Resistance Training from Alwyn Cosgrove. It has become such a part of my own workouts that I use it with just about all of my clients.

The Power of The EPOC

afterburn effect e1518742137503

Your body will experience what’s known as the EPOC (Excess Post-Workout Oxygen Consumption) after you’ve finished a Metabolic Resistance Training workout.

This is where your body will continue to burn off calories and body fat well after you’ve finished the workout.

The higher volume of exercise your can put your body through in a limited amount of time is what creates the EPOC.

The EPOC is essentially when your body is in a state of “Metabolic Disturbance” after you’ve finished your workout.

Your body is trying to bring itself back to its normal state after such an intense workout.

So it has to continually burn off calories while it’s doing this. The good news for you is you’ll burn off more unwanted fat doing so.

The European Journal of Applied Physiology found in a 2002 study that the EPOC was elevated for up to 38 hours post-workout. This is known as the Afterburn Effect.

This is incredible.

So if you worked out this morning then your body will still be burning excess calories tomorrow night.

Compare this to old school steady state cardio when your calorie burning shuts off right after you’ve finished the workout.

We already know the benefits of fat loss when it comes to resistance training but to take things up to the next level I highly recommend programming a metabolic resistance training routine.

This is going to be a great post for you if you’re new to working out and are ready to kill it this year and have it be the year when you finally get the body of your dreams.

We’ve all heard this…To lose weight and therefore look great all you have to do is workout and eat less crap.

It’s simple enough right?

Unfortunately it’s not that simple and all training is definitely not created equal.  I can put one of my clients through a workout that will have 10x the results as 99% of the rest of the people working out and I’ll have it done in half the time.

Now is one of the busiest times of the year in the gym mostly because of all the New Year’s Resolutioners are packing the cardio machines.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s absolutely great people are motivated to start the year off with a bang and put the work in to get their dream body.

Unfortunately most people don’t know what to do in the gym or they’ve got it all wrong.  I’ve found most people will go to the gym, hop on a piece of cardio equipment, put on some randomized program and then do the workout while watching TV.

This is a recipe for wasting your time…unless you’re planning on running a marathon any time soon.  But if your goal is to burn the belly fat then I’ll show you something that has been scientifically proven to burn WAY more fat then the boring steady state cardio stuff.

Take a look at the pictures below.

Evidence Of Metabolic Resistance Training

usain bolt ripped six pack abs

There are some fundamental differences between these two athletes.  You’ll notice the guy on the left (Usain Bolt) has a much more attractive body than the champion marathon runner on the right.  And there’s a very specific reason for this…

Bolt who is obviously a sprinter does most of his training by working his anaerobic system through high intensity interval training.  The marathon runner on the other hand runs at about a steady aerobic pace for hours at a time.

Most people would agree that Usain Bolt has a much more desirable and attractive body than the marathon runner.  By using high intensity interval training you’re able to lose fat while at the same time building lean muscle, therefore building an attractive body.

If you’re doing the old school cardio stuff on the treadmill then you’re basically going to end up (after much more training) with a skinnier version of yourself but you’ll still be flabby and still won’t look good in a bathing suit.

The basis of metabolic resistance training is to use total body workouts over body part split routines and especially over muscle isolation exercises.  This doesn’t mean you should completely eliminate specific body part exercises because they do have their benefits when used strategically but for the most part working the entire body in the gym will give you more results.

The next key ingredient when it comes to metabolic resistance training exercise is to use heavy resistance and you should know right now that the light weight, high reps myth is total B.S.  Regardless of the rep range you’re going to be using you should always use maximal weight.  The rep range this type of training favors is usually in the hypertrophy range of 8-12 repetitions but if you’re more advanced you could also mix in a couple of heavier sets with a lower rep reange of 6-8.

Metabolic resistance training workouts should also use a high time under tension of 45 seconds to 60 seconds.  Although how much weight you’re using is going to be critical it’s not the only part of the equation.  The actual time you’re exposed to the weight is going to be very important to maximize muscle demand.

