Lately I have been loving metabolic chain workouts. They are compact circuit workouts where three or more exercises are tied together into one long cycle and are performed back-to-back.
I learned about Metabolic chains at Meteffect. Here's what their creator Jade Teta says about them:
“A Compact Chain (or compact circuit chain or metabolic chain) is a long chain of exercises performed back-to-back in one seamless compact movement, but there is one important element that allows targeted muscle growth and progressive resistance. One exercise in the chain has a single repetition added in each round.”
Sounds complicated? It's actually not at all. Here is one example of Metabolic Chain workout.
Example of a Metabolic Chain Workout
So, you basically choose three or more exercises and do them back to back. But each round, you are increasing the number of reps of one exercise in the chain. You will still keep doing just one rep of everything else.
For example: You are doing a metabolic chain workout with dumbbells. Holding dumbbells in your hands, you will do a chain that consists of three exercises:
- Lunge with left, Lunge with right leg.
- Squat.
- Shoulder press.
On round one, you will increase the number exercise #1 in the chain, which are lunges. You will do:
- One Lunge with left, one Lunge with right.
- One Squat.
- One Shoulder Press.
On round two, you will do
- Two Lunges with left, two lunges with right.
- One Squat.
- One Shoulder Press.
On round three, you will do
- Three Lunges with left, three lunges with right.
- One Squat.
- One Shoulder Press.
On round four, you will do
- Four Lunges with left, four lunges with right.
- One Squat.
- One Shoulder Press.
On round five, you will do
- Five Lunges with left, five lunges with right.
- One Squat.
- One Shoulder Press.
The next round, you will increase the number of exercise #2, which is Squats. You will add one rep to your squats every round until you reach five reps. You do just one rep of everything else.
Finally, you will increase the number of exercise #3, which is Shoulder Press. You will add one rep to your shoulder presses every round until you reach five reps. You will do just one rep of everything else.
What's Awesome About Metabolic Chain Workouts
I love both cardio and weight training. Metabolic chain workouts combine them both. But the cardio isn't the typical running and the weights are not super heavy. You need to remember that those chains last longer (10-20 minutes), so you are not going to choose your maximum weights for them.
Metabolic chain workouts are a prefect combination if you want to burn fat and grow muscle.
A lot of very high intensity workouts lead to awesome calorie burn and are therefore great for fat loss, but they don't help much with muscle growth. Metabolic chain workouts also help to build muscle because of the progressive overload (this happens when you repeat one exercise).
Many weight lifting movements, on the other hand, are really helpful for building muscle, but they are not as great fat burners as high intensity workouts.
Bodyweight Metabolic Chain Workout
Today I have a simple equipment-free metabolic chain workout with you. There is one difference to the Metaffect chains though. In a traditional metabolic chain workout you will increase the reps of one exercise until you reach five and then start over from one rep again.
In this workout here, you will also work the aldder back down again, decreasing the number of the same exercise until you are back to one rep.
This Bodyweight Metabolic Workout consists of three simple bodyweight movements: Squat, Push Up and Box Jump (you can easily jump on the bench like I do in these videos).
Chain 1: Squat, Push Up, Box Jump – Repeat the Squat
Do one Squat, one Push Up and one Box Jump. Then increase the number of Squats every round until you are doing five reps. Then start decreasing the number of Squats until you are back to one rep again.
Chain 2: Squat, Push Up, Box Jump – Repeat the Push Up
Do one Squat, one Push Up and one Box Jump. Then increase the number of Push Ups every round until you are doing five reps. Then start decreasing the number of Push Ups until you are back to one rep again.
Chain 3: Squat, Push Up, Box Jump – Repeat the Box Jump
Do one Squat, one Push Up and one Box Jump. Then increase the number of Box Jumps every round until you are doing five reps. Then start decreasing the number of Box Jump until you are back to one rep again.
Tie all three chains together and try to take as little breaks as possible! If you need to take breaks, get back to where you left off. You can choose how long you want to do them. You can either go through one round of repeating each exercise in the chain, or you can set your timer to 10-20 minutes and keep working until the time is up.
Conclusion
I really like metabolic chain workouts because they keep me engaged really well, they are short and easy to fit into even a busy day, and they are really challenging. By doing Metabolic Chain workouts, you will get two flies with one stone – burn fat and grow muscle.
Give them a try and tell me what you think!
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