Is your metabolism freaking slow and preventing you from losing weight despite your daily efforts?
I’ll bet the farm that you have not tried the very exercises that will fire up your lethargic metabolism.
You’ve probably been taught to believe that the best kind of weight loss activity for people with sluggish metabolisms is a long, moderate-paced session on any kind of cardio equipment.
Or perhaps you’ve been led to believe that fat will melt off from a long, moderate effort jog in the park or on a treadmill, or a similarly-paced stint on a bike or inline skates.
Steady state cardio means long duration and an effort level of light to medium.
Shutterstock/Creativa Images
You’ve been taught that steady state exercise burns more fat than does highly intense cardio.
This is wrong. Long and slow cardio does not burn off more absolute fat. Long slow cardio burns a higher percentage of fat.
There is a big difference between absolute fat (total fat) and the percentage of fat (from calories burned).
The net result, when the exercise is completed, is that the long slow cardio burns less fat, and fewer calories, than does highly intense exercise done for the same amount of time.
Highly intense exercise is what men and women with slow metabolisms should do for faster weight loss.
Very intense cardio workouts will cause your metabolism to remain elevated after the workout is over, resulting in weight loss.
Depending on one’s physical condition, a slow metabolism will stay elevated for many hours after the intense exercise is over.
Now, the best form of intense cardio for a slow metabolism is high intensity interval training (HIIT) or burst training.
The reason that steady state aerobics does not cause the after-burn of an elevated metabolism is because a low or medium intensity level fails to trigger increased release of human growth hormone and testosterone. Both genders produce these hormones.
These hormones are very effective fat-burners. HIIT and burst exercise trigger increased circulation of these fat-burning chemicals, and these hormones will stay in heightened production for hours after the HIIT or burst exercise is completed.
After you finish long duration or steady state cardio, metabolism, which was elevated during the exercise, returns to normal quickly after. There is no increased release of he HGH or testosterone.
So now you know why typical, fixed-pace aerobics is not the ideal weight loss exercise for slow metabolisms.
And never mind the buttons on cardio equipment. Instead, note the science: HIIT and burst-type exercise result in bigger weight loss, and they keep slow metabolisms fired up — long after the workout is finished.
