Exercise And Metabolism
Metabolism is the process by which your body turns what you’ve eaten into fuel. The frequency, amount and type of foods we eat affect how well metabolism works to better fuel our bodies. The level of physical activity we maintain and the consistency of that exercise also play a part. Genetics affects our metabolic rate as well.
How Does Exercise Affect My Metabolism?
The amount of caloric expenditure created in our bodies fluctuates between resting and active rates. When you aren’t being physical, your body maintains a certain level of energy expenditure and your metabolism stays at a lower level because it’s not necessary to create larger amounts of fuel. When you’re active the body works to create more fuel and processes it by burning larger amounts of calories to maintain you endurance and rate of activity.
By exercising and slowly increasing the amount of effort we put into it we increase our body’s desire to become more athletic. Once our body’s gotten the message that it needs to become more active it then begins to ask for more fuel, turning up the level of metabolism in order to use more energy. In other words you burn more and you earn more. The higher your level of fitness the more extensive the affects of metabolism become.
How Does this Affect My Body?
Blood carries all of the oxygen, vitamins and nutrients after our body has processed it. Each of the bodies cells contain mitochondrion (metabolism occurs in this organelle). When we’re active the energy and oxygen in this mitochondrion is used up and expressed as heat and provides us with the energy necessary to be physically active at a consistent level. This mitochondrion then triggers an action in the body that generates energy from other available sources. This is the point at which metabolism is increased.
How Does This Help Afterwards?
Scientific research has proven that our bodies are in fact still being affected by the higher rates of metabolism even after we’ve stopped being active. The rate of elevation is affected by how hard you worked out and to a smaller degree for how long. The process of metabolism remains increased until the mitochondria regain their pre-exercise oxygen and energy levels. The expenditure levels this activity causes usually return back to base rates within an hour of being active.
What Sort of Exercise Affects Metabolism the Most?
Both cardiovascular (or aerobic) and resistance training do the most to affect your metabolism. Cardiovascular exercise increases how many calories are burned when you’re being active. While resistance training builds lean muscle and as a result the level of calories you burn while resting. When these two are combined your overall metabolic rates are increased optimizing how many calories you burn.
Cardiovascular exercise is anything that boosts the level of oxygen your body consumes. Examples of this are: skipping, walking, rowing, cycling, sprinting, jogging and cycling.
Resistance training(Also known as strength training or lifting weights) is anything that helps build muscle mass through using resistance. Examples of resistance training are bodyweight training, lifting free weights and using weight machines. While it does burn calories while you’re working out resistance training does more work for you by increasing muscle mass. It takes more calories to maintain muscle mass than it does to maintain fat. If your body fat uses up 2 calories per pound per day then your muscle would use about 6 calories per pound in a day.
So the optimum metabolic workout would include both to maintain a higher rate of resting metabolism and then burn more by being active.