Metabolic Conditioning Workout Plan
Full-body circuits with minimal rest, three sessions a week. Bodyweight-focused and joint-friendly, built to drive calorie burn.
Routines
Day 1 — MetCon Circuit A
Do the 6 moves in order. Rest ~45s after strength moves and ~30s after cardio. Complete 3 rounds.
Day 2 — MetCon Circuit B
Alternate lower, push, hinge, pull, cardio, core. Rest 45s on strength, 30s on cardio. Complete 3 rounds.
Day 3 — MetCon Circuit C
Slight progression: similar pattern with new moves. Rest 45s on strength, 30s on cardio. Complete 3 rounds.
About this plan
Three sessions a week of full-body circuits with minimal rest, three sets of everything, bodyweight and a towel.
Day one runs squats, incline push-ups, bodyweight good mornings, standing towel rows, low jacks and core work. Day two moves to reverse lunges with an overhead reach, incline push-ups at twelve, good mornings, towel rows and cardio. Day three covers sumo squats, inchworms, glute bridges at fifteen, mountain climbers at twenty-four, high-knee taps and flutter kicks.
Metabolic conditioning means circuits that keep the heart rate elevated while still training movement patterns — as opposed to intervals, which are cardio with no strength component. The presence of rows and good mornings in every session is what puts this plan in the first category.
Minimal rest is the mechanism and also the trap. The rest between exercises should be just long enough to move to the next one; the rest between rounds should be a real minute. Grinding through three continuous rounds means the last one is done with technique that would not pass on the first.
The reverse lunge with an overhead reach on day two is the most complete movement here — it loads the legs, opens the hip flexor of the trailing leg and takes the arms overhead, all at once.
Inchworms on day three are the same idea for the upper body: hamstring stretch, shoulder load, trunk stability, in one movement that needs no space.
The towel row appears twice a week because a circuit plan without a pull is a plan that builds imbalance quickly. Loop it round a door handle and lean back.
Train this plan in the app
LoadMuscle carries all 3 routines with a demo for every exercise, and logs your sets as you go, so next session you can see what to beat. Free on iPhone and Android.
Want something built around your own schedule and equipment instead? Try the free workout planner.
