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When we think about speeding up our metabolism to consume more calories, aerobic exercise always comes to mind to achieve this. It is true that it is a good way to achieve it, but this time we are going to focus on how strength training influences our metabolism .
On countless occasions we have explained the benefits of aerobic exercise on metabolism and its acceleration. But there are few times when we think of strength training as a vehicle to achieve a greater acceleration of the metabolism.
We already know that aerobic activity accelerates blood circulation and respiration , because the muscles demand energy, and the process of achieving it occurs in the body. This process causes energy to be obtained from the fat reserves that we have stored in the body .Aerobic activity is always associated with the best way to accelerate metabolism, but it is not the only way to achieve it.
This is How Strength Training Influences Your Metabolism.
When performing a high-intensity activity in terms of aerobic requirement, the body needs quick energy , and that is why it will first use the glucose reserves we have available. This will give us quick and momentary energy. But when it runs out, it is necessary to use the body’s fat reserves to produce energy.
This phenomenon occurs when we are carrying out aerobic activity, and it is true that the metabolism remains active a few hours after carrying out the aerobic activity in question.
But what interests us now, and what we want to focus on, is how strength training affects our metabolism . Strength training focuses on purely muscular work, and on their explosive response to the load.
But, contrary to what many think, strength training with weight also positively influences metabolism. In the long run it is a good way to keep you more active and burn more calories without hardly realizing it.
To understand how strength training intervenes in our metabolism, we are going to focus on three moments : the effect during exercise, after exercise and in the long term with the gain of muscle mass.
What happens in the metabolism while we train strength?
While we train strength, what we do is overcome resistance through muscular action. Resistance is the load. The metabolic response will depend a lot on the type of training we do, that is, if we put more load or more intensity the effect achieved may vary.
What will happen is that by increasing the load, our metabolism is activated, since we will consume the quick energy that comes from the glucose we have stored. This glucose gives us instant energy that is necessary to increase the load.
During training, energy consumption will depend on the load we lift and the time the activity lasts.
This causes the metabolism to activate and demand energy from the body , since the muscles will need it to be able to perform the exercises. Depending on the intensity and duration of the exercise, we will consume more or less glycogen. If we run out of reserves, the body will use the fat accumulated in the body to obtain energy. This process causes the metabolism to be activated effectively.
What happens after strength training?
After practicing strength training , the metabolism undergoes a change , and it continues to remain active. This is produced by various processes that take place in the body.
Once the exercise is finished, phosphocreatine resynthesis occurs in the muscle. Lactate is accelerated and the restoration of oxygen stores in the blood and muscle begins. Body temperature has increased, as has heart rate and breathing.
After training the body suffers a series of effects that will increase oxygen consumption and therefore calorie burning.
Everything described above, together with the fact that the body increases the production of certain hormones, causes oxygen consumption to increase . This increase in oxygen consumption keeps calorie burning active after training, even up to a few hours later.
What will happen in the long-term metabolism, when we get higher fibers?
Thirdly, we are going to focus on the effects that strength training will have on our metabolism in the long term. By training strength we make the muscles grow and to do so the fibers that make them up will increase. This increase makes the muscles larger.
The metabolism will be altered with this gain in two directions. It will increase the basal metabolic rate.
This means that our body will consume more energy at rest, since having larger muscle fibers will require a greater intake of food, which translates into greater energy consumption. By increasing muscle fibers, you will increase basal consumption and post-workout oxygen consumption
On the other hand, this increase in mass will also increase post-exercise oxygen consumption. This greater consumption of oxygen will cause the body’s energy requirement to be greater. Therefore the metabolism will be activated much more and with it the burning of calories.
Given these three points, we must keep in mind that with strength training, we will achieve greater energy consumption in the long run . With aerobic exercise it is faster, but not as persistent over time as it is with strength training.
Therefore, it is good to consider the benefits that working strength will bring us in the long term, making our metabolism accelerate and thus achieving much better results, while keeping our muscles perfectly toned.
