Resistance training is the most popular and most beneficial recommendation anyone can make to someone looking to boost their metabolism. It helps everybody. Exercises that make your muscles work under a stress that is greater than they are used to offer three main benefits:
Immune System: Resistance training strengthens your immune system, which improves your ability to make lean body mass (i.e. increase muscle).
Function: The ability to adapt to climbing stairs, walking much further than usual and lifting heavier things, for example, is greatly improved by resistance exercises.
Metabolism: Improving your lean mass to fat mass ratio with resistance training also improves your resting metabolism.
In this article we will focus on metabolism.
Metabolism is what converts calories into energy. Whether you feel it or not our bodies are constantly burning calories. Your metabolism burns calories to keep your body functioning,
Our metabolism changes as we go throughout our life. For most, metabolism drops about 1-2% per decade after age twenty five. This means eating the same and exercising the same will mean a gain in two pounds per year.
This is why learning how to boost your metabolism can really help. Exercising non stop and starving yourself is not the way to do it.
In fact, if you do, there’s a good chance you could actually damage your metabolism.
Improve Metabolism in a Healthy Way:
1.) As stated before, strength training one of the first things to begin to improve your metabolism. Adding muscles increases your BMR (basal metabolic rate) which is the biggest contributor to your metabolism.
2.) Add spice into foods. It improves metabolism and adds taste. Try hot peppers, chili peppers, or red pepper flakes!
3.) Eat more protein. Protein has a thermic effect which means you burn calories digesting it. Easy sources of protein include hemp seeds or chia seeds.
4.) Stay well rested. When we are sleep deprived our body produces the stress hormone cortisol which can slow down your metabolism.
5.) Stay well hydrated. Drink half your body weight in ounces per day.
Everyone is different and therefor everyone’s metabolism is different. Those differences mean there is no one size fits all program. If you are interested in learning more about how to improve your metabolism through strength training, nutrition and lifestyle practices contact me at
Yours in health,
Nicole
