Strength Training - Strong Muscles Build Faster Metabolism

By Anne Mcdonald

There are many sound reasons for including a large element of strength training in your overall fitness program.

Strength training is sometimes referred to as resistance training because muscles and groups of muscles are isolated and worked against some form of resistance.

Sometimes the resistance takes the form of our own body weight, sometimes the fixed weights on the machines in the gym and sometimes free or hand held weights.

Use it or lose it
Having toned, active muscles means that they are functionally fit. This means that he everyday demands made of them such as lifting, bending and stretching can be met without fear of strain or injury. In our everyday lives we don't often have cause to use all our muscles to their maximum.

A good example is that we rarely need to lift weight above our heads. We design our homes and storage systems so that we don't often have to do that because it's difficult.

The result is that the muscles in our shoulders hardly ever have to work really hard and so become weak. So then our shoulder joints become vulnerable if we put any strain on them so we find even more ways to avoid using them.

Strong muscles build faster metabolism
Toned, active muscles demand far more of our calorific intake than inert muscle and stored body fat. The more lean muscle we have, the higher our metabolic rate which is the speed at which our body converts the food we eat into useable energy.

When we work our muscles, they grow to meet the demand we put upon them. If we work them regularly and keep them toned and active, we can, not only improve our metabolic rate but maintain it at that improved rate also.

If we encourage our body to develop a greater percentage of lean muscle by regularly working out with weights, we will need more calories to maintain the extra muscle. If at the same time we eat a healthy diet that contains fewer calories than we are used to, we will encourage our body to use our stored fat as fuel.

In fact the only really effective fat burning exercises are those used in a full body weight training workout.

If we try to lose weight by dieting alone without systematically working our muscles, we will certainly lose some lean muscle tissue as well as body fat. This will in turn result in lowered metabolism which will make losing weight and keeping it off more and more difficult.

Another important and desirable side effect of weight training is that recent observations suggest that strength training puts sufficient demands on our bones to encourage an increase in bone density. This is particularly useful for women who tend to lose bone density post menopause as oestrogen levels dwindle.

What to do and how to get started
The two main ways to workout with weights are to use the fixed weight machines at the gym or to use hand held weights at the gym or at home.

You get the best all round weight training workout using hand held weights. Because you're not strapped into a machine you have to use all your muscles to maintain your posture and balance whilst isolating the particular muscles you are working. If you learn to use a fit ball to help support yourself while using your weights you also get the opportunity to work all the core muscles of your torso at the same time.

Some reliable tips
You must learn the correct techniques involved in strength training and understand exactly what it is you are trying to do. You need a good program to follow, either one on one with a fitness professional or a program designed and illustrated by a fitness professional.
If you don't get it right it won't be effective and you could strain muscles and damage joints.

There are plenty of people in gyms up and down the country as you are reading this who are sweating away at their weight training workouts, using the wrong techniques and achieving absolutely nothing. Don't ever be tempted to try to learn from them.

The commonest mistake, usually for men, is to use weights that are far too heavy so that the only way to lift them is to put a strain on their backs or joints. They usually find that when they use the correct technique which is designed to protect their back and joints while isolating and working the muscle, they simply can't do it with that enormous weight anyway. Then they find that all that sweating and grunting they've been doing is quite unnecessary!

Many women on the other hand make the opposite mistake of doing their weight training exercises with weights that are way too small in the mistaken belief that they are much weaker and more delicate than they really are. If you regularly carry a couple or more of carrier bags of shopping weighing at least four kilos in one hand and a hefty toddler on the opposite hip, why on earth would you do your weights workout with a pair of one and a half kilo weights? This won't do you any good at all.

Follow a program that explains how to determine what weight you need for each exercise. Make sure that your weight training is part of an overall fitness program that includes cardio work, core strength and stretching. Add a good warm up and cool down and enjoy!

Anne McDonald has been a personal fitness trainer for the past 6 years and has more recently qualified as a life coach. As well as one on one training she operates her website http://www.workoutforlife.net providing fitness and weight loss programs for her online clients.
All her online programs come with her personal support and coaching if needed over the phone and by email.

