Metabolism Mastery

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

26 Apr 2006 04:30 PM

Do you understand exactly how your metabolism works? Do you know how it revs up after a weight-training session? Do you know how long that extra burn lasts? Do you understand how your metabolism benefits from cardio workouts?

The importance of your metabolism in strength training, fitness and weight loss is vital. When you strength train and sufficiently create overload - there is micro trauma created inside your muscles. This trauma means it tears down and your body will need to heal the damage.

The energy required to rebuild your muscles utilizes many resources available within your body. For example, one critical element needed to rebuild your muscles is the human growth hormone. Guess what that hormone has to do? It needs to access stored body fat in order to help repair the muscles.

Because it has to use fat in the process, the tearing down and rebuilding will begin burning stored body fat to help you build your muscles up. While it can take several sessions before you add even one pound of muscle to your body, you will be burning up areas of stored body fat all the while.

Each additional pound of muscle will require you to burn an extra 30 to 50 calories per day. This means that if you adjust your nutrition and recuperation levels, you will be burning more of what you eat naturally as well as what you have stored.

The nature of strength training and cardio workouts is that they ramp up your metabolism during your workout and keep it high for hours afterward as your body goes through the recuperation and repair stages. Understanding this about your metabolism can help you to see why diets, weight loss and fitness are all interconnected. A good fitness program is required by most adjustments to your daily diet in order to maximize the affects!

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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