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Article Summary:
Weight training will have the greatest effect on your metabolic rate.
Yoga is not an ideal way to raise your metabolic rate.
Muscle mass is a primary determinant in basal metabolic rate.
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Exercise And The Impacts On Metabolism
If you've been in the workout world for a decent amount of time, chances are you already are aware of the fact that performing exercise
on a regular basis is going to have an impact on not only your body
weight, but on the actual metabolic rate you experience, which is what
helps to control your bodyweight by regulating the amount of calories you burn each day.
What some people are unaware of though is
how different activities will influence the metabolic rate differently.
Here are some factors to consider.
Performing Exercise On A Regular Basis Is Going
To Have An Impact On Your Metabolic Rate.
Aerobic Exercise
First up you have your regular aerobic exercise. This would describe a situation in which you went over to the cardio
machines (or performed such a session outside) and completed twenty to
forty minutes of continuous work at a steady, moderate intensity.
This is normally the type of exercise that
most people start out with when just getting going on an exercise
program as it's least demanding on the body and something they can
easily understand how to do.
Now, this type of exercise will burn a
decent amount of calories while doing it (provided there is some degree
of intensity), but, it's not going to do a lot in terms of boosting the
metabolic rate afterwards.
You might see an extra calorie burn of
about 20-50 calories in the few hours after the session, but this will
be highly dependent on how long you exercised for and the intensity you
used.
Aerobic Exercise Is Not Going To Do A Lot In
Terms Of Boosting The Metabolic Rate Afterwards.
Anaerobic Exercise
The next type of exercise to consider is
anaerobic exercise. In this case, you're now doing training where you
will be working at a very high intensity for a short period of time,
followed by brief rest intervals.
Since the body cannot continue with these
types of intensity over the long term, the sessions typically last
between twenty and forty minutes, depending on how long the rest to
work ratio's are.
This type of training, particularly when done as running sprints for example, will boost the metabolism a good deal more than the moderate paced training described above.
So now, you're burning the calories while
you are doing the session, plus, due to the fact that the body is going
to consume a good number of calories after the session recovering, you're also burning more calories at rest later on.
Because of this, these types of sessions
are commonly thought to be much more productive as far as weight loss
or weight maintenance is concerned, which is why many trainers favor them.
It should be noted though with this type of training that too much is really going to place a high level of stress on the body, so you need to watch and be sure you are still getting in enough rest during the day.
Weight Training
Moving past the cardiovascular
forms of training, next you come to weight training. Weight training is
the type of exercise which will typically have the greatest effect on
your long-term metabolic rate, therefore is the one you should really
focus on if you hope to control your bodyweight months down the road.
The actual calorie burn during the weight
training session itself can vary highly depending on the intensity and
the types of exercises you are performing during it, but generally you
can expect about five to ten calories per minute.
You Can Expect About Five To Ten Calories
Per Minute When Weight Training.
The more important part of the equation
though comes with the after calorie burn. First, since weight training
itself is an anaerobic activity, you are going to get the increased
metabolic rate in the hours after you are finished, particularly if
you're training with intensity and not using very long rest periods
(say rest periods of between thirty seconds to one minute).
This will place that session on a similar scale to that of an interval session in terms of boosting the metabolic rate in the hours afterwards.
In addition to that, weight training will
help your body generate more lean muscle mass tissue (provided enough
calories are consumed), which then increases your basal metabolic rate
24 hours a day.
This is what we really are referring to
when we speak about long-term weight maintenance and why weight
training is so vital. If you are performing a solid weight training
program on a regular basis, you're going to build the larger amounts of
muscle mass, which is a primary determinant in basal metabolic rate.
Yoga/Meditation Activities
Finally, the last type of activity that you might include with your workout program is yoga, stretching, or some type of meditation activity.
Unfortunately these types of activities
have actually been shown to lower the metabolic rate, so as far as
helping you lose body fat, they are not exactly ideal.
One study in particular found that the BMR
of those who were engaged in yoga regularly had a BMR that was 13%
lower than those who did not practice yoga.
Yoga Is The Traditional Practice Of Meditation
Combined With An Assortment Of Physical Postures.
While 13% may not seem like much, on
someone who starts out with a BMR of 1500 calories, this would equate
to about 2730 fewer calories over a two week period, which is just shy
of one pound of body fat.
Now, that's not to say you should stop
doing yoga or meditation if you currently do as they can have very good
benefits from a psychological and stress-reduction
viewpoint, just that if you are going to do them regularly, you might
also want to consider adding in another variety of exercise training
(weight training for example) to help counterbalance this decrease in
BMR and help bring yours higher.
Conclusion
So, if you're looking to optimize your metabolism,
be sure you do keep these points in mind. Exercise is definitely a good
way to combat weight gain over the long run, so getting on an
appropriate program is a very smart move.
Reference:
- Chaya, MS. Et al.
(2006) The effect of long term combined yoga practice on the basal
metabolic rate of healthy adults. BMC Complement Altern. Med. V.6:28
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