Want to boost your metabolism, burn fat, and build bigger muscles? Then you need to include compound, multi-joint barbell exercises in your exercise routine. There’s simply no better way to quickly gain lean muscle and shed flab than with barbell-intensive movements.
“Barbell exercises increase metabolism by engaging the most musculature at once, and that engagement costs energy,” says Mike Israetel, Ph.D., chief sport scientist/co-founder of Renaissance Periodization, U.S. Olympic sports nutrition consultant, and Team USA Weightlifting consultant.
Barbell exercises are also great for generating muscle damage (don’t worry, it’s the normal kind that comes with hard training) and torching your body’s internal energy sources—both of which ignite your metabolism.
“Other than using these exercises to train hard and train often, there’s nothing magical about their metabolism-elevating powers,” says Israetel. “Certainly none of these effects last any longer than during the exercise itself and in the 24 hours after.”
The bottom line: These multi-joint moves help you develop the most muscle mass, make you the most functionally strong, and help improve your balance. They also build bone mass, which is especially important for healthy aging.
The most effective metabolism-boosting barbell exercises incorporate the most muscle and can be done safely for high reps and lots of sets. Remember to ease into the weights and always use good technique, says Israetel: “Never get sloppy just to do more reps!”
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Barbell Clean to Push Press
This exercise incorporates the vast majority of the body’s muscles and can be done for high reps if your technique stays strict and safe. Clean the barbell to your shoulders. Then, dip your legs slightly (about 2”), and drive your legs and shoulders to push the barbell overhead. Keep your feet planted—this isn’t a clean and jerk.
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Barbell Thruster
This is essentially a front squat that goes into a push-press, and uses just about as much muscle as a barbell clean and press. It’s very conducive to high-rep training. Try to make it one smooth movement, so your leg drive can help power the barbell overhead.
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Barbell Clean or High Pull
During a barbell clean, you rack the bar on your shoulders. In a high pull, you simply continue the pull past your shoulders, then allowed the bar to float back down without racking. The latter is better for high reps and shoulder health, and as a realistic metabolism-booster.
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Deficit Deadlift
This is just like a normal deadlift, but you stand elevated on a 1–3-inch block. (A bumper plate will also work.) This introduces a longer range of motion for the barbell, which helps you burn more calories and improve your deadlift ability to boot. To do this exercise safely, make sure your back doesn’t round, and expect to use lighter weight than a traditional deadlift.
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Barbell Hang Clean to Push Press Combo
Deadlift the barbell into a hang position (holding the barbell in front of you). Drive your legs and your hips to clean the barbell up to your shoulders. Then, use your legs and arms to push the barbell overhead. This is a great movement for getting the upper body to contribute to calorie burning. It’s also easier to do this exercise for reps, because you don’t have to set the barbell down.
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The Workout
Do 1 set of 12 reps for each exercise. Rest 2 minutes between each set.
Do this workout twice a week and use weights that makes each move a moderate challenge for you.
Every two weeks, add 1 set to each move. Every other week, add 5 lbs to each lift. (Increase volume or weight on different weeks.)
When you have trouble hitting 12 reps on every set for two workouts in a row, set aside one week and do just one set per exercise at 70% of the weight of the last hard training week you did. This is called a “deload” week.
After deload week, do the same workout you did the week before deload week, except do 3 fewer sets. (If you did 6 sets before deloading, start at 3 sets the week after. Work up from there as previously laid out, and keep repeating.)
