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Metabolism?!?!

We’ve all heard people brag about having a fast metabolism whilst gorging on pizza and chips saying “I can eat whatever I like and never put weight on. It’s my fast metabolism.” This usually makes me want to punch them square in their pizza munching chops! This would probably get me in trouble with the powers that be up at Barons Fitness. But what is the metabolism and can we speed ours up?

Well, the metabolism is the like the engine that keeps your body going. It is what makes your body use the food and nutrients we put into it. The speed of the metabolism we have is a product of genetics and lifestyle. Genetics we can’t change, the lifestyle we can. But these lifestyle changes need to be long term. No short-term fix here sadly.

Working out, staying well hydrated and eating good, whole foods can all help. When it comes to working out, muscle building is very important. Muscle burns more energy than fat so do big compounds moves at least twice a week. Think squats, deadlifts, body row and press ups. Planks are ace for core strength.

In terms of diet, lots of green, leafy vegetables will help rev things up. The nutrients inside these little powerhouses of the veg world improve metabolic activity by helping red blood cells transport nutrients around the body. Eating breakfast is also important to keeping your metabolism moving. Overnight our bodies can approach a fasting state meaning the body will withhold calories if we wait too long to eat after waking up.

Sleep is also very important for keeping your metabolism working as efficiently as possible. If you are sleep deprived your more likely to seek out larger food portions, be more impulsive with food and may expend fewer calories than those who get enough shut-eye. All this leads more chance of you being obese.

So drink plenty of water, get your diet in good order and get a good nights sleep. Make sure you’re exercising at least the 150 minutes per week. Add in cardio, weight training and higher intensity work. Short on time to workout? Well, make it simple. Doing sprints on a gym bike has been found to significantly improve the body’s ability to process sugar and therefore reducing your risk of developing diseases such as diabetes. Benefits were seen within just two weeks. Try the workout below twice a week and supercharge your body! Choose any bike in the cardio area at Barons:

  • 1 minute warm up

  • 30s @ max effort

  • 30s @ 50% effort

  • x 6 sets

There you go, a health-inducing, metabolic revving workout in less than 15 minutes!

 

References:

European Society of Endocrinology. “Sleep loss affects your waistline.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 May 2017. 

Texas A&M University. “Metabolism: What is it and can it be controlled?.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 October 2016. 

John A Babraj, Niels BJ Vollaard, Cameron Keast, Fergus M Guppy, Greg Cottrell and James A Timmons. Extremely short duration high intensity training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males. BMC Endocrine Disorders