MRT HIIT Workouts 2.0

When you do something different you have to be willing to look at ways to make it better over time. Of course HIIT workout aren’t all that new, but what we have been doing with renowned strength coach, Robert Dos Remedios and his Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) is a whole new way of looking at HIIT workouts.

If you have missed what we have been doing with Coach Dos and his new ideas on HIIT workouts, you can read about it HERE but we can also summarize it in a few key points.

-Instead of decreasing rest while increasing work, MRT does the opposite. Rest is where the “good stuff” of HIIT workouts actually occurs. The hormones that stimulate fat loss and better conditioning can only happen when we have time to recover. So, Coach Dos recommends the following interval protocols.

15:45

20:40

30:30

60:60

That is work to rest and shocks most people. However, that also allows us to create more intensity and brings us to the next point.

-Most people dance around and use very light weights when it comes to most HIIT workouts. They get way from loading the body and miss much of the huge benefits that HIIT has to offer. By using these intervals we can use way more load than most are use to using which stimulates greater strides in strength, lean muscle, and higher intensity for fat loss.

The more you get to the 30:30 and 60:60 protocols the intensity drops and these intervals are more about building recovery and building a foundation. They are all important the key is how we put it all together.

-Coach Dos helps us understand how much load to use by giving goals to achieve in these intervals. If you hit above the recommended reps, the weight is too light. If you aren’t hitting the repetition range, then you are using a load that is way too great.

Cool and these concepts make MRT a much smarter, more effective, and well rounded way to use the science of HIIT into practical terms. However, we also realize that when people started actually using these ideas they found it so much more different that they had a hard time adapting.

In talking with Coach Dos, we know life happens, or you haven’t built the foundation to deal with the real high intensity that such HIIT workouts have to offer. That is why we can have a win-win and build greater progress by actually combining these intervals. Coach Dos in fact recommended to me the following model for a workout.

First ten minutes: 15:45 or 20:40

Second ten minutes: 30:30

Last ten minutes: 60:60

That allows us to benefit from the different ranges that these intervals have to offer and mentally allows us to raise the intensity. Each ten minute cycle use no more than 2-3 exercises. If the exercise has two sides then maybe two movements as each side is trained independently. This also allows you to focus on choosing the RIGHT movement for each section.

Exercises for the first ten minutes are more power based, heavy, etc. DVRT exercises like Cory Cripe demonstrates in the shoulder squat is a great example of being a heavy exercise with two sides. We are aiming for reps around 6-8 in such movements.

Exercises that require more balance, take more time, or have more flow to them (like a kettlebell swing for example) are great drills to use for the 30:30 cycle. DVRT Master Sean Lettero shows a great example in our DVRT rear slide deadlifts where we aim for higher repetitions of 8-15 per side.

Then drills like carries, drags, and loaded mobility falls great into the 60:60 model. We aren’t even as worried about hitting repetitions as we are getting through the time frame. DVRT Master, Larisa Lotz, shows a great example of loaded mobility that fits into our 60:60 concept.

Using such strategies we have found to be such a powerful way of introducing people to true HIIT workouts and not burning them out. That we can use these ideas to develop so many more fitness qualities at once and truly fall in love with the process, not just be focused on the tasks!

Find out more about how MRT changed HIIT workouts in our MRT program HERE that covers all the great concepts that Coach Dos shared! Use coupon code “summersale” to save 25% for a limited time!

DVRT Master Cory Cripe breaks down why and how these concepts work!