turbo boost your metabolism

I'm sure you've been watching some of the action. I love it! and I'm sure you do too; even if you're not into sports or competition in a big way, you can't help but get involved in the drama and theatre of it all! The opening ceremony was great. My favourite bit was the lighting of the cauldron; Pure genius!

It only happens every 4 years, so for many of them they only get one shot, so you can understand why some of them break out into tears of joy when they win a medal or break down into tears of despair when they lose. These athletes work hard and make major sacrifices to make the Olympics and its now down to them to shine in their event(s), represent their nation proudly and try reap some reward for all that hard work and dedication. 

I've been doing some of my own hard work recently, you may have reading my last blog post about how I've been back training regularly to change my body composition. It's been going well and my body composition is down to 22.6% that's down 3.4% in just over 4 weeks. I switched to doing resistance training, not real change in the diet until this week and I'll tell you about that next time. I mentioned the word 'resistance training' because this is important part of any process if your goal is to shift excess body fat or change your body composition positively. Resistance training which includes, weight lifting, Body weight exercises, using kettlebells, TRX or ViPR , will all help to increase your metabolism. By raising your metabolic rate. Your bodies ability to burn calories will be significantly improved allowing you to 'use calories' instead of store them.

Here's a "QUICK FIRE" list of how to raise your metabolism.

If you just apply some of these tips you soon start to raise your metabolism and begin to burn of fat effectively.

1. Know what metabolism is.

In the simplest terms, metabolism is the rate at which your body burns or uses calories. Very few people have a fast metabolism. Surprisingly, overweight individuals have relatively fast metabolism because they weigh more, but if their weight is staying constant then their metabolism is not fast enough to offset their caloric intake. The bottom line is that increasing your metabolism will enable you to level your diet and weight.

2. Understand what & how your metabolism is influenced.

There are some factors that you can control and change, and some factors that you can't.
Age - Your metabolic rate decreases around 5% each decade, after the age of 40, this is due to the decrease in muscle mass. Gender - Men generally burn calories more quickly than women because they have more muscle tissue. Heredity - It is understood that you can inherit your metabolic rate from previous generations. Thyroid disorder -hypothyroidsm (under active thyroid gland) and hyperthyroidsm (overactive thyroid gland) can slow down or speed up metabolism, but only 3% and .3% of the population have hypo- and hyperthyroidism respectively. Weight - different tissues of your body contribute different amounts to resting metabolism. Muscle contributes more than fat per unit mass and because it is denser than fat, muscle contributes much more per unit volume.

3. Eat Breakfast.

Many people think that by missing breakfast that this will aide them in their quest to loose weight. Skipping meals, especially breakfast will only slow down your metabolic rate and help you store fat. Having a something to eat according to your metabolic type, will help boost your energy and your metabolism.

4. Drink cool/ice water.

Yes that's right it's me again going on about drinking water- I make no apologies. When you drink ice cold water, your body burns calories warming it to body temperature. Over 90% of the chemical reactions in your body occur in water, so it's important you stay correctly hydrated.

5. Exercise with weights.

I mentioned previously about weight training, but it is important to remember. Muscle burns more calories than fat does (73 more calories per kilogram per day, to be exact) so the more muscle you build, the higher your resting metabolic rate (RMR) will be. Every muscle cell that you gain is like a little factory that constantly burns calories for you, even while you rest and sleep, and when you exercise it revs up even more! This is the only way to increase RMR, which accounts for 60% -70% of the calories you burn daily. In one year a person with 2.2 kg more muscle will burn calories corresponding to 1 kg of fat due to this muscle mass, that's a whole bag sugar!

Using Kettlebells in our  Kettlebell fit & firm class is a great way to incorporate weight training into your fitness regime. It's fun and anyone can do it regardless of your fitness ability or level. email us here to book your place.

Have great weekend, enjoy the Olympics and we'll talk soon.