How many times have you heard someone say, “It’s my metabolism!” in rationalizing a few extra pounds? One of the main culprits behind gaining weight, a sluggish metabolism is a tempting blame for putting on some extra pounds. Equally popular is the correlation between metabolism and exercise, more specifically, that boosting metabolism through exercise is a great method for losing weight. With the latter in mind, exercising twice a day may boost metabolism even greater. An exploration of exercise in general will help determine if certain types of exercise, done twice a day, will really boost metabolism to an optimum level.
Metabolism is a set of biochemical processes that take place in the body. During a single workout, these processes can be boosted. During a second workout the processes will occur again, resulting in a second boost to the metabolism. Consider what happens during a workout. First the heart rate increases, thereby increasing the blood flow. Then the breath becomes rapid and the body takes in additional oxygen. The oxygen, via the increase in blood flow, helps to transport certain hormones (produced during the workout) to the cells in the body. To perform all of these tasks during a workout, the body must consume extra energy in the form of calories. This energy consumption is synonymous with metabolism. The result of one workout, therefore, is a temporary boost in metabolism from the body’s natural state, and with two separate workouts, the result would be double.
During any workout session, your body burns calories. It also burns calories after you're done, and long after you have left the gym. This process is part of the body’s recovery from a strenuous workout and it's conceptually known as the “afterburn.” During the afterburn, your body takes in a measurable increase in oxygen to replenish that which was lost during the workout. The result is a return to the body’s resting state. To accomplish the tasks of the afterburn, the body needs to rely on the consumption of fuel – the burn of energy – in addition to that which was burned during the exercise. The result is a boost in metabolism.
Weight training is a more strenuous workout than aerobic exercises. It elevates certain hormones like epinephrine, which stimulate the body’s metabolic rate. Microscopic tissue damage resulting from a strenuous weight-lifting exercise can induce extra expenditure of energy by the body in order to repair the tissue. Expending the energy in this fashion provides for a temporary boost in metabolism as well; perform weight-training exercises twice in one day and you can experience twice the results as well.
Performing any strenuous workout twice a day gives your body the “during” and “afterburn” effect twice as often. However, if you're looking for a more permanent solution to boosting metabolism, you must go beyond the temporary boosts provided by workouts and afterburn and consider the burning of energy while the body is consistently resting. Your body burns energy in the form of calories when you are resting; however, it burns more energy at a higher rate in people with muscle. Already well documented, Doctors R. Bielinski, Y. Schutz, and E. Jéquier furthered this information in the "Journal of Clinical Nutrition." While exploring energy metabolism in and after physical exercise, the body uses up to six calories a day to sustain every pound of muscle. Alternatively, the body burns only two calories a day for each pound of fat. The conclusion to be drawn from this, and other articles like it, is that regardless of exercise, choosing to step up your intensity or perform types of exercises that build muscle such as resistance training, then performing them twice a day, will result in a more consistent and permanent boost to the body’s metabolic rate.
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