Ramp-Up Your Metabolism Workout for Runners!

Earlier this week, I posted on reasons why runners may have stagnated in their running and why they might even be seeing some weight gain. As promised in that post, below is a workout perfect for upping your metabolism, increasing your caloric burn, and increasing your lower-body strength. The extra testosterone (men) and human growth hormone (women) produced from these lower-body exercises will also help offset the cortisol release from your long slow runs which will help preserve your muscle mass and keep your metabolism going strong.

Remember that adding this workout along with a speed workout once a week (on separate days) into your running routine will help make you a lean, mean, running machine. Well, maybe not mean, but you get my drift. The lower-body workout is perfect to add to a day you're doing an easy short to mid-distance run.

If you're currently in training for a big race, I recommend holding off on adding the lower-body workout to your routine until after the race. With anything new, your body will go through a period of acclimation and you may even experience a short period of slower running as your body adapts to the workouts and speedwork. Once you do start, stick with it though and your body will recover and get stronger and faster.

Feel the Burn!

Want to increase the amount of fat you're burning? Try interval training. A 30-minute high-intensity interval session can burn just as much fast as a 60-minute easy aerobic run!

Distance running is great, but if you're not careful you can risk losing some of your lean muscle mass. This is called muscle catabolism. It happens when you deplete your carb stores. If you haven't trained your body to kick-in using fat as a fuel source, it will move on to the next best thing—your muscle tissue. Low-volume sprint training (intervals) when added to your regular weekly running routine can actually cause the opposite effect—building muscle (anabolism). That's because interval training helps the body produce human growth hormone naturally which helps in the muscle-tissue-building process. Adding some light resistance training can also help override that catabolic effect.

Some of you might be saying, "Well, I'd rather run longer and easier than shorter and harder if they both burn the same amount of calories. But keep in mind that after that 60-minute long-run, those calories cease to burn. After the 30-minute interval session, however, you continue to burn calories for about 24hrs! So, that weekly interval workout can do wonders to boost your metabolism.

Don't have a track nearby? No problem. Intervals don't have to be limited to the track. The simplest form of an interval can be a fartlek. A fartlek is just a burst of speed thrown into a regular run. Fartleks can be for a period of time or for a certain distance. For example, you could decide to run fast for 1 minute or you could decide to run fast to the next intersection several times during a given run. Throw 4 or 5 fartleks into a regular 5-miler and you've got a good interval workout. Hill workouts are another great way to add some intensity to your workouts. You can also do intervals on a treadmill, elliptical machine, row machine, or stationary bike!

So, add some variety to your weekly workouts, up your caloric burn, and preserve your lean muscle mass by adding some speed work into the mix.