Experiences and connections between rest-based metabolic training and yoga
My name is Erica and I am writing about my many eclectic interests. Check out my first post here and read my last post for a preview of some other subjects I am thinking about.
I have never been an athlete. As a child I was a very shy and a little clumsy and I did not participate in many team sports. In high school and part of college I played tennis, but I was never a runner have never had a really strong cardiovascular system.
Before kids I did Bikram Yoga for a while (90 minute long hot yoga class, with a specific rotation of 26 postures). I felt great while doing that, it really was a great source of oxygen. I remember after my very first class my lungs felt so invigorated that I wanted to run.
Bikram sucks a lot of time out of the day, and right now it's not time I want to sacrifice away from my kids on a weekly basis. I do some of the stretches at home sometimes still, as I have an addiction to stretching my back. No matter how many stretches, massages or occasional chiropractor visits I have, I have a point in my spine where I can never feel satisfied with how deep I am able to stretch.
After my second kid I knew I wasn't going to drop baby weight easily the way I had after my first and that I had to find a workout that I would actually stick to, that I could do at home and that would take the shortest amount of time away from my day possible.
A little over a year ago I somehow ended up stumbling on what felt like click bait and ended up watching this long ad for a workout called Metabolic Aftershock. At the end of an infomercial I was presented with a discounted rate on the workout video set. I was intrigued by the science behind it, but it felt like a 'too good to be true' scam so I passed. I tried to look into whatever reviews I could find on it, and also looked into seeing what the actual going rate was to download the videos. From what I could see the price I was given truly was a discount and after some hemming and hawing I went back to the infomercial and bought the routine.
What is Metabolic Aftershock?
The workout is created and led by Jade Teta who is an integrative physician and personal trainer. According to the product site, he "has a Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a Doctorate in naturopathic medicine, a distinct specialty of medicine focusing on lifestyle approaches to health, fitness and weight loss. He carries his license to practice medicine in Washington State where he is a registered primary care physician."
jadeteta.com
The concept behind this workout is called rest-based training and you are supposed to push yourself as hard as you can, until you get breathless, and then rest when you need it. The resting is encouraged and an important part of the workout. You are not supposed to pace yourself to try to "get through" a workout.
How it works:
- Workout with high intensity. There are a lot of up and down movements to get your heart pounding pretty quickly, and you are supposed to really try to keep your full body tight and flexed- so even if you are doing squats for your legs, you should be flexing your arms, abs, etc, while doing it.
- You are trying to get breathless so that your body can surpass it's anaerobic threshold. Once you do, your body starts releasing extra metabolic molecules into your system, and those molecules are what tells your body to burn fat/boost metabolism even after the workout is over.
There are 9 workout sessions - 3 levels with three videos each. You start rotating the level 1 videos for 3 weeks, and then move up to level 2 for another 3 weeks before starting level 3. There is a shorter bonus video you can tag on to the end of any workout for extra fat burn. I like the buildup, the first level really just gets you going with some basic exercises, gets you used to it. The second level starts to really bring in the concept of focusing on tightening your muscles, and the third gets really intense with a lot of ups and downs.
So I did this workout from last summer until winter- and stopped before the holidays when I felt too busy to fit it in. In that time I lost probably 7-10 pounds of baby weight.
In the spring I finally pushed myself to get back into it again. I have to say I am glad that I took a break because starting over at level 1 was a great learning experience for me, and I will understood and was able to put much more MINDFUL FOCUS into the routines. I honestly feel like the concentration it takes for me to try to keep my muscles flexed is the most challenging part of the workout. And that's not to say that I am not breathless, sweating, and pushing myself. The metal focus is just more difficult. By focusing my energy on it, it makes the rest of it a little easier to handle.
When I do this workout, I can feel the surges from my body releasing all of these metabolic molecules and hormones, and it reminds me of the same pleasurable release that I would achieve during the deepest stretches of my old bikram yoga routine.
What is funny is that the entire second half of the bikram postures put you back into savasana (dead body pose) in between the other postures, so that your body can rest and promote circulation. The first half of the yoga routine is prepping your body for deeper stretches, and then once you reach those deep stretches that constrict blood flow and oxygen, you need to lay back town in savasana to promote more circulation and open yourself up so that your muscles can receive more oxygen.
bikgramyoga.com
Now when I am doing my Aftershock workout, I find myself incorporating some deep stretching into various positions that allow it. Those stretches push me straight past my anaerobic threshold and I can feel burning and tingling sensations zing through my body. Depending on the exercise they originate from different muscles. And that is when I always rest, because it is NECESSARY for me to put my focus on inhaling as much oxygen for my muscles as possible.
As I said before, I have an addiction to stretching my back, and some times when I am taking a workout rest, I pull out my foam roller or use my hands to try to massage myself where I feel my metabolic molecules surging. I have no background or deep understanding of exercise science, but my intuition imagines that I am essential pushing those molecules out of their origin source so that they can travel throughout my body a little faster. It feels like trying to twist and squeeze the last drops of juice out of a lemon or lime half.
bikramyoga.com
I really love when I find common themes and connectedness in my life- and I love how my yoga experience has allowed me to understand and apply the principles of rest-based training better.
Now if only I can find a little extra time to start practicing a full yoga set on my workout's off days...