HOW TO INCREASE THE SPEED OF YOUR METABOLISM

Your metabolism is the rate at which your body expends energy. Your metabolic rate varies due to a number of factors, including age; daily exercise duration/intensity, nutrition and genetics. When anyone is looking to looking to lose weight, a key factor is increasing your metabolic rate. There are a number of ways to help increase your metabolism and get the results you want.

High intensity interval training

Up the intensity of your training with high intensity interval training, also known as HIIT. HIIT is a form of training that not only expends lots of calories whilst you are performing it, but it can also speed up your metabolism for up to 72 hours post-training. The training itself usually lasts up to anything from 10 minutes to an hour and involves vigorous exercise bouts, between rest/reduced intensity bouts. For example, if you are running you can do a minute steady, with 30 second sprint periods. This increases the number of mitochondria and how efficiently they burn throughout the day, which in return allows you to exercise for less time than it takes to plod along at the same pace and still get great results.

Get your omega-3’s

Eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, herring and tuna can also help in speeding up your metabolism. It is suggested that omega-3s balance blood sugar and reduce inflammation, helping to regulate metabolism. They may also reduce resistance to the hormone leptin, which researchers have linked to how fast fat is burned.

Don’t skip meals/or slash calories

The common thought of many when it comes to weight loss, is often based on starvation tactics –this is not the case. If you deprive your body of food/calories, the body conserves calories by reducing your natural metabolic rate to reserve energy, which ultimately leads to a weight loss plateau, along with lean muscle waste. Instead aim to eat enough to match your resting metabolic rate, spread eating throughout the day with smaller, healthier meals to keep the metabolism engaged throughout the day.

Cut down on sugars

Consuming high glycaemic sugars in excessive doses is the worst way to quickly increase unwanted body fat. This is because it spikes the hormone insulin, which prevents the body breaking down fats and instead puts the body into calorie storage mode. To reach the results you want try and aim to get your carbohydrates from low glycaemic foods such as sweet potato, brown rice etc.

Sleep

It has been found that the lack of sleep can cause an increased caloric intake of around 300 calories per day. This is because the lack of sleep can disrupt the metabolic hormone ghrelin. Ghrelin is responsible for increasing appetite, this can therefore lead to a greater amount of calories consumed within the day. Optimum sleep is 8 hours, so try to ensure you are getting between 7-9 hours of sleep per night as a minimum, although the amount of sleep necessary is different for individuals. Always keep an eye out for these keep an eye out for sings such as mood, food cravings and feeling lethargic.

Drink plain coffee or tea

The natural levels of caffeine present in both tea and coffee increase adrenaline and increase the regulation of the body’s central nervous system (CNS) and the body’s metabolism. Caffeine is also very effective at reducing your appetite and therefore can be great for reducing those daily cravings.

Turn to (green) tea

New evidence shows the active ingredients of green tea to help increase your metabolism. Studies in dieters found that those who were drinking green tea lost more weight than those who didn’t, suggesting that it may improve fat oxidation and thermogenesis, your body’s production of energy, or heat, from digestion.

Make sure you have breakfast

Make sure you eat breakfast. Eating a nutrient-rich morning meal shortly after getting out of bed literally wakes up your metabolism. Eating breakfast gets the engine going and keeps it going throughout the day.

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Hydration

Getting enough fluid intake throughout the day is extremely important for your body to carry out normal function, for you to perform well in your workouts and in competitions. If you don’t get enough water you can feel lethargic, tired and in extreme cases can cause some quite serious medical conditions. Here’s a quick run down of why you should be getting enough fluid on board and a few ways you can do this.

Organ Function

From helping to regulate blood pressure & heart rate to waste removal, water plays a large role on every functioning organ in the body. If you do not have enough water, you body will simply enough just shut down. In extreme cases this can cause organ failure and even result in death.

Performance

We’ve established that water is needed to keep the body functioning properly, and this has a major effect on performance. It is widely accepted that a 2% drop in hydration can cause a 20% drop in performance! That’s a huge loss when hydration is something so easy to control on a day-to-day basis!

Skin

As skin is the largest organ in the body, it will suffer if it doesn’t get enough water. If you’re getting dry, cracked and un-healthy skin, try increasing your daily water intake to help make your skin healthier. We are certainly not beauty therapists, so don’t just take our word for it, if you look up any respectable beauty blogger they will be telling you the same thing.

So, we know why we need to stay hydrated, here’s a quick run down of how…

Drink water regularly

Taking a sip of water regularly is highly recommended. It keeps your body regulating your fluids levels consistently and will also help keep food cravings at bay. If you do feel yourself getting dehydrated, don’t neck 5 pints of water in one go as it tricks your body into thinking it has loads of water and it just passes through without doing the job it was intended for.

Eat foods with a high water content

Water can make up to about 20% of your overall fluid intake, foods such as cucumber, celery and tomatoes have a very high water content – most veg does. Besides all the extra vitamins and minerals and the health benefits they bring along, they also help bulk out salads and meals as they have a lot of un-soluble fiber too! It’s a win-win! Get some decent hydration, vitamins and minerals and make yourself feel full with a solid meal.

Drink different drinks

You don’t always have to drink water, you can drink other beverages such as tea, coffee and squash. Just be careful with these drinks as they can add calories, caffeine or both into your diet which is something you are probably trying to track. Just use them as a way to mix things up!

