Back to Metabolism!

Just read a new piece on Metabolism, and the numerous things they suggest we do in order to speed up our burn-rate.  Thought I’d share my thoughts and experiences on each:

Suggestion #1 – Do Intervals.  In other words, change the speed at which you do your cardio, mixing up slow to fast, then back to slow, etc.  WRONG!  Any runner will tell you that even though we do change our speed along the multi-mile run, it is primarily to adjust the breathing and catch the second wind, so to speak, or depending on the terrain.  However, the most effective run takes place at a constant rate – you increase your heart-rate and keep it up steady.  That’s what gets your metabolism into the stratosphere!

Suggestion #2 – Drink more coffee.  Gotta agree with this one, it does speed up your burn rate, I am just not sure what other side effects it could have on your heart and your nervous system…Perhaps, not too much of this good thing.

Suggestion #3 – Drink Ice Cold Water.  True, and a good suggestion overall, I wrote before about the positive effect overall from drinking water, and cold water is the best!

Suggestion #4 – Eat a Big Breakfast! Oh yeah!  Definitely.  However, of course, in my theory, this only holds true if you did your cardio BEFORE eating (5AM Run!!), in which case anything and everything is ok for breakfast.  If you simply start your day off with a huge eating frenzy, jumping on eggs and pancakes like there is no tomorrow, it will catch up to you quite soon, and actually will slow down your metabolism rather than help speed it up.

Suggestion #5 – Go Heavy on Dairy.  Good idea, sure.  For breakfast, definitely a great element to include, although again, only AFTER doing cardio first.  And no matter what, avoid dairy later in the day, especially after 6-7 PM – it will derail all your metabolism work right then and there.

Suggestion #6 – Build More Muscle.  Cannot agree, sorry.  Two different things, gaining muscle mass vs. weight loss and speeding up your body to burn faster.  The general consensus does hold that extra muscle mass makes losing weight much easier.  But do you know how much muscle mass is actually required to make this work?!  If you are in strictly weight-losing mode, and are trying to spike-up your burn-rate (which is the way to go), stay away from heavy weights, at least for a while..