Exercise and Your Metabolism—part II
By Brad King
The Most Effective Fat Burning Exercise
As discussed in part I of Exercise and Your Metabolism, hormones like HGH and testosterone are key players when it comes to enhancing metabolism. Aerobic exercise does not stimulate to any great extent HGH or testosterone levels, and since it does not, aerobic training doesn’t seem to build muscle to any significant degree, which is where the real problem lies. In order to positively affect the rate at which body fat is burned over the long haul, you must learn to increase both muscle mass and activity.
Why are muscles so important?
Because the more muscle you carry on your frame, the higher your resting metabolic rate or RMR (the rate at which you burn calories at rest). Aside from this fact, the more active those muscles are, the more fat you burn, 24 hours each day. The secret is out, enhanced muscle mass and activity will always lead to increased fat loss through an enhanced metabolism.
High volume aerobic training day in and day out (unless you are a trained athlete), often ends up "wasting" the very tissue (muscle) that is needed to keep the fat off. Therefore the exercise of choice for those wanting to transform their physiques into fat burning machines is almost always going to be in the form of proper resistance – anabolic-elevating – exercise. The reason I say “almost,” is because high impact aerobic activity over short durations (15-20 minutes) has also been shown to elevate metabolism for many hours after the activity is over.
How’s your EPOC?
EPOC stands for excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, which is the measurement of how much oxygen your body requires for recovery from exercise (activity). So what does this have to do with fat burning you ask? More than you may think. Researchers have found a direct link between the amount of oxygen your body requires and the total number of calories your body is able to burn. In other words, the higher your EPOC, the greater the potential for fat loss.
Exercise scientists have discovered that when cardio (i.e. running or cycling) exercise intensity and duration is minimal, EPOC levels are low and therefore little body fat is burned after the activity, however when the intensity of the exercise is high—even for short durations (as little as six minutes of very high intensity)—EPOC levels are greatly increased for many hours after the exercise is over.
The Optimum Amount of Fat Burning Exercise
The duration of an exercise program can often be just as important as the intensity the program is performed at. We need a little physical stress to increase the levels of free fatty acids in the blood stream, but too much can cause a drastic increase in cortisol, the muscle-wasting hormone. Excess cortisol seems to become detrimental to overall progress when exercising intensely with weights for more than 45-minutes at a time. The more cortisol that’s produced, the harder it is to get rid of and the worse off we are for it.
Since most aerobic and weight-bearing activities don’t utilize enough fat during the exercise sessions to make any noticeable short-term difference in your fat cell account, the real magic lies in their ability to raise your resting metabolic rate afterwards.
As long as you exercise properly and with enough intensity, and are careful not to consume the wrong foods after your workout, your body will have the ability to burn extra calories for many hours to come. As a matter of fact, in one study, it was shown that over two-thirds of the fat-burning activity of exercise takes place after the actual exercise sessions. This increase in fat-burning potential has been documented as lasting for over 15 hours in highly trained athletes.
When we complete our workout and are either on our way to work or plopped in front of the TV set watching our favorite program, EPOC is allowing our bodies to burn extra fat for energy. Therefore the best time to exercise for the most effective fat burning is first thing in the morning. This way you get to take full advantage of your anabolic hormones along with EPOC’s ability to help you burn more calories from the foods you consume throughout your day.