And finally, just a few quick tips on spotting if you’re dehydrated and if you should drink more water.

If you have headaches regularly – without ruling out medical conditions, a lot of the time drinking more water can help out.

If you urine is a very dark yellow/brown colour – this is a sign of being de-hydrated so you should probably start drinking some more water.

If you have a white tongue – again, this is a sign of being de-hydrated so go and get a glass of water.

Keep an eye out for a follow-up blog where we will cover how much water to drink and few ways of tracking your water intake – hope you liked the post! Thank you for taking the time to read it, if you liked the content and fancy sharing it then by all means, feel free!

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For exercise demonstrations, check out our FREE app (click the picture below) to view videos, pictures and exercise cues for over 250 exercises!

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8 of the biggest gym mistakes

These gym mistakes may be slowing down your gains and stopping you seeing the benefit from all the hard work you’ve been putting into your training sessions. So we have put together 8 of the top gym mistakes to stop you from doing the same! This will allow you to see the full benefits of your workouts and smash those goals!

1. Overuse of cardio and underuse of weights.

Yes, cardio burns calories but you need to change it up. Resistance training with compound lifting will utilise your CNS and therefore will put your body under high amounts of stress, making you work much harder during your workouts and therefore burning more calories. Weights will also keep a stimulus on your muscles to make your body actually keep it and keep your metabolism up at the same time. Keep the cardio short but intense. Lifting weights is what actually shapes your body.

2. Not training at all.

Make sure you have discipline. There is no bigger mistake than not even training at all. Have set training days and stick to them. Try to always train on a Monday so you start the week off straight away.

3. Poor form.

One of the biggest mistakes made in a gym is poor form, by lifting too heavy to soon. Be sensible with the weights you use, it’s not always about lifting heavy. Having a better technique will allow you to progress much quicker and will help to reduce injuries so you can continue training. Make sure you can complete the full set you set out to do with the correct form.

4. Being Unorganised.

Not following a program will have a massive impact on the results you can achieve. Every workout should reflect your goals, don’t just jump from one bit of free equipment to the next one free, hoping for a pump. Following a program also allows you to track your progress, this will in return help to drive your motivation.

5. Just going through the motions.

A lot of people get stuck into the same old routine. Try to make sure you’re constantly challenging yourself every workout. Mix it up so you don’t get bored and you continue to progress.

6. Using DOMS as a guide.

A lot of people tend to use soreness as a guidance to whether they had a good workout or not. If you have an awesome gym session and feel like you tried really hard, if you don’t experience DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness) this doesn’t mean that you had a bad workout. It could instead be a really good thing, and could suggest that your body is recovering really well and that your nutrition is really good.

If you want to find out more on DOMS click here 👈

     7. Using cardio.

Using cardio machines to count the calories you burn as the only factor of how hard you work. – Every individual burns calories at a different rate depending on many different factors.  A machine will not be able to tell you your exact expenditure, just use them as a guide not as gospel.

8. Wanting results to quickly.

To many people don’t allow themselves the right amount of time in order to get the results you want. – they people expect changes instantly, but the truth of the matter is that consistency will be the key to achieving your goals. It won’t happen overnight but it will happen, if you are consistent and work hard giving your body the right amount of time.

For training programs, success stories and online coaching, click our website here 👈

For exercise demonstrations, check out our FREE app (click the picture below) to view videos, pictures and exercise cues for over 250 exercises!

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The Zercher Squat

In our recent blog about improving your conditioning, we mentioned an exercise called the zercher squat as an alternative to using atlas balls (if you haven’t got any). Off the back of that, we received a fair few messages asking us what a zercher squat is, and what its benefits are. Whilst this exercise is on the app and has full exercise cues and pictures, here’s a quick breakdown of the benefits of a zercher squat and how it can fit into your programs.

Centre of mass

Placing the bar across your arms and holding into your mid-section keeps the centre of mass really close to you. This means that you have very little force pulling you out of alignment which can help you keep your posture upright and stable.

Mimic a front squat

Zercher squats can be used to mimic a front squat. This can come in handy if you get a shoulder injury or if you have a limited range of motion (ROM) around the shoulders which stops you doing a front squat.

Targets your core

As the zercher squat forces you into an upright position, your core muscles are forced to engage to a higher degree to maintain this. Core strength translates across pretty much any fitness or sport related goal, so its always a win.

Hits your distal quads

Your vastus medialis and lateralis are the two muscles in your quadriceps that attach distally around the end of the femur (bottom of the thigh). Increasing the size and strength of these muscles will give your legs a larger look, it will strengthen the knee joint and will also allow you to develop more force when running, jumping and landing.

Switch it up

Including zercher squats will switch up your training program and make sure that you don’t get bored! They will give you a new challenge to smash and provide a different stimulus for the body!

So there you have it, a few reasons why you should include zercher squats in your training program. TIP: If you start to go heavy, place a towel or jumper over your arms to stop the bar digging in when you hold it.

For training programs, success stories and online coaching, click our website here 👈

For exercise demonstrations, check out our FREE app (click the picture below) to view videos, pictures and exercise cues for over 250 exercises!

If you liked the blog, comment, share and subscribe to our mailing list on our website for more quality information every week.

D.N.A S&C