Battling slow metabolism, or do you simply want to give your metabolic rate a jumpstart? Your genetic makeup plays a key role in how fast (or painfully slow) you process calories, but you’re not imprisoned by genetics. There are tweaks you can make to your training routine that can help you improve your body’s fat-burning engine. A big one you’ll hear is to eat spicy foods. Yeah, it’ll give your metabolic rate a small jolt, but not a huge one that’ll make an immediate or lasting impact. So what else can you do? We’re glad you asked …
#1. Build More Muscle
Starving your body of nutrition on a regular basis will trigger it to go into “storage mode.” A side effect to that? Most of what you consume will turn into subcutaneous fat. While we all need subcutaneous fat to remain living, breathing human beings — it helps us stay warm in winter, for example — too much excess and you’re be toting around a big spare tire, lots of junk in the trunk, or more thigh jiggles than a jar of jelly. Building dense muscles will increase metabolic rate and for your body to burn more calories. Period. So if you’ve laid off training for hypertrophy for a while, consider adopting a program that promotes building more muscle.
#2. Choose The Right Cardio
Implement both low-intensity and high-intensity aerobic activity to fluctuate your metabolic rate and burn fat. What’s the difference between the two? High-intensity aerobic activity would be something like kettlebell or cardio intervals (periods of high intensity followed by periods of low intensity), while slow-and-steady treadmill or elliptical activity would serve as your low-intensity cardio. If you’re in the midst of a big hypertrophy push, the slower cardio might work better for your metabolism. Combined with hardcore lifting, slow-state cardio is less likely to burn muscle and more likely to target unwanted fat.
#3. Avoid Normalcy In Your Training
Switch things up consistently with pace, reps, resistance — in the middle of a workout, not just every three to four weeks. Keep your body guessing and attempting to catch up with what you’re putting it through rather than consistently allow it to dictate when and how much you lift. However, keep your end goal in mind. Don’t pull a mid-workout switch-up too often if the aim is to put up more weight on the squat, bench, or deadlift. If that’s the case, try changing up every fourth workout, as well as reducing rest between sets or adding a high-volume 30 or 50-rep set. Of course, make sure you’re always in control of each rep. Once your form breaks, you’re upping your odds of injury and removing focus from the muscle or muscles you’re trying to exhaust.
To get the most out of each training session you need to fuel up properly. To avoid feeling super sluggish before hitting the weights, we suggest P4’s workout supplement Pre Game Formula and Energy Formula. Both are NSF Certified for Sport (they’re tested for more than 200 banned substances and certified that all ingredients comply with the rigid list set forth by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Plus, both will deliver a major energy boost before or during your workout. (To learn about the differences between the two, read our post What’s The Difference Between Pre Game Formula and Energy Formula?