On a training program like this you should also be using relatively short rest periods.  Usually when you’re using heavy resistance you’re also going to be using longer rest periods in between sets but keeping your rest periods short is critical to increasing the caloric burn and total work performed.  A good strategy to keep your rest periods short is to use alternating sets by using non-competing body parts in super-set, tri-sets of circuits which will make you work harder and also get better results.

An example of this would be to super-set a squat with push-ups so after you perform the first exercise you could drop down immediately to push-ups.  As your lower body rests you’ll be training your upper body at the same time and this will improve work density.  Just by pairing a lower body and upper body exercise in alternating fashion you can significantly increase the total work done in the same time period and thus increasing the total amount of calories burned.

Metabolic resistance training programs will also increase your EPOC, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, which is basically an increase in oxygen uptake following a intense anaerobic workout.  This is what’s going to have your body burning fat well after you finish your workout as your body works hard to replace your oxygen debt.

The key to your training is doing metabolic resistance training and afterburn training and that doesn’t mean you just have to do sprints on the treadmill.  In fact, you can do a lot of great stuff just using your bodyweight.  But if you’re looking to improve your physique and want to do it in the fastest time possible then I highly recommend using metabolic resistance training.

Here is what you need to do so you don’t end up looking like an emaciated marathon runner…

  1. Stop just running on the treadmill or doing other cardio equipment at long paces for long times (if you do use it in addition to the stuff I’m about to tell you and only after you’ve already done it.
  2. Start using more metabolic resistance training such as lifting heavy weights with high time under tension and short rest periods.
  3. Do more high intensity interval training, watch my video to see what I’m talking about.

More Lean Muscle

metabolic resistance training results

You’re going to have to gain some muscle if you want a toned and lean body.

You’ll be burning off a lot of calories with Metabolic Resistance Training, but you can also expect to gain muscle.

Women shouldn’t be afraid of gaining some lean muscle as it’ll help shape and tone their body.

These workouts won’t make women big and bulky, but men can expect to add some muscle size.

If you take a look at an endurance athlete’s body it appears too skinny and almost emaciated.

Someone following a Metabolic Resistance Training type workout program will create a lean and toned body. This body type appears much more attractive.

Metabolic Resistance Training does so by increasing your body’s lactate threshold.

This is the point at which lactic acid builds up in your muscles. We want to delay the time it takes for lactic acid to build up as it can interfere with muscle contraction.

If you’ve ever lifted weights and felt the burning sensation in your muscles then that was lactic acid.

A metabolic training program will improve your ability to buffer lactic acid and kick it out of your muscular tissue.

This results in a much higher tolerance with higher volumes of work.

Keep in mind if you want to pack on the most amount of muscle possible then Metabolic Resistance Training probably isn’t going to be your best strategy.

Metabolic Resistance Training Results

rope workout

In this study by Medical and Science in Sports Exercise looked at the fat loss of three groups.

  • Group A only changed their diet
  • Group B changed their diet and added aerobics
  • Group C changed their diet while adding aerobics and weightlifting.

When it was all said and done the weightlifting group (Group C) ended up losing 21 pounds of fat.

That’s 44% more than the diet group, which lost the second most fat.

The weightlifting group also burned 35% more than the aerobic group too. Funny enough the cardio group didn’t end up burning much more fat than the group the only dieted.

It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to add almost an extra hour of cardio multiple times per week just to burn one pound of fat.

A study by the Journal of the American College of Nutrition had one group do 4 hours of cardio per week while another group lifted weights three times per week.

The weightlifting group used 10 exercises of around 8-15 reps for 2-3 sets each.

In the end, the weightlifting group lost way more body fat without sacrificing any lean muscle mass.

This is astounding considering they were only taking in 800 calories per day.

The weightlifting group also increased their metabolism compared the cardio group, which end up lowering theirs.

