Weight loss workouts

 Design your workout so it maximally increases your post-training metabolism

It is a common misconception that maximizing the metabolic cost of your workout is the key to loose weight. The metabolic cost expresses how challenging a workout is. A high metabolic cost means you burn a lot of calories during the workout.

The metabolic cost of your workout is only one part of the equation. It is impossible to loose weight only focussing on the calories you burn during your workout.

Research shows that by designing your workouts the right way, you can not only increase the metabolic cost of your workout, but also boost your metabolism after the workout. This has several benefits like weight loss, enhanced strength and endurance.

To get results fast, you need to design your workouts in a manner that it maximally increases your metabolism after the workout. The elevated metabolism after training is the result of several physiological mechanisms that allow your body to recover from the workout. These physiological mechanisms include phosphagen (ATP) resynthesis, lactate removal, oxygen replenishment, increased ventilation, blood circulation and body temperature.

There are three keys to maximize the metabolic cost of your workout.

First, integrate total body exercises into your training. Do not use machines or exercises that only focus on one muscle group. Exercises that involve movement in several joints and engage multiple stabilizer muscles are metabolically more demanding. 

Second, add variation to your training routine. By repeating some workouts over and over again, your body gets used to the workout and will not burn as many calories anymore. A training your body is accustomed to, does not effectively elevate your post-training metabolism. Variate the focus, intensity, resting time and exercise selection of the workouts you perform within one week. Research shows that microcycle training variation (variating workouts within your training week) is the key to obtain results, and is a lot more effective than variating your workouts on a weekly basis. 

Third, research shows that weight lifting and interval training boost the post-training metabolism the most. Long cardio workouts, strength exercises performed on machines in a non-circuit manner and a routine of crunches to expose those abs are the least effective. This explains why a lot of people put in a lot of work, but do not see the wanted results.

If your workout is properly designed, the post-training elevated metabolism can last up to 48 hours.