Muscle & Metabolism by Katie Mitchell, M.S. Metabolism. Sounds familiar right? You know having a high metabolism is a positive thing. You also know a goal is to increase metabolism. But you might be wondering, why? Let’s refresh our memory and answer the question, what is metabolism? Without going into university level scientific detail, metabolism is your body’s ability to break down food for energy and burn calories, even while you’re catching some Z’s. That’s right, burn calories while you’re resting! It’s a no brainer you want to increase your metabolism. The higher your metabolism, the more efficient your body is at breaking down food and burning more calories. There are a few factors influencing your metabolism that you can’t control like your age, genetics, and your gender. That’s ok though, we can have an impact on a couple factors that largely influence metabolism, and those are physical activity level and lean muscle mass. Increasing your physical activity will increase your body’s need for energy. This means your body will burn more calories for fuel and this will increase your metabolism. Strength training requires a lot of energy and builds lean muscle mass. In order to repair the tiny tears created in your muscle fibers after we strength train, your body needs energy for that too. So, building lean muscle will rev up your metabolism. Your Curves Workout includes strength training for every major muscle in your body. How convenient is that? At Curves, strength training occurs on the hydraulic machines. Check out these 5 tips to make sure you’re getting the most out of your workout and each machine! - Learn to Love the Squat! You’ll strengthen large muscles so you can burn more calories on this machine compared to other machines. So while you’re burning calories and building your metabolism, you’ll also be building a firm backside, and who wouldn’t want that? - Recovery Stations are for……Recovery! Use the recovery boards to do exactly that, recover. Rest your muscles so you’re ready to push hard on the next strength machine. - Say NO to Gravity’s Help! On some machines, gravity wants to lend a helping hand by pulling the handles down for you, such as that pesky Shoulder Press/Lat Pull Down. Well, the more you let gravity help you, the less benefit you get in return. So, say thanks but no thanks. Instead, YOU do the work to get the reward! - Always Use Full Range of Motion! You know the saying “less is more”? That can be true in some cases. While using the Curves Strength Machines aim for QUALITY over QUANTITY. Once you have great form and range of motion, and then pick up that speed! - Last but NOT Least...Stretch! Stretch after your workout. It only takes 5 minutes and can help you increase your strength by up to 19%.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 01:42:39 +0000
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