Well, this won’t be the first time you’ve heard this but all the latest research in the fitness world has shown us that the quickest way to a fitter, leaner body is by High Intensity Interval Training (“HIIT”), the main principle behind the ‘crossfit’ phenomenon and a form of Metabolic Conditioning (“MetCon”). Not sure about you, but anything with the word “metabolic” or “metabolism” in it gets my attention, because (to cut a long story short) I want to be able to eat more and be lazier by teaching my body to burn more calories when I’m doing absolutely nothing. Y’all with me? Yup. Thought so.

What is MetCon or HIIT training?

The scientific explanation is as follows: a workout technique that optimizes the energy production systems of each cell in the body.

The layman’s explanation:  a way of working out that will burn fat fast whilst building muscle & stamina more efficiently than you would in any other workout using a more classic single focused training.

Why does it work to strip fat fast and increase metabolism?

MetCon forces the body to work in all three of its energy systems, the dynamite phase, the nitro phase and the diesel phase. This means you are pushing your body to its limits and you will continue to burn calories at a high  rate even AFTER you are finished exercising. Where will the body look for this energy? Fat stores. Yup. Research shows that even days after a decent MetCon training session, the body’s oxygen demand is higher in order to cope with the increase in your metabolism.  All of this means your body is burning its fat stores. Burn baby burn.

How do I do MetCon properly?

There are three rules:

1. Intensity: hard (e.g. compound weight training intervals)
2. Length of time needed to complete workout: short (e.g. 20 minutes)
3. When & how often you rest: often but short (e.g. rest every 3 minutes for 60 seconds)

The most common types of MetCon training are:

1. High Intensity Interval Training, such as sprinting
2. Circuit training : 3 or more exercise movements back to back with only short rest periods at the end of the circuit
3. Pairings: jumping quickly from one exercise to another and repeating over again. Working within a fixed time period with no rest.

Our HIIT workout

This 30 minute workout combines the upper body and lower body, taking elements of each. The structural strength training in the lower body and upper body workouts set up your body to be able to do this. Each block is a HIIT workout in itself, and together forms a perfect MetCon session.

You don’t need to count reps. You just do as many as you can within the allotted timeframe. This means you control the intensity (and therefore how quickly you see results).

Pointers on form, speed and time

The video of me doing this workout is sped up, but do it as fast as you can without injuring yourself. This type of cardiovascular exercise must be performed fast. As discussed above, it is short sharp bursts of elevated heart rate that allow your body to burn fat faster. When you are doing something quickly, you’ll always sacrifice a bit of form (technique). As a result, it is especially important to warm up properly for good mobility in your joints. HIIT is dangerous and there is a high level of injury at large HIIT based classes for this reason.

As with all our workouts, you can do these blocks separately. If you only have ten minutes, just do one!  I regularly only have ten minutes. Rather than doing nothing, I do one block and try to do another ten minute stint later in the day. If you are really busy or travelling, learn how to grab little pockets of time when you can.

Another thing we hope you will gain the confidence to do is to create your own mini WODS (workout of the day, as used by the many crossfit gyms around the world) by using some exercises from the upper or body workouts, and some of the plyometric moves in this HIIT based one. Mix it up! Variety is one of the keys to a great fitness routine, and to a great body. (But you know that already, from a previous post, don’t you?! Read about why to mix it up here)

Any other questions: feel free to email us onhello@themodeladvocate.com and Jonny, Melissa or I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Off you go! Why not now? You only need 30 minutes (or even less! Just do one block if that is all you have time for!)… Master these workouts and we promise your body will be ready for anything. You will see real results. Have fun and please take care: remember to do the warm ups properly and stretch afterwards.