Training and Your Metabolism

The styles of training we chose have different effects on our metabolism. Resistance training for me has always been my ‘go to’ for calorie burning although I do incorporate cardio into my workout plans as well. 

I find combining cardio and weights gives me a more well-rounded training schedule.

Throughout my career, this combination has proven without a doubt to give the greatest fat burning, muscle building result.  I personally believe in maximising my efforts and energy output into my resistance training as I believe this has the biggest influence on my metabolism.

Cardio is more effective for the immediate calorie burn but not long term. I do, however, recommend some cardio exercise as I am a firm believer in lifting my heart rate to increase my cardiovascular fitness level.

There are countless studies showing the importance of keeping a healthy heart.

Our heart is a muscle that requires exercise like any other muscle in the human body so to neglect cardiovascular training, in my opinion, would be extremely foolish.

Cardio

HIIT cardio has become increasingly more popular over recent years and with the majority of us living busy lives it suits our time constraints as well. 

Seeking the most time efficient ways to achieving the best results possible from our training in the sometimes limited time we have to spend away from work and our precious family time, has proven quite difficult for a lot of people.

This is where HIIT has become a better option for most as you can potentially burn twice the amount of calories in half the workout time. There are a limitless variety of exercises, so whether you like training in the gym or outdoors, boredom will never be a factor as there is sure to be a workout for you.

Some other important aspects of HIIT style training to consider are the positive effects on visceral and subcutaneous body fat level reduction, its ability to help protect the heart due to improvements in VO2max and it has also been shown to help reduce blood pressure.

I don’t recommend fasted HIIT training, as this style of workout with no fuel can put the body into a catabolic state.

Letting our muscles waste away is a sure way to never achieving your greatest metabolic state as lean muscle has the greatest impact on the body’s BMR (base metabolic rate), which allows us to burn more calories over any 24 hour period.

LISS (low-intensity steady state) training, however, I do choose to do in a fasted state first thing when rising in the morning or post resistance training as glycogen stores are depleted in these times, which enhances the bodies ability to draw on energy from stored body fat more efficiently.

Resistance Training

Resistance training has been well documented to have the greatest impact on our long-term metabolic health. Firstly, weight training can improve lean muscle tissue, which is metabolically positive but secondly, the body burns greater calories in the repair and rebuilding phase after each weighted resistance session.

Personally, I choose compound movements to make up the majority of my workouts, which allows me to target major muscle groups and stimulates the greatest number of muscle fibres. Exercises such as squats pull ups, bench press, military press, deadlifts and bent over rows are generally regarded as the most taxing of all compound movements with the greatest amount of energy used by the body.

Finally, there is also a lot of study on the after burn effect of resistance training, which refers to the increased amount of calories the body will be burning during the recovery phase. One thing for certain is, regardless of the time frame and the number of calories burned, there is no question when we increase our lean muscle mass we are boosting our resting metabolism (BMR).

You simply cannot argue against the positive effect of resistance training.

Finally, as we grow older it is important to recognise that you will lose muscle mass due to the ageing process, however, resistance training can help prevent this and is critically important in helping to maintain a healthy metabolism.

Similarly, boosting your metabolism with the appropriate training will not only enhance muscle growth but it can be the secret to losing those last few stubborn pounds of unwanted body fat as well.

Focus on quality training, that is balanced in its approach and enjoy living a leaner, healthier and more active lifestyle.