More Training Tips
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Maximizing
Your Workouts with Metabolic Testing
Setting you up for Success
Everyone loves to get the most out of their workouts. We all have goals
of reaching our full potential and feeling our very best. From the food
we eat to our daily exercise regimen, we want the most that life can deliver.
We know that working out equates to weight loss and/or management and
improvements in cardiovascular fitness. Bone density loss is staved off
by performing weight bearing exercises, which also help control our weight
by maintaining muscle mass. The benefits aren’t a mystery - we should
all be working out.
If we have specific goals, we need to have a specific plan. If you don’t
know the right intensity to workout at, you may be working out too hard
or not hard enough. And what about those calories? How much can you eat
without gaining weight? Your metabolism requires a precise number of calories
each day to optimally perform. If you eat more, you gain weight. It’s
an easy concept, but can deem useless if we don’t know the exact
amount. Our workout intensity can also be determined through metabolic
testing. Arming yourself with personal metabolic data is the key to setting
yourself up for success.
Working out at the Right Intensity
In order to be effective in your workouts, you need to have personalized
intensity zones. Monitoring the frequency, duration, and intensity of
each workout allow you to chart your progress and avoid plateaus while
maximizing your time spent working out. Frequency and duration are pretty
simple to nail down, but intensity necessitates a closer look into your
personal physiology. There are a million variables that can affect how
you feel day to day, all of which can affect your ability to perform your
workouts. Your intensity will also dictate your body’s ability to
tap into high-energy fat stores during the workout. So if intensity has
so many variables, how do we get an accurate idea of our true workout
intensity?
Tools of the Trade
Heart rate is the only accurate way to judge intensity, and is the easiest
way to maximize your time spent working out. The only way to know your
ideal training intensity zones is through a VO2 test, where we measure
the exact amount of oxygen your body is able to use during exercise. VO2
is defined as the volume of oxygen (O2) consumed. This is the best indicator
of fitness and can help track your progress. It also reveals your personal
intensity zones which will indicate your ideal fat burning intensities.
Through the test, your Anaerobic Threshold is revealed and used as the
foundation for your personalized zones. Knowing your Anaerobic Threshold
(the point where lactic acid begins to accumulate; beginning of the “burn”)
is the single most valuable piece of information you can have in your
training program. It’s the only way to be certain that you’re
working at the right intensity to meet and surpass your goals.
No More Guesswork
In the past, formulas such as 220 – your age were considered to
be the best way to find your target intensity zones. These estimates have
a major flaw - they do not take your personal physiology into account
and can be as inaccurate as 20+ beats per minute. VO2 testing takes all
of the guesswork out of the equation and gives you personalized zones
that are accurate and based on your physiology. It is the only way to
be sure that you are training in the right zones.
Eating for your Metabolism
Properly fueling our bodies has become a mystery, while weight loss has
become the Holy Grail. The real key to weight loss is in knowing precisely
what your body needs on a daily basis. If you know exactly how many calories
your body requires, you can give it just that. No more, no less. In order
to lose or maintain your weight, everything you put in must be used, either
through exercise or daily metabolic requirements. We know that eating
too little will actually force our bodies into a conservation mode which
will inhibit weight loss. Now you can have the secret to eating the maximum
amount of calories and still lose weight. Knowledge yields success in
the realm of weight loss. Eat what you need and start losing!
About the author
Joe Sulak is the owner of Peak Fitness. He performs VO2 tests and Metabolic
Rate assessments in San Antonio, Houston, Austin, and Corpus Christi.
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