You see many boys training towards the summer with short breaks, many repetitions, super sets. Preferably with a sweater on. When you ask them why they do that, the answer is to lose fat.
In the first instance it is of course nice and easy to write this off as nonsense. Certainly if you keep asking questions and there is no further substantiation. Yet there may be some truth in it. Today I want to talk about that in this article.
DON’T JUST DO ANYTHING
Let’s start by saying that there is absolutely no need for this method to lose fat. It is absolutely possible to lose fat with few reps and a lot of rest. In some cases this would even be advisable. In addition, it is good to realize that volume, especially in a calorie deficit, should be consciously controlled and dosed. Blasting indefinitely will at some point lead to inflammation, which will be completely counterproductive. Too extreme a shortage or too few carbohydrates will have the same effect.
TRAIN TO ACIDIFICATION WITH HIGH REPS
One of the consequences of training according to a metabolic plan is the production of lactic acid. without taking you into too much of a chemistry story, we have different energy systems in our body. Rapid energy supply is possible without the intervention of oxygen. However, the ‘combustion’ is less complete than with oxygen, which creates lactic acid.
This lactic acid must be transported to the liver, where it can be recycled into glucose. Like all processes in nature and as is the case with all engines, conversion is never 100% efficient. For example, heat and / or light is released when a substance is converted into another substance.
Because converting lactic acid to glucose takes energy, a way of training that produces a lot of lactic acid will therefore cost more energy than a way of training that does not or little.
FREQUENCY
Apart from the increased energy expenditure, a metabolic training (if you set it up and carry it out properly) will lead to little muscle damage. Recovery from such training can therefore take place fairly quickly, which means that the training frequency can be higher than with heavier training protocols. This also means that you can train a muscle group faster again, making it possible to use more muscle mass per week, which in turn will boost energy consumption.
To steer this in the right direction, the work pace is important and also absolutely the exercise selection. In a metabolic block, you don’t want to put an emphasis on creating muscle damage!
In addition, a metabolic block is very efficient (again, pay attention to exercise selection, work pace and volume!) To allow the distribution of nutrients to run efficiently. After a workout, the muscles are sensitive to the absorption of glucose (provided that inflammation is not a problem). For this very reason, strength training is good for people who have problems with blood sugar regulation. When glucose is absorbed into the muscles, this automatically means that this glucose can no longer be absorbed into fat tissue.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF METABOLIC TRAINING
We can deploy a metabolic block in two ways, namely locally and systemically . Both options have advantages, but are different.
The difference is mainly in which type of failure is used. In a systemic workout, the goal is to produce as much lactic acid as possible, without the muscle tissue failing. This is achieved by supersets of different muscle groups. This method will boost your heart rate and breathing extremely, making it a good conditional workout right away. However, you will feel little pump in individual muscles and fail in the conditionality.
In the local variant we look for failure in the individual muscle and that will be accompanied by a good pump. Conditionally, this way of training will not be that hard at all, but it will ensure an improved absorption of glycogen in the muscles that have been trained.
SO TRAINING WITH HIGH REPS IS NOT THAT BAD …
If you want to start a phase where fat loss is the main goal, try that with metabolic training for a few weeks! You will see that if you prepare this phase well in terms of volume and your periodization, fat loss will be more efficient than you are used to so far!
