5 tough workouts that will burn fat without losing muscle

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

You can achieve impressive results with 20 minutes of practice.

This article focuses on Metabolic Conditioning Workout (MetCon). It sounds difficult, and it is even more difficult to transfer, but it has many advantages. Metcon will help you burn more fat than cardio or strength training and take your endurance to the next level.

How metcon training differs from the rest

The term metabolic conditioning first appeared in an article by Arthur Jones in 1975. He defined What is the difference between metcon and HIIT, and why do they matter in your training? metabolic conditioning training as the ability to work at high intensity for extended periods of time.

When practicing this system, the athlete should move from movement to movement with minimal rest, adhere to a clear repetition pattern, and maintain good technique.

Metcon simultaneously trains strength and endurance, has little or no rest time and allows you to pump your body faster than conventional strength training.

In addition, the metkone necessarily has the ability to track your progress: measure the time or count the number of repetitions and each time do a little more than in the past, or compete with your friends.

Why run metcons

By executing metaons, you:

• push your body to the limit without using maximum weights and without risking injury;
• pump endurance without risking losing muscle;
• lose more fat than in the same amount of time doing cardio or strength training.

A 2011 study found that high-intensity training is very effective for losing weight, especially visceral fat that builds up on internal organs.

In addition, growth hormones are released after a very intense workout. Therefore, if you give your best, you can lose several times more fat than in the same time spent on the elliptical trainer.

What metcons are worth trying

Try one of these workouts the next time you come to the gym. In order not to die right in the workout, finish it and get all the benefits, scale the load. In the description of each complex, we will indicate how you can change it.

1. Fran

21-15-9 repetitions of the following exercises:

• thrusters with a barbell weighing 42.5 kg;
• pull-ups.

You do 21 thrusters and 21 pull-ups, then 15 thrusters and 15 pull-ups, nine thrusters and nine pull-ups. There is no rest.

Exercises

Trasters

Kipping pull-ups (swinging)

Butterfly pull-ups

CrossFit athletes perform butterfly pull-ups as this greatly increases speed. But if you are a fan of strict exercise and are not going to compare your time with those who pull up with kipping and butterfly, then do strict pull-ups.

How to scale

• Change the weight of the bar to suit your capabilities so that you can lift it without stopping 8-10 times. It can be an empty bar weighing 20, 15 or 10 kg.
• If you don't know how to chin-ups, try chin-ups with elastic bands or horizontal pull-ups on the bar or rings.

2. Intervals on a stationary bike

This is one of the original tabata workouts that Dr. Izumi Tabata researched. Warm up first: pedal the exercise bike at a calm pace. Then do the complex:

• pedal the simulator for 20 seconds;
• rest for 10 seconds;
• do eight of these rounds, it will take 4 minutes.

Here you need to understand that for 20 seconds you pedal to the limit of your capabilities. Imagine that your life depends on speed, and give out everything you are capable of.

3. Test for partners

Twenty minutes AMRAP (as many round as possible - "as many repetitions as you can"). You need to do as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes.

• 10 kettlebell swings;
• 10 Bulgarian squats with a kettlebell on the chest (10 for each leg);
• 10 thrusters with two weights;
• 10 m bearish penetration.

This complex must be performed with a partner. You start doing the exercises, and when you get tired and stop, your partner starts. You rest all the time while he is doing, and then when he gets tired, you continue. In this way, you have fun for 20 minutes, and then compare the number of circles that each of you did.

Exercises

Swing kettlebell

Bulgarian Chest Kettlebell Split Squats

Weights trasters

Bearish penetration

How to scale

It's easier to take the weights. You must do 10 kettlebell swings without stopping with the selected weight.

4. Training camp

One minute is given for each exercise. You should do as many reps in a minute as you can. Then you immediately move on to another exercise, and so on until the end, until you finish the round. After the round, you rest for one minute and then start over. In total, you need to do three rounds:

• rowing;
• throwing a medicine ball weighing 9 kg into the wall to a height of 2, 7–3 m;
• deadlift sumo with barbell pull to the chin, weight - 35 kg;
• jumping on a curbstone with a height of 50 cm;
• bench press with a barbell weighing 35 kg.

Exercises

Rowing

Ball throwing

Sumo Deadlift with Chin Row

Jumping on the curbstone

Barbell press

How to scale

• Take a 6 kg medicine ball and throw it slightly lower - to a height of about 2 m.
• Do a sumo deadlift with a chin row and a 20, 15, or 10 kg bar press.
• Step onto the curbstone instead of jumping.

5. Metcon with your body weight

Ten minutes AMRAP. No shells, just a horizontal bar.

• 5 reverse grip pull-ups;
• 10 Indian push-ups;
• 15 jump squats.

Exercises

Reverse grip pull-ups

Indian push ups

Jump squats

How to scale

• Chin-ups with resistance bands under your feet, or do horizontal pull-ups on rings or a low bar.
• Replace Indian push-ups with classic ones. Try to do them with the correct technique.
• Instead of jumping squats, do regular squats.

How to compose metacons and how often to execute them

If you've tried all of these workouts and want more, you can compose the metacons yourself. It is better to include multi-joint movements in training, that is, those in which many muscles of the body are involved. For example, thrusters, ball throws, shvungs, burpees, kettlebell exercises: pushing or swinging.

Movements should not be too difficult: growing fatigue will prevent you from performing them with the correct technique, which can lead to injury.

In metkons, boxing jumps, double jumping rope, medicine ball throws against the wall are often found. You can also add cardio exercises like jogging, rowing, air biking, or pushing a sled. The only requirement is that they must be performed with high intensity.

As for rest, you can either exclude it altogether, or set a clear period: from 30 seconds to 1 minute.

You can compose your workout only from metcones or do such a complex at the end, after the main strength training. And it's okay if at first you stop because of nausea or underperform the exercises due to muscle failure. Just make sure that the reps in the same metcon grow over time - this means that you are on the right track.