You are welcome to use this article as long as you reproduce all of it and include this bio and link to her website.

The Possibility of Increasing Your Metabolism Naturally

By Steve Madigan

Can you speed up your metabolism naturally and at the same time increase or boost your metabolism. As you are going to see there are many pills, fads, programs and more that promise that you can increase your metabolism. As the old saying goes "buyer beware."

One of the most effective ways to keep your metabolism in a healthy state is through regular exercise. One of the main ways to speed up your metabolism naturaly is by eating regularly (often but small meals) and regular exercise. You want to eat very frequent, but the meals should be comprised of smaller portions. Natural foods that can boost metabolism are low-fat food. These types of foods have the tendency to stimulate your metabolism.

Working out and increasing your muscle mass will burn more calories. The nice part of building up your muscle mass is you can do this around the clock, even when you are sleeping. This is a great way to speed up your metabolism naturally.As you can see, there are many different ways to increase your metabolism naturally, but you are going to find that there are many different products on the market that promise to speed your metabolism naturally and take those extra pounds right off your body.

What you are going to find out is that the majority of these products will do nothing for you or have very minimal results. The other problem with these products is that they are very costly. Another problem is that some of the weight loss products / supplements have been found to cause a health risk.

Another idea that is floating around out there on the market to increase your metabolism naturaly is by faking out your body or by altering your diet. Now you have to understand that there are some dietary changes that will help you increase your metabolism a little, but there is not a "miracle food" on the market that is going to help you lose weight at some incredable rate. This "miracle food" will also not allow or make your body burn fat while you are sleeping. This is not going to happen, so don't get taken up in all the hype if you see it.

Speed Metabolism naturally with Negative Calorie FoodsSo has does the negative calorie diet theoretically help you speed metabolism naturally? The thought is, negative calorie foods will burn more calories when you are digesting them, then the amount of calories that are present in the foods themselves. What this means is the body should want to tap into the stored energy that we have in order to help to complete the digestion process.

There have been claims that if you continually eat negative calorie foods will help you speed up your metabolism. This is in theory. It is not a proven fact and it has also been debated between physicians and also nutritionists.

Nutritionist have always said that eating vegetables and fresh fruit should be a part of a healthy diet. Some of the foods that are eaten during the negative calorie diet are not necessarily good in speeding up your metabolism naturally. The one thing that they will do is to provide the body with vitamins and minerals that the body will need to help is function correctly.

As we all know these fad diets will come and go. A lot of these fad diets are harmful and sometimes unpleasant. One of the good parts of the negative calorie diets is it seems to be a pleasant diet compared to the normal fad diets. The reason for this is its intake of fresh fruits and vegetables.

When trying to speed your metabolism naturally using the negative calorie foods diet is nice because it does not have any unusual recommendations. Some of these strange things can be like eating between 2 and 4 am. Some even tell you to followup your meals with an intake of grapefruit or cabbage.

When you are looking to trying to increase your metabolism naturally, it is best to just to stick with nature. Learn and understand how the metabolism works. One of the nice things a educated dieter will become a successful dieter.

Steve Madigan writes on various subjects. His website Increasing Your Metabolism Naturally is one of the best resources on all types of metabolism issues. Steve and his son Tim have also written an ebook called Putt Lights Out , located at Putting Tips to help with putting problems.

If you would like more information on this topic as well as other ways to increase your metabolism naturally visit: Increase Your Metabolism Naturally

Boost Your Metabolism - Facts On Metabolism

By Robert William Locke

Lots of diets talk about your body metabolism and use expressions like ‘stoking your metabolism’ or ‘kick-starting your metabolism’. But what does it all really mean ? Read this article to discover what exactly is going on before considering any weight loss program.

Body metabolism is composed of two separate divisions of activity: one is the breaking down of tissues, called catabolism; the other is the building up of tissues, called anabolism. Increasing the body's rate of metabolism may be your answer to weight loss. Some people advocate ketone body metabolism which is an evolutionarily conserved process that spares protein breakdown so that the brain can function for long periods without food. But this is still very controversial.

