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Get total-body fit with Jenny Pacey’s Max Metcon workout

Whether you’re looking to get super fit, shed a few pounds or simply shake up your exercise schedule, Metcon (short for metabolic conditioning) has a lot to offer. Not for the fainthearted, this form of workout combines strength and cardio exercise to move your body at a moderateto-high intensity for a prolonged amount of time. The net result is the body’s three energy pathways – aerobic, anaerobic and glycolytic – are recruited, and you get an intense but extremely effective workout that increases EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or the afterburn effect).

Metcon is a form of training that cover model Jenny Pacey swears by. ‘I begin my own training week with half an hour of yoga followed by a Metcon workout split into the same rep system as this one,’ she explains. ‘I also tailor the same workouts to my clients – they love kickstarting their week with “Metcon Monday”!’ Indeed, Pacey confirms that completing a Metcon workout just once or twice a week is enough to challenge your system, bust through a performance plateau and increase your total-body fitness.

Enter Pacey’s Max

Metcon method. Derived from Turn It Up, her new Pace & Go four-week programme on grokker.com, this 30-minute workout will crank up the heat with its mix of strength, cardio, plyometric and core exercises, done in a reverse pyramid format. ‘It’s not for beginners,’ warns Pacey. ‘You’ll need to have developed your fitness foundations with a firm grasp of basic movements like squats, deadlifts, rows and push-ups, plus have some level of conditioning before you can attempt it safely.’ But if you’re looking for a next-level version of high-intensity training, this workout is just the ticket!

HOW TO DO IT:

Do the moves in order, rest, then reverse the circuit to go back up the rep range.