article by Lincoln Bryden
Most people exercise for one of four reasons: to look good, feel good, function better and live longer. Unfortunately, some exercise systems excel in one area and fall flat in the other. Time being the number one reason people don’t exercise, has necessitated another approach besides running for miles or hoisting dumbbells and barbells over and over. This realization has spawned an entire movement of exercise that fills in the gaps, hence the functional and metabolic exercise genres.
Metabolic physique conditioning (MPC) takes the best from both the metabolic conditioning world and the physique development world while sprinkling in elements of functional full body exercises. We built this system through observation of what actually worked for fat loss and muscle gain. We also integrated the best of what we gathered from top strength, conditioning and fat loss research.
Integrating the systems
Metabolic conditioning is wonderful at burning fat, but it continually falls short in the muscle building category. It can help maintain muscle, but rarely helps actually build it. On the flip side, physique training such as that done by natural physique athletes (natural bodybuilders and female figure competitors), is the absolute king of building muscle, but falls flat in offering much in the way of functional attributes and can require extra “cardio” to take off the fat.
The concept of MPC was developed by integrating metabolic conditioning, anaerobic interval training, athletic conditioning drills and the principle of overload used to build muscle in bodybuilding circles. Metabolic physique conditioning attempts to bridge the gap between all these exercise practices delivering the best of all worlds. The picture below illustrates the physique differences between athletes who are more on the endurance/functional side of the equation to those who are more on the hypertrophy and strength side of the equation. MPC seeks to find common ground between the look good, feel good, function better and live longer goal sets.
The athletic conditioning continuum
On the left you see an endurance athlete who has less muscle and is mostly aerobically inclined. The next athlete is the famous boxer Mohamed Ali. He represents metabolic conditioning, the perfect mix of speed, power, anaerobic and aerobic endurance. The next athlete is one of the most recognized physique athletes and fitness models in the country, Obi Obadike. You can see his physique is a perfect blend of muscular physique development and lean functionality; He represents what metabolic physique conditioning “looks like”. The next athlete is our team member Gary Leake when he took first place in the collegiate national bodybuilding championship. He represents the epitome of physique development. Finally, we have Mariusz Pudzianowski, the famous World’s Strongest Man competitor. He represents what training for strength and size look like. By glancing quickly at these athletes it is easy to see what MPC is trying to accomplish.
The point of this picture is that, contrary to what many believe, one training system cannot be the best at all things. But, by combining elements of different exercise programs we can certainly create a good balance of fitness and function and develop a lean and muscular physique. For instance, metabolic conditioning is wonderful at burning fat and delivering full body functional exercises, but it is not great at building muscle. In order to get the perfect blend of fitness, function and physique attributes you need to add an element of muscle overload to the metabolic conditioning regime. MPC does just this, by marrying the tried and true high-volume, isolated muscle training practices of bodybuilders, with the fast-paced whole-body stimulus provided by metabolic conditioning. The result is a perfect blend of fitness, function and form (as in body shape).
How does it work?
Constructing an MPC workout is fairly easy as long as you remember four major things:
1) Short rests:
Keeping rest periods short means the workout is always aerobic, but anaerobic as well. This the quintessential attribute of metabolic conditioning.
2) Full body exercises:
Using full body exercises that integrate the whole body and involve multiple planes of movement not only add to the metabolic elements of the workout, but also develop a more athletically inclined fitness base.
3) Overload:
To get individual muscles to grow they need to be overloaded in a specific way. The use of multiple sets, reps and burnout techniques assure a large volume of work and the correct stimulus for muscle growth.
4) Rest-Based Training (RBT):
The RBT method is an essential tool in metabolic physique conditioning workouts. Rest is a tricky parameter in workouts. Most all other programs give structured rest, but this ignores the individual responses in fitness. The idea is to optimize the work effort and rest just long enough to recover. Recent research shows we can do this naturally and it may actually be more effective than defined rest (1). With RBT participants “push until they can’t, and then rest until they can”, starting again right where they left off.
Metabolic Physique Conditioning concepts plus many many more tools are covered in the Metabolic Effect Personal Training One Day Course. Click the link below if you want to book onto the course taking place this Saturday in Maidenhead.