The higher your metabolism is, the less likely you are to have excess body fat. In fact, increasing your body's metabolism is one very effective way to lose weight. It uses calories to process and digest the foods you eat, using calories to maintain body muscles, keep your heart pumping, make your organs function properly and even to make your hair and nails grow. When you severely restrict your caloric intake, the body automatically decreases its energy expenditures to the bare minimum, because it thinks you're starving. Muscles take more energy for the body to maintain, so you automatically burn more calories and have a higher metabolism when you have more toned muscle on your body. Boosting your metabolism not only helps you lose weight, it also helps give you more energy. Essentially when you start working to increase your body's metabolism, you are teaching it that you need more energy throughout the day. Since it's using more energy to keep you maintained, it will step up the process and actually provide you with more energy too. The body requires about 60-65% of your daily caloric intake to provide energy basically for life support.

Increasing Your Body Metabolism Rate
In fact, with proper nutrition and exercise, your body's metabolism rates can actually be increased enough to allow you to be able to eat almost anything you want, within reason of course. The body's rate of metabolism naturally decreases with age due to the decrease in physical activity and amount of lean muscle tissue. Taller individuals have a higher rate of metabolism than shorter individuals. The body's rate of metabolism can decrease in response to a diet without the incorporation of regular exercise.

If you need to know more about body metabolism and discover which foods will make your body run like an Italian sports car, then look at the link below.

Robert Locke is an Internet Marketer specializing in Health, Wellness and Fitness.

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Need to Lose Weight? Then Increase Your Metabolism

By Matt Falconer

If you need to lose weight, one great way to start melting pounds away is to increase your metabolism. By increasing your metabolism, you'll be able to process food faster and therefore will store less fat in the body. In fact, with a better metabolism, you're body will even begin burning away existing fat in order to get the energy it needs to support itself.

How Metabolism Works Your metabolism can either work for you or against you. The main way we all get energy is from glucose, commonly known as our blood sugar.

When our blood sugar runs low, our metabolism burns the fat in our bodies in order to make more energy. However, when our blood sugar runs high, our metabolism stores fat in our bodies to use later.

So now let's look at how you can get your metabolism to work for you.

Go Ahead and Eat Many people believe that the key to losing weight is to stop eating. Well, that will actually have a negative effect on your metabolism. Eating less will cause your metabolism to slow down because it will sense that you don't have enough food.

So when you finally eat, your blood sugar will jump through the roof and your metabolism will store the extra glucose as fat.

Instead of starving yourself, eat many smaller, healthy meals that are low in calories and fat. Also, consume plenty of water, fruits, and vegetables.

By eating smaller portions you'll not only curb your appetite, but you'll also trick your body into thinking that it's getting plenty of food. Therefore, your metabolism will kick into a higher gear.
Then when it doesn't get the glucose it needs for energy (because you're eating healthy) then it will begin to take that glucose from the stores of fat that are already in your body.

Get Yourself Moving Exercise is a guaranteed way to increase your metabolism. Always check with your doctor for what is the best exercise regime for you. Most of the time, walking as little as twenty minutes a day, will help increase your metabolism.

Exercise actually helps you lose weight in two ways:

First, exercise builds muscle and muscle burns calories on its own. Secondly, when you exercise your body is forced to come up with enough energy to support your activity. So, it begins burning fat in order to give the energy you need.

Don't be put off when I say exercise - there is no need to be pounding away furiously on a treadmill for hours a day.

A simple yet effective mini routine is all that is needed to give your metabolism a boost.
Some Final Words about Losing Weight If you need to lose weight, you're certainly not alone. Millions of people are in the same boat. However, most people don't realize what it takes to first lose the weight and then to keep the weight off.

If you increase your metabolism, you'll see that over time, your fat will melt off your body and your weight will gradually drop. The two best ways to increase your metabolism are to eat smaller meals more often and to exercise regularly.

Matt Falconer's latest guide helps you shift pounds, boost metabolism and burn fat without spending hours in the gym sweating away on the treadmill. =>
http://www.12MinuteWorkoutPlan.Com