Types of Exercises and their Metabolic Effect

• Exercising will boost your metabolism, including resting metabolism, so that your body burns calories more efficiently even when you are at rest.
• Anaerobic or strength training is the type of exercise during which the energy needed is provided without utilization of inspired oxygen, better known as heavy breathing.
• Aerobic exercise is the type of exercise during which the energy needed is provided with the utilization of inspired oxygen, better known as heaving breathing
• Flexibility and stretching exercises are done to improve the limberness and flexibility of your body’s muscles.

Exercise is important not only to lose weight, but also to maintain that weight loss. Exercising will boost your metabolism, including resting metabolism, so that your body burns calories more efficiently even when you are at rest. This means that you can be burning more calories without doing any physical activity, and become more efficient when you are actually engaging in physical activity. There are different types of exercise, that will increase your metabolism in a specific way, and for a specific time period. These exercise types are anaerobic exercise also known as strength training, aerobic exercise, and stretching exercises for flexibility.

Anaerobic or strength training is the type of exercise during which the energy needed is provided without utilization of inspired oxygen, better known as heavy breathing. It is also referred to as resistance or strength training. The aim of strength training is to build up muscle strength and mass with short periods of strenuous exercise that causes your muscles to tire out completely. With strength training, your body will get stronger and gain or build more lean muscle tissue. Using weights is necessary in strength training. The amount of weights used must be increased periodically when the current weight being used is no longer a challenge. There are common and well used methods used in strength training. Some of these are weights or barbells, resistance bands with or without machines, using your own body as the resistance weight in exercises that include push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, etc., or by taking classes at the local gym in body toning and sculpting. Remember, anaerobic exercises or strength training not only increases your strength, but also will increase the amount of muscle you have. This in turn uses more calories and increases your metabolism so your body burns off excess fat much faster even when you are not physically active. It is very important to allow a few days in between strength training workouts, so that your muscles have enough time to heal and normalize.

Aerobic exercise is the type of exercise during which the energy needed is provided with the utilization of inspired oxygen, better known as heaving breathing. These exercises can be performed at different pace levels according to your ability. It is more importent to get your heart rate up than the level of difficulty in your exercise. When you perform aerobic exercises they should start out at a slower pace and build to a faster pace for a specific length of time. There are many ways to do aerobic exercise including jogging, bicycling, swimming, hiking, skiing, kickboxing, aerobic dancing classes or programs, and even walking briskly. You should do aerobic exercises at least three times a week, for at least twenty to thirty minutes. Start with the minimum and work upwards, so that soon you will be doing these exercises for an hour three to five times a week to gain the maximum benefits. The benefits of aerobic exercise include a stronger heart, lower blood pressure, more endurance, and an increased metabolism whereby fat will be burned for energy so you will lose fat stores and possibly lose size and weight. In addition, aerobic exercises release hormones that may help you feel great, including endorphins, so that depression and anxiety feelings may diminish or possibly do not occur at all.

Flexibility and stretching exercises are done to improve the limberness and flexibility of your body’s muscles. This is beneficial to help prevent any injuries when muscles are not properly warmed up before exercising or any strenuous activity. It is important to perform stretching exercises before every workout. The increased blood flow to the muscles will help make your body work harder. You should also perform stretching exercises as a workout at least two times a week and can also be done lightly more often just keep the body feeling limber and not tight. These exercises will increase the circulation throughout your entire body, helping to relieve stress, and improving your muscle tone. This is important because good muscle tone means more lean muscle tissue, and the building of muscle burns more calories increasing your metabolism.

The ideal workout for maximum benefit to your body, muscles, and metabolism should include several steps. First, you should spend five minutes simply warming up your muscles, again making them more efficient and to help prevent injury. This can be done by walking in place or doing a slow jog. After you have warmed up, spend five minutes stretching your warmed muscles. This will increase their flexibility and also help to prevent any strains or tears to muscles, ligaments, tendons, and joints. After these two steps are done, it is time to do the strength training or aerobic exercise workout for at least a steady twenty to thirty minutes. Once the main workout is complete, it is important to spend a minimum of five minutes cooling down, to allow your muscles to slowly relax avoiding cramping. If it is possible, after the cool down period, do five minutes of stretching again. These five steps will ensure a workout that has the maximum benefits on your outlook, your muscles and your metabolism.

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.