It was awesome to have two great groups this past friday. We did the awesome Triple Loops route in London. Extended warm up and targeted depleting the glycolytic stores to then take on two solid climbs ending with a hard effort with a twist at the end! It was tough and you all made it through! Awesome job! This week stay tuned! We have a another great route in store!
Lets Chat a little about what I talked about and go over some good information regarding metabolism.
First I want to talk about our metabolic system. we have multiple factors that influence our metabolic system to which requires calories in the form of energy units to fuel our daily activities, well being, recovery, and exercise.
Metabolic rate basically refers to the energy that is released by the body.
How you fuel and how you look at nutrition is vital for your performance. better understanding how each component works will make you more able to optimize nutrition to fuel you training, and give you the energy you need to produce the best results.
I currently received a few advanced sports nutrition certifications as this is an area I am very familiar with and an area i know is so very important to enhance your training. Training can have a significant effect on metabolic rate – this can determine weight gain and weight loss This is because it boosts calorie burning. This is a result of 1) doing the activity itself 2) the effects of a process known as ‘excess post oxygen consumption’ (EPOC) and 3) by creating a body whose constituent parts (specifically muscle) create an all day and every day increased calorie requirement
So what is our metabolism comprised of.. yes there are many factors that influence our metabolism and many factors to which we burn energy and need to consume energy to keep going.
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
This refers to all the energy we expend over a day
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)
60-75% of TDEE is used to maintain RMR. RMR includes all those ‘behind the scenes’ essential bodily functions, such as heart, lung and mental function, but does not account for calories burned when sleeping
Thermic Effect of Feeding (TEF)
Food provides us with energy, but the process of eating also requires energy. Around 10% of or TDEE is made up of this requirement
Activity
This may be a surprise but only 10-15% of our total daily energy expenditure comes from physical activity of any sort.However, this relatively small amount can have a huge effect on our body composition, i.e. how much fat we have and how many calories we need to optimally sustain ourselves and our sports/fitness training.
How do you know how many calories you are burning during exercise?
When we exercise we increase our metabolic rate as our body boosts its energy output to meet demand. Calories measure the energy release from food
Many different factors can influence your rate of caloric burn... lets go over these and then we will get into our first effort before the hills.
1-Your weight. A heavier person will burn more calories, everything else being equal compared to a lighter one, simply because more energy is required to overcome the greater resistance.
2-Your level of fitness. Someone who is fitter, for example, at rowing will be more ‘energy (and therefore calorie) efficient’ than someone who is less fit.
This is why exercise intensity needs to be continually increased (progressively) if increased calorie burning is your objective
3-Atmospheric conditions. The body will burn more calories in hotter, humid conditions than in temperate ones. This is due to the energy required to maintain its cooling processes and reduce core temperature
4-Body types. Certain people – particularly those with lean wiry frames (‘ectomorphs’) – tend to have faster metabolic rates, which can enhance calorie burning.
5-Metabolic rate generally slows with age, sports and fitness training can do much to challenge this.
Many things can influence how we burn energy. there even another influence that greatly impacts your energy burn.. its called EPOC and this happens after workouts.. like we did on Friday!
Excess post oxygen consumption (EPOC)
Training can increase metabolic rate by as much as 20%
This is due to EPOC. Unlike a car when the ignition is turned off, our body’s engine does not stop immediately after we have taken it for a run, row or performed a weights workout.
The processes involved in producing the energy required for these and all other training and general activity, take a while to slow down and return to baseline levels.
These processes include, the restocking of muscle fuel (notably a specific type of carbohydrate, known as glycogen) and the normalisation of lactate levels in our body.
Lactate is used in energy creation at all times. Its levels increase with exercise. When we stop exercising it is still buzzing around inside us at a great rate. It needs time to slow down and in some circumstances be re-converted back to its original chemical format – and this all requires energy.
Additionally, when we workout, particularly using weights, microscopic tears occur in our muscles and it is during the recovery period when these are repaired and our muscles grow stronger – again this requires energy.
I always encourage you to do some weight bearing exercises off the bike to better improve your ability and strength. The more the intense the exercise the greater the EPOC.
Your body needs the time for EPOC to fully occur and to restore to a normal rate.
Sports scientists have discovered two distinct EPOC phases:
EPOC phase 1
The most significant – in terms of calorie burning – occurs in the two to three hours after training.
The less significant given the same criteria lasts up to 48 hours after training.
If you do not factor EPOC in to your calorie requirements you could experience muscle loss...
lack of energy and a failure to obtain sufficient amounts of vitamins and minerals needed to optimally maintain bodily processes. Basically your body would be running ‘energy light’ – not getting enough fuel to optimally power it.
Phase 2
is understanding how much you burn during exercise...
How can you specifically measure the amount of calories you burn during a workout?
Calorie counters on heart rate monitors. However, they only provide an estimate of energy expenditure and are about 90% accurate.
having power as additional source to gather data for how much you put out helps greatly with tat 90% becoming more accurate
A consistently elevated metabolic rate, resulting from regular endurance training, that can increase caloric expenditure by as much as 17%;
back to the second phase of EPOC... its more of a prolonged phase that the first one which is usually lasting that 2 hours post exercise. The second can last up to 48 hours.
now the increase in metabolic rate post workouts is because of replenishment of oxygen stores;
Restocking of prime muscle fuels adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and creatine phosphate; Removal of excess lactate from the bloodstream; Increased body temperature, circulation and ventilation rate.
kind of like I mentioned above.
So hope you learned something and can take it with you to make you stronger...
as always be sure to sign up for the time you wish for this week!
See ya there!