by Coach Debbie
A phrase coined by Metabolic Effect, Rest-Based Workouts simply means that you will rest as often as you need, for as long as you want, during a workout. These workouts create a burst of hormones (HGH, testosterone, adrenaline, etc) that other styles of workouts cannot deliver.
In typical workouts, there are set intervals of work and rest. Unfortunately, this technique doesn’t cater to the individual. Maybe you need a rest earlier…or later. Maybe you need to rest for a longer time….or shorter. In order to get the maximum benefits of a fitness session, you want to make it to the end of the workout without running out of stamina too early (and without pacing throughout).
Why do we rest:
- To maintain the intensity and quality of a workout (and avoid pacing yourself from start to finish)
- To reset the body, becoming able to push to the max again and again
- To get real results
- To avoid hating exercise in general
- To feel in control of the workout
- To stay safe, and prevent injury and overexertion
“The more you rest, the harder you will push.
The harder you push, the more you will have to rest.”
As you workout, you want to feel hot, breathless, and burning. These signals will help determine when it’s time to pause and when it’s time to give full exertion.
During workouts you will hear us say, “Push until you can’t do any more. Then rest until you can resume the workout. Be a quitter, a failure!” The goal is to give it your all, your best, while at work. Rest will be required to complete the workout. It’s a start-stop-start-stop pattern.
Rest-based workouts are perfect for the ultra-fit athlete as well as the newbie, because they’re individualized. Some people use a lot of short rests, while others will take fewer, longer rests. There is no structure to the rests. Resting more and more as a workout progresses means you are doing the workout RIGHT. If you never rest within a workout, you did not rise to your potential and avoided the challenge of lifting heavy and pushing hard. Rests can last 10 seconds or several minutes.
“The Metabolic Effect Workout uses a 1 to 4 rating scale, called the Metabolic Exertion Scale, to determine how people at any fitness level can use the workout and tailor it to their individual abilities.
- You are at rest and not exerting yourself.
- Exercise is easy. You can still talk. You feel no burn in your muscles and/or the weight feels easy to lift.
- You are working out hard. You are no longer able to talk. Your muscles are burning and/or the weight is very heavy. You are starting to generate a metabolic effect!
- You can no longer continue to exercise. You experience severe muscle burn and/or the weight feels too heavy. You have to rest. At this point, the metabolic effect is drastically enhanced, with an increase in the muscle-building, fat-burning hormones. This number 4 stage is what we call the Metabolic Effect Point. Go back to number 1 and start again.”
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