Did you know that your fat burning profile is the key to running faster for longer?

 

Your metabolism is your body’s engine

When you breathe, oxygen is carried to your working muscles where carbohydrate and fat are used as fuel to create energy to keep your muscles working. In the first 2 minutes of running your body will use carbohydrates as fuel as it provides quick energy without relying on oxygen (anaerobic). When running for longer than 2 minutes, your body’s preferred fuel is fat. This is a more complex process and relies on the use of oxygen (aerobic). It produces more energy and is therefore your body’s preferred fuel source.

 

 

The more efficient your body is at using fat as it’s main fuel source, the better you can perform

The graph to the right shows an example of a typical fuel burning profile at different heart rates, where at a lower heart rate the body’s main fuel source is fat. This is where you will find your “steady state” where your engine is working at it’s optimal efficiency allowing you to feel strong while running. As you push yourself harder and your heart rate increases, your fat burning will at some stage drop to zero. The level at which your fat burning drops is different for everyone. Good endurance athletes have a higher fat burning graph that lasts for longer before reducing, which means they can run faster for longer before chewing into their carbohydrate stores. Your body only has a very small storage of carbohydrates. At intensities where carbohydrate is the only fuel source, you will soon experience “hitting the wall” and you will be forced to slow down to a level where your body can use fat as fuel again.

 

Your metabolism fingerprint is affected by many factors

Our metabolism is affected by factors we are born with such as genetics and hormone functions, and these are difficult to change. However the factors we can change that have a positive effect on our metabolism are diet, exercise, lean muscle mass and body fat. We all have our own unique metabolism fingerprint. Below you can see an example of two men’s fat burning profile. Get these two running together and you can see that the man on the right would struggle to keep up due to his poor fat burning ability. With correct metabolism training, he could train his body to burn fat more like the profile on the left resulting in improved running endurance.

 

 

Knowing your metabolism will allow you to get the most out of your body’s engine

Professional athletes have been using this method for decades to provide details about their metabolism to allow them to train correctly and plan for their events. Metabolism/VO2max testing allows you to see your very own metabolism fingerprint and produces answers that will help you adjust your training for fast and effective results.

Correct training for your metabolism will maximise your fat burning

Interval training is repeatedly proven by research to be the most effective in improving fat burning, endurance and performance. Metabolism/VO2 max test results are used to target specific heart rate interval zones for most effective training for each individual. This type of training stimulus results in a significant improvement in mitochondrial density inside your cells. The mitochondria are the power stations in cells where fat burning takes place.

A large number of studies looking at the effects of high intensity interval training over a period of 2-8 weeks, show solid evidence of improvements in physiological adaptations that resemble traditional endurance training despite a low total exercise volume.

Studies have found that specific high intensity exercise training can achieve improved fat burning ability similar to endurance training but with up to 90% less time spent training!   (Burgomaster et al.2008; Rakobowchuk et al. 2008)

 

Watch this Channel 7 News story          - Testimonials from metabolism clients