This last study by the Journal of Applied Physiology found H.I.I.T. workouts burned more fat for women over a 2-week period than steady state cardio.

In fact, it ended up burning 9x’s the amount of fat than the control group.

Is Metabolic Resistance Training For You?

sled pushes self limiting exercise

I recommend this style of workouts for anybody who wants to burn off the most amount of fat possible. All while building lean muscle in the shortest time imaginable.

The caveat is it’s going to be more intense than the rest of the workouts most people are doing.

You won’t be doing a set of bicep curls and then have time to check your phone while watching TV.

Nope. These are going to be intense workouts where you’ll be maximizing the volume your working at.

So if you’re short on time and have the fortitude to follow a Metabolic Resistance Training then it’ll be for you.

If you’re only trying to build the most amount of muscle mass possible then a traditional bodybuilder style workout may be better for you. It’s without a doubt the best weight loss workout plan for men and women.

Does Metabolic Resistance Training work?

Heck yeah!

How To Do Metabolic Resistance Training

workout intensity

These are going to be full-body workouts using various methods of weightlifting.

You can expect to use:

  • supersets
  • tri-sets
  • complexes
  • circuits

You’ll use non-competing exercises creating the biggest metabolic demand on your body.

We use non-competing exercises because it’ll maximize the volume of work your able to do in a short time.

So if you do a set of pushups then you can follow it up with some deadlifts.

While your upper body is resting your lower body will be able to do the work.

You must use a rep range that will generate the most amount of lactic acid to push the threshold. Expect to feel the burn!

You’ll burn off more fat and build more muscle this way compared to isolating one muscle group.

How Many Reps

counting repetitions

I generally try to use a hypertrophy rep range of about 8-12 reps. Keep in mind this is a general statement and you’ll need to keep varying your rep ranges to keep getting results.

Stay away from the baby weights! Try to use a weight that allows you to properly perform the exercise without getting sloppy when you get tired.

Try to use self-limiting exercises such as sled pushes because even if you get tired your form won’t suffer.

Control the tempo of your repetitions to create the biggest metabolic demand on your muscles.

Use a 4-0-1-0 tempo when weightlifting to maximize your muscles time under tension.

So for the 4-0-1-0 tempo you would count 4 seconds going down (eccentric) on the biceps curl before going back up (concentric) for a count of one second.

I wouldn’t do Metabolic Resistance Training workouts every single day of the week.

You can expect for your body to be sore after completing one of these workouts. Aim for a one day on, one day off type schedule.

If you feel the need for more you can always add in an extra day of H.I.I.T. workouts in between days.

Intensity Is Key

intense workout

Make sure your intensity is high!

Use challenging loads or focus on lighter loads that you can move faster.

The higher the intensity of the workout the more metabolic demand your going to create for your body.

Intensity is a much more important factor than the duration of your workouts.

Just because people workout longer doesn’t mean they’re getting a better workout. If anything it means they weren’t working out hard enough.

Make the workouts harder by progressing without increasing the odds you get injured.

Try to complete workouts in less time. Get more work done by increasing the sets/reps/weights lifted in your workouts.

Make sure your form doesn’t get sloppy because if you end up getting hurt then it’ll set you back longer.

Metabolic Resistance Training Workout Example

Below you’ll see a simple example of these style of workouts.

Conclusion

If you’re ready to take on the challenge of a Metabolic Resistance Training workout plan then you can fully expect to get some fantastic results.

The hard part is putting together a program that successfully implements all of these factors in Metabolic Resistance Interval Training.

And you have to make sure you’re continually progressing the training so things don’t get stale. Pushing the limits is key to bursting through any plateaus.

For a complete Metabolic Resistance Training workout plan take a look at my Flat Belly Formula system.

It contains 16-weeks of these specific kinds of workouts designed to maximize fat loss while gaining some lean muscle in the shortest time possible.

The best part of these Metabolic Resistance Training workouts is they’re a lot more fun than traditional workouts.

They’re fun, shorter and you’ll get better results with them.