My metabolic rate

Why should I care about my metabolic rate?

The metabolic rate is an important factor if you want to loose weight. Metabolism is the process where your body converts what your eat and drink into energy. It can be divided in two categories: 

• Catabolism: the breakdown of molecules to obtain energy (breaking down molecules)
• Anabolism: the synthesis of all compounds needed by the cells (building up molecules)

A higher metabolic rate is beneficial because it increases the number of calories we burn over time. 

Many people think that heavy people have a slower metabolic rate that skinny people. This is not true. In fact, in general, how heavier you are, the higher you metabolic rate because a heavier body requires more energy during physical movement. When you loose weight, your metabolic rate will slow down. 

Your metabolic rate is determined by several factors, among others:

• Muscle mass: muscles use more energy than any other body tissue
• Age: young cells renew more often which requires energy
• Length: tall persons require more energy to keep their body warm
• Hormons: several hormons influence the metabolic rate

However, you can exercise some influence on your metabolic rate. 

• Create more muscle mass! The muscles in your body will require more energy than any other tissue in your body, even when you are not working out. Even when you are sleeping you will burn more calories than a person with lass muscle mass. :)
• Eat regularly and eat food with a low glycemic index (complex carbs) and high in fiber! These foods require relatively more effort from your body to digest than foods like simple carbs without any fiber. Your body will use more energy to digest. Eating regularly ensures your metabolism is working continuously and keeps on burning energy. 
• Move! Physical exercise will burn calories. Whether it is a long easy walk on the beach or a heavy bootcap workout with intervals, you will burn those calories!
• Sleep! Try to get at least seven hours of sleep each night. Your energy and activity levels are higher when you slept well, increasing your metabolic rate. 
• Herbs like chili powder and cayenne peppers can increase your metabolic rate. These herbs increases the release of, among others, adrenaline which stimulates the metabolism and increases calorie burn. 
• Drink green tea. Several studies show that drinking green results in burning an extra 70-100 calories a day because of the antioxidants in the tea. 

Do keep in in mind that although your metabolism influences your body's basic energy needs, ultimately it is your total caloric intake and physical activity that determines wether you gain or loose weight!

Work hard and get your metabolism on fire!

Getting ready to run!

Zevenheuvelenloop

Lately I have been practicing my running very actively. I have two running competitions coming up where I subscribed for: the harbourrun (actually no running competition but an obstacle run) and the 'Zevenheuvenlenloop' (Seven-hills-run) where I will run 15k with a team from the company I work for. As I am not really a long distance runner, especially this 15k run is going to be a challenge for me!

My fastest run

This morning I went for a run and this happened to be the fastest run I have aver ran with my app Runkeeper! I ran more than 12k in 57 minutes! I surprised myself with this time!

I will keep on preparing myself for the competitions by going running next to lifting weights 3 times a week. I love to run in the mornings. If I want to do morning run during the week, this means I am outside at about 5.30 AM. Yes, it is early, but it feels like I own the city. At his time, Rotterdam, one of the largest cities in NL is so quite! Amazing! I normaly run about 5-8k in this early mornings.

On Saturdays I love to do a bit longer challenge, about 10-12k to build up the distance. I aim to do a 15k track next week Satutrday! Excited to see what it feels like!

Vincent and I at the harbourrun 2014

Fist things first; The magic 4: training

Get it done B*tch!

Go to the gym, work out, and see results!

When you want to become fit, you have to work for it! The fist step is: find a gym that suits you! I used to train at one of the large commercial trainings centres. Training there was fine, although during peak times is was vey busy and it was like doing the chair dance with others! The equipment was sufficient for me to train every body part and there were plenty of cardio machines. During my search for a coach I came across a local fitness centre, about 10 minutes biking from my house. This training enter has a no-nonsense attitude and had way more unique equipment than at the commercial gym. It felt good to work out there.  That’s where you can find me now, almost every day!

The second step is: go to the gym! When you find the gym that suits you and where you feel good at, you should go there! I personally go to the gym almost 6 days a week. I do weight training 3 times a week and cardio 3 times a week as well. When it is good wheatear I love to do my cardio sessions outside though. Find your own motivation to go to the gym, get inspiration and get it done! It might also help to go to the gym with a training partner. This person should be as motivated as you though, so you could go to the gym together and support each other.

Here you see the typical difference between a marathon
athletes and a sprinter. The sprinter has visible more
muscle development. Training type matters!

The third step is: match your training schedule with your goals! I love the classic example of sprinters and marathon runners. Both sports are amazing and require dedication and commitment. However, the looks of both athletes differ greatly. Marathon runners are very slim and showing few muscles, while sprinters are shredded with muscle development. This example shows how different trainings affect your body differently. Important is to balance weights training and cardio.

Weight training

Like I mentioned I do weight training 3 times a week. I do a full body workout; this means I work all muscle groups during my workout. Another option is to do different body parts on different days. For example, 1 day leg day, 1 day back and triceps, 1 day chest and shoulders. When working out, choose to do the larger muscles (quads, chest, back, shoulders, hamstrings) first, and that one or more smaller muscles (triceps, bicep, calves, forearms, traps). This is recommended because it is mostly the exhausted smaller muscles holding you back doing exercises.

Cardio

I try to keep my cardio and weight trainings separate. If you don’t have the time or opportunity to do that, you can also choose to do your cardio workout after you weight training. It is better to do this afterwards, so you can use your power at the start of the workout for your weight training. For cardio, you could do anything, like running, biking, cross trainer etc.  I perform a short and steady high intensity cardio workout 2 times a week. I prefer the bicycle because it is less destructive for the joints. The other time I like to do sprints outside. Near my house there is a 100 meter training track where I like to go run with friends. This is an interval training (high intensity for 10-60seconds and moderate intensity 30-60seconds). I usually try to keep my cardio sessions short and intense for about 20-30 min (excluding warming up and cooling down). 

Set your goals, plan your trainings, and get it done B*tch!