Whether your goal is to burn fat, gain muscle definition and shape, or simply improve your conditioning, there is one workout that trumps them all.
That workout? Metabolic Muscular Endurance Training.
Chances are by now you realize that if you want to see the best results possible, strength training is key. Strength training raises your metabolic rate, improves your lean body mass, and helps you reshape your body to exactly what you want it to be. When you combine standard strength training with muscular endurance type of work, however, you take things to a whole new level. Here are the key benefits that muscular endurance training provides and how to structure a workout program to use this concept.
Improved Resting Metabolic Rate
The first big benefit you can expect to note is an improvement in your resting metabolic rate. When you perform muscular endurance workout sessions, you’ll increase your 24-hour calorie burn significantly for at least 2 days following the workouts. This concept is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) and comes into play with any intense form of exercise.
As muscular endurance strength training is one of the most intense forms of exercise you can do, you’ll see a significant jump to your metabolic level. Studies have confirmed that short duration, ‘all out’ sprints lasting just 30 seconds and repeated six times can significantly increase metabolic activity in subjects and also lead to a superior utilization of carbohydrates in the body. This will then help you either lose fat if you are seeking fat loss or help with weight maintenance if you aren’t.
Doing a few of these workouts per week will help you boost heart health, improve your cardio endurance, and help fend off fatigue on a day to day basis.
Increased Cardiovascular Fitness
Muscular endurance training sessions are also great for improving your cardiovascular fitness level. If you aren’t a fan of cardio training, muscular endurance strength training can serve as an excellent replacement. As you’ll be structuring the workout very similar to that of any HIIT session on the cardio machines, you’ll basically see similar benefits. Doing a few of these workouts per week will help you boost heart health, improve your cardio endurance, and help fend off fatigue on a day-to-day basis. Start doing these and you should notice improvements in just a week or two’s time.
Improved Sheer Strength Levels
These workouts are also excellent for improving your overall strength level as well. Since you’ll be forcing the body to keep lifting despite developing fatigue, as you do, this will translate into you become stronger over time. Then, when you go back to doing your straight sets again, you should notice strength improvements taking place.
Enhanced Muscle Density
Finally, as you complete these workouts, you should also notice that you are getting superior muscular density as well. Essentially, you’ll notice that your muscles feel harder and fuller than they were before. This is due to the fact that you’ll be increasing the number of mitochondria in the muscle tissue with this form of training. As your muscles become better equipped to using oxygen to perform the exercise, you’ll get this change happening on a cellular level, which then translates to an improved physique. Now that you know all the benefits this training has to offer, how do you add it to your workout protocol?
The Metabolic Muscular Endurance Protocol
The metabolic muscular endurance protocol involves ditching a target rep range and instead, performing as many reps as you can in a given time frame.
Total Body Terminator Muscle Shred Workout
This is a total body workout focused on helping you build lean muscle while burning fat and get shredded. Perform each set one after the other with a 60-second break in between.
Set 1 – Body Part Exercises
Perform each exercise one after the other for 50 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds rest for 2 straight.
- Goblet Squat
- DB Chest Press
- Bent Over Rows
- Standing Cross-Body Biceps Curls
- DB Lying Triceps Skull Crushers
- DB Forward Lunge
- DB Shoulder Press
Set 2 – Combo Exercises
Perform each exercise one after the other for 45 seconds of work followed by 15-second rest for 2 straight.
- DB Zercher Squat to Waiter Curls
- DB Plank Side Raises to T-Raise
- Bent-Over Row to Alternating Reverse Curls
- Alt DB Chest Press to Alternating Skull Crushers
- DB Burpees
Set 3 – Single Limb – Unilateral Exercises
Perform each exercise one after the other for 30 seconds of work followed by 10-second rest for 2 straight rounds!
- Single Arm Squat and Press L
- Single Arm Squat and Press R
- Single Chest Press L
- Single Chest Press R
- Single Static Lunge to Hammer Curls L
- Single Static Lunge to Hammer Curls R
Get it Done
Next time you want to put your body to the test and see remarkable progress in your physique, give this workout a try.
Reference:
Burgomaster, Kirsten A., et al. “Similar metabolic adaptations during exercise after low volume sprint interval and traditional endurance training in humans.”The Journal of physiology 586.1 (2008): 151-160.
Photo By: Dawn Bowman
