By Benjamin Petitpas, CSCS, CPT

Having an increase in your metabolism means that there is an increase in the amount of calories that your body is burning to maintain its normal functions. If you have been having a difficult time burning fat and losing weight these 5 tips can help you get over the hump and help you maximize your metabolism and have you burning more calories all day long even while you are resting.

1. Strength Training

Strength training can help increase your metabolism in a few different ways. The first way is from the calories that you will burn during the workout itself. The second way is from the afterburn effect strength training has on your body, known as Excessive Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). EPOC can be described as an increase in your body’s metabolic activity following a strength training workout as your body is trying to recover and return itself to a pre-exercise state.   A third way strength training increases the metabolism, is because it builds build lean muscle mass. This is important because the more lean muscle mass that you have, the more calories it takes for your body to maintain it. So as a result it causes an increase in your metabolism, so even will you are resting, your body will be burning more calories to support your lean muscle mass.

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“I am doing the same workouts that has helped me lose 10 pounds initially, but I have not been able to lose any more weight.  How come I have stopped seeing results?”

This is a common question that I hear all of the time. This is something that can happen after a few months on the same program and doing the same thing every time you go to the gym.

One thing about the human body is that it has an amazing ability to adapt to whatever stresses that you put on it.

Initially, you may have seen some great results when you started your exercise program, because the exercises program was new.  Your body was not use to the new program and was under more stress that what its use was to.

In order to get stronger you must overload the muscles and give them more work that what they are use to. As a result the muscles will grow and become stronger as a way of adapting to the stimulus.

What happens in many cases is that most people begin an exercise program and initially they get instant result, but after a few months on the same program using the same amount of weight, sets, reps, time, or intensity levels the body adapts and you will hit a plateau and stop seeing results.

In order to get over this plateau you must change some of the variables. Here are a few changes to help you get over the hump so you can start getting results again quickly.

·         Change the exercises

·         Change the order of exercises

·         Change the weight

·         Change the sets

·         Change the reps

·         Change the rest time

·         Change the tempo

·         Change your program- circuit training, split routines, total body

This does not mean that you should switch your workout up every time that you come to the gym. No, the key is to give your muscles a chance to adapt before you switch up your program. Usually I will switch up the workouts every four weeks. This gives your muscles enough time to adapt and grow stronger from the new workout, but not enough time to for your muscles to hit a plateau.

By Benjamin Petitpas, CSCS

Personal Trainer Connecticut

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With one holiday under your loosened belt, you’re gearing up for many more celebrations…and piles of seasonal comfort food. If you don’t mind, I’d like to be totally candid with you today.Sure, I could write you a ‘feel good’ article about cutting back a few calories and exercising a few minutes each day, but I’d rather be perfectly frank (and truly helpful).

Here’s the real deal: You abuse food.

That’s right. You’re overweight because you eat too much, and you eat too much because it brings immediate pleasure.

I am here to point out that this pleasure comes at high price…

The other side of comfort food: You’ve heard dishes being referred to as ‘comfort food’—some restaurants even have an entire section of their menu designated as comfort food. But comfort food is more than just a hearty dish. Read the rest of this entry

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