There are a few easy ways to add variety to your exercise program. We’ve already talked about interval training as one effective method of shifting your body’s metabolic engine into higher gear, but there are other ways too – the first being to break up a longer routine into smaller parts.
So for instance, instead of committing to 1x1 hour workout a day, it can boost your metabolism considerably to split this up into 2x30 minute workouts; or even, on some occasions, 3x20 minute workouts.
Then there are the old tried and tested methods of adding variety into your daily exercise routine without formally exercising – taking the stairs instead of the elevator; starting your day with a brisk walk instead of a coffee and the newspaper, or even parking further away from the grocery store entrance and walking the extra distance.
If you stop to think about it for a moment, there are probably plenty of little tweaks you can make to you daily activities that can add variety and a bit of informal exercise. And the good news is that whether you decide to split up a formal exercise routine, or tweak an existing daily activity, you will gain two important metabolism-boosting benefits. Firstly, they can make exercising more fun, and in terms of weight loss, fun is often a by-word for success.
Having a boring exercise routine increases your chances of stopping considerably, and so adding new or fun elements to your overall exercise commitment simply helps encourage you to stick with your program. And since exercising is a core part of boosting your metabolism, anything that helps you continue exercising over the long term is a great strategy.
The second and equally important benefit of adding variety in your exercise program leads us back to the interval training concept, we discussed in Blog 9.
When you add variety to your workout, your body cannot get into a groove. Remember: the body is a remarkable piece of work, and will always strive to do things efficiently.
Naturally, the overall state of your health (which can be influenced by genetics and other factors outside of your control) will play a role in how efficiently your body runs.
But regardless of how your body is put together, it really likes you, and wants to do things as efficiently as it possibly can.
Therefore, when you start exercising, your body starts to develop a kind of expectation of energy output. It’s not doing this to be lazy; it’s doing this because, quite sincerely, it wants to help!
It starts to predict that you need a certain amount of energy to complete a certain task (such as jog for 20 minutes), and attempts to provide that energy output more efficiently.
So, when you first start jogging for, say, 2 minutes a time followed by 5 minutes of walking, your body may require a great deal of energy to help you achieve this.
And as a result, you may find yourself very out of breath or tired as your body strives to meet this increased demand. Naturally, of course, catabolism will be involved, and your body metabolism will increase.
But over time, say a month or so, your body will simply become more efficient. It will have become stronger, and will be able to supply your energy needs much more efficiently; you may not even break a sweat!
What’s happened here is that your health has improved; your body has to work less hard to provide you with your energy needs.
Ironically, this can actually dilute your metabolism-boosting efforts; because, as you know, you want to tell your body to start the catabolism process. But if your body is efficiently working, it won’t really dig into its reserves (e.g. fat cells) in order to provide you with the energy that you need.
So the trick is to keep variety in your workouts. Many people choose to cross-train for this very reason. It not only targets different muscle groups, but it keeps your body from finding a groove whereby it can try to ‘help’ you by slowing down metabolism.
Remember, your body doesn’t read blogs like this; it doesn’t need to, and it doesn’t care. It has no clue that a speedier metabolism is “good” or “bad”. As far as you and I are concerned, we know that a speedy metabolism is a good thing in our weight loss efforts. But our bodies don’t make this evaluation, and won’t turn on our metabolism jets because we want them to.
Of course it would be great to be able to send a memo to your body and ask it to please speed up metabolism, but sadly that’s not reality. So what we have to do is force the body to say to itself:
“Hey, I need to speed up metabolism because this person needs more energy!”
And one of the best ways for you to force your body to have this kind of thinking is to add variety to your workouts.
So, although we’ve come to the end of the ‘Exercise’ section now, there’s plenty more for you coming up in the Boosting Your Metabolism series. Next time in Blog 11, we’ll start to explore ‘Lifestyle’ and how little changes can have the most profound influence on the speed of your metabolism.
All the best till then,
Sandra
P.S. If you’re looking for plenty of fresh ideas on how to spice up your exercise routine, there’s bound to be something for you on the link. Just Click Here!
P.P.S. And if the man in your life ever fancied a 6-Pack, he’s going to love this just as much as you will!
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