Several people have asked recently about the term “metcon”, which we throw around often in reference to certain kinds of workouts. The term “metcon” is short for “metabolic conditioning”, which is also probably not much help.
The short (and somewhat imprecise) answer this question is, metcons are the CrossFit workouts that involve functional movements executed at high intensity, resulting in high heart rate for a short to medium lengths of time (usually 3-30 minutes).
The longer and more complete answer requires a brief overview of something called metabolic pathways, which are the chemical processes that provide energy in the human body. There are three such pathways: the phosphagen pathway, the glycolytic pathway, and the oxidative pathway. The phosphagen pathway is the primary source of energy for high-powered efforts lasting less than 10 seconds. The glycolytic pathway is the main contributor to moderate-powered efforts lasting up to 2 or 3 minutes. The oxidative pathway is the lowest-powered and is used for longer efforts.
The goal of the CrossFit program is balanced development of all three metabolic pathways. When we say “metabolic conditioning”, we’re talking about the high-intensity interval training we use to accomplish this.
For more information on metabolic pathways and for some additional references, check out the free CrossFit Journal article, “What is Fitness?”
November 18, 2008 WOD
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:
250m row
6x deadlift (75% bodyweight)
10x box jump
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I saw on the crossfit message board one time some sort of discussion about why hour long heavy lifting intense workouts were not good (context of gym jones vs crossfit). There reason was someting about the pathways but I wasn’t getting it. They wrote that typical crossfit workouts should not take longer then 20 minutes. Is that true? Why? Is there something wrong with a 1 hour long crossfit type workout?
Hey Justin,
Great question and worthy of its own blog post. I’ll get a detailed response posted next week, but here’s a short answer: with any workout that lasts that long, you are spending a lot of time doing aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise has some significant detrimental effects that make it less favorable than anaerobic exercise. We favor anaerobic exercises because it has all the same benefits, without the same negative effects. Stay tuned for more on this next week.
Great. I’ve had the same question as Justin. Coming from a running & cycling (with lifting) background, I’ve done alot of Long-Slow-Distance stuff in past and have moved away from that. I like and prefer the heavy lifting WODs and shorter heavier more intense metcons.
But, like Justin, I have no idea what any of that scientific terminology means and/or whether the folks on the CF boards (including leaders from CF headquarters) are accurate.
I too look forward to your response, John. I’ve got much to learn.
P.S. – Pls think of some “subs” I can do tonight. Any DLing would have to be super light and the box jumps will need to wait til back fully heals. Oddly, it feels better after falling backwards last night. The human body is strange.
I liked Phil’s cave man example (paraphrased):
Long slow walk to the hunting grounds, hide in the grass, explode out of the bushes, sprint within range, throw the spear, kill it, drag it home, and eat for a few days.
btw, this was changed to 150m row, 10DL, and 15BJ during the second round
I was a bit concerned this, because I’ve never done this many DL in a workout even if they were lighter ( just as I was concerned about doing 5×5DL@2x the weight this summer ).
Wade’s team did 8 and the other teams did 6 rounds. It was interesting to see how the team workout ended up. I wasn’t apalled by it being the non-social individual sport persona I am and have become since my break with team sports years ago.