Metabolism: Revving the Body’s Engine

 

Mark R. Hailey

ACE Certified Personal Trainer

 

Everyone who joins a gym or works out at home has an imaginary fitness finish line they are racing towards in hopes of reaching their personal goals.

 

Consistent strength training and cardiovascular endurance routines are the keys to achieving your fitness goals, but they are the external aspects of physical fitness. Internally, what gets you from contemplation to completion, in the shortest period of time, is your rate of metabolism.

 

Metabolism is the chemical process by which the cells convert stored energy, maintain their structure and reproduce. How fast and efficiently this takes place is up to you.

 

The human body is a machine. To understand the operation of our machine, as it relates to fitness, we can compare the body to another familiar mechanical device, the car.

 

Using this analogy, the fat stored in our bodies is like the fuel in a car’s gas tank.  Our heart and muscles are the engine, our fitness level is the number of cylinders the engine has, and our metabolism is the engine’s rate of fire.

 

In order to power an engine a car burns gasoline.  The larger the engine, and the faster the pistons are firing, the more fuel the car will burn in the shortest period of time.

 

For fuel, we burn fat. The denser our muscles are and the more aerobically conditioned our heart is, the more fat we will burn in the shortest period of time.

 

If you pour too much fuel into a car’s gas tank the excess comes spilling out. A car’s tank is limited in the volume it can hold.

 

This is where our machine and that machine differ. We can hold far more fuel than our engine is able to process. Any fuel that isn’t burned is stored in a safe place. And where the body considers safe the mind does not necessarily consider flattering.

 

A car uses the principle of Thermodynamics, energy in equals energy out. Our bodies use the same principle, and when dealing with metabolism personal trainers will often use the phrase “calories  in, calories out”.

 

During normal day to day activities, the average adult human body burns roughly 2300 calories. This is considered your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).

 

If you consume more than 2300 calories, 3000 for example, the body will burn the 2300 calories it needs and stores the remaining 700 as fat.

 

By the same token, if you consume less than 2300 calories, 1800 for example, the body will burn the 1800 given and go into storage (the fat cells) to retrieve the other 500 needed to maintain it’s BMR. Hence the term calories in, calories out.

 

Now, the down side of this is that if you consume too few calories your body will trip into “starvation  mode” and actually store more fat because it thinks you are trying to starve it. Calorie restriction is a delicate balance that needs to be monitored carefully.

 

A car that has a V8 engine is more powerful, runs much faster, and consumes more fuel than a car with only 4 cylinders.

 

In our body, when you ad exercise to the mix of proper nutrition... you put the pedal to the metal.

 

The stronger your heart and muscles become the more calories they will require to maintain their current state; and the faster your metabolism will become to fuel those muscles. For every pound of muscle you gain the body can burn an additional 50 calories to sustain it.

 

Through a combination of weight training, cardiovascular routines and proper nutrition, we have the ability to add cylinders to our engine, rev it up to maximum and increase its performance. In other words,  boost our metabolism.

 

So if you are eager to see the checkered flag waved at your fitness finish line... then ladies and gentleman... START YOUR ENGINES.

 

 

 

© Copyright Mark R. Hailey