There’s been a lot of talk lately about metabolic circuits for weight loss and general physical fitness.

Workout Anywhere defines a metabolic workout as a grouping of multi-joint strength based exercises that target multiple muscle groups.  Basically that means that you are using some form of resistance training to workout several major muscle groups at a time.

Before we talk about how to set up a metabolic circuit, let’s talk about the benefits.  And there are some serious benefits to a metabolic workout.  A metabolic workout does exactly what you think it does.  It ramps up your metabolism to a high level and keeps it there long after your workout is over.  Ok, cool, but what are the real benefits?  This workout demands a lot from your body, so you burn tons of calories, blast away fat reserves, build lean muscle and increase overall endurance.

All in a 30 minute workout 3 times per week.  Anything more and you risk over training.

One example would be doing squats which would work out just about every muscle group from the waist down while also activating the stabilizing muscles of the upper body especially the core.  Another example would be  a chest press in which the muscles of the chest, shoulders and arms work together synergistically.

In order to get the maximum benefit from this type of workout, you would set up a series of exercises with the appropriate amount of resistance and do each exercise for time or number of repetitions.  You would have a pre-designated rest time between each exercise and between each set.

So using the examples above as a simplified metabolic circuit, you would do a 5 minute warm-up and then do as many reps of a chest press exercise as you can for 30 seconds, then rest for 30 seconds, then do as many reps of the squat exercise for 30 seconds and then rest for 30 seconds.  You would alternate like this for 20 minutes and then cool down for 5 minutes.

That’s right, this workout should only take 30 minutes!  I already mentioned that.

How much resistance should you use?  Good question.  Most experts recommend that your resistance should range from 40 to 80 percent of your one-repetition maximum (1RM) – the maximum amount of weight you can lift with one rep.  This number depends on your fitness level and can be easily adjusted.

It’s really not as complicated as it sounds, but does require some planning to get it right.

So can you do this workout at home?  Well, yes, but it does require some equipment.

Kettlebells are awesome for metabolic workouts.

Suspension exercise equipment like the TRX Suspension Trainer is even better because you use your own body weight as the resistance and you can shift from one exercise to another in a matter of seconds.  Best of all, you can use this one piece of equipment at home, at the office, outside or just about anywhere to get a world class metabolic workout.

Click on the following link for some more information and a video about the TRX Suspension Trainer Metabolic Workout.