E
Everyone knows your metabolism automatically slows down as
you age, right? Well, no. True, metabolism is linked to lean mass —
and since falling androgen levels mean maintaining muscle gets
tougher the older you are, inactive people will certainly see a drop-
offastheyswapplayingtouchfootyforwatchingFriday Night Football. Keep
enough muscle on board, though, and there’s no reason you’ll see a downturn.stoke the fire doesn’t
work,” says Leaman.
“It’sbettertofocuson
nutrient deficiencies.
Oneoftheeasiest
thingstotakeis
methylatedBvitamins
—methylated
meaning that it’s
already broken down
intoitsusableform.
Stress,highsugar
consumption and lack
of sleep all deplete B
vitamins, and you
need them for a
number of metabolic
processes.” Eat more
leafy greens or invest
in a supplement.What training should
Ido?■Slow it down
It turns out that
steady-state cardio
efforts aren’t as
uselessastheHIIT
crowd might have you
believe. “If you aren’t
bringing enough
oxygen into your
system you can’t
oxidise carbohydrates
or fats appropriately,”
says Leaman. “That
means you aren’t
going to get lean as
fastasyou’dlike—plus
all the anaerobic work
you’re doing jacks up
your sympathetic
nervous system. To get
thingsinbalance,add
long, slow cardio
efforts to your training.
Forhealthand
long-term fat loss, it’s
about weightlifting
and aerobic work.”Are you saying getting
more oxygen can help?●Game Changers Metabolism
ShouldIbeeatingsix
meals a day to fire up
my metabolism?■No
It’s true that you get
a brief metabolism
surgewhenyoueat,
but the size of the
spike corresponds to
thesizeofthefeed.So
threebigmealsaday
willhavethesame
cumulative effect as
five or six small ones.
“Eating more meals toFuelling the fire
■Yes, and it’s simple
to do.
“In an oxygen deficit
you’re effectively
anaemic, even if it’s not
coming from an iron
deficiency,” says
Leaman. “Most of your
body’s processes are
oxidative, so just
learning to breathe
better can help them to
runmoreefficiently.
Try yogic breathing:
spend some time
learning to breathe
through your stomach
insteadofthrough
yourchest—ordoing
4-7-8 breathing, where
you breathe in for four
seconds, hold for
seven, and breathe out
for eight. You’re
calming your
breathing down,
gettingridofalotof
carbondioxide,nobody
knowsyou’redoingit,
andit’llmeltfat.”WhatelsecanIdo
that’s easy?■Drink more water
“Everyone knows this,
but chances are you’re
not getting enough,”
says Leaman. “You
should drink at least
twolitresaday,more
if you exercise.”Anything I shouldn’t
bedoing?■Ordering “miracle”
supps off the internet
“The weight-loss drug
DNPworks,butthe
sideeffectisthatitcan
kill you,” says Leaman.
“It’s used as a pesticide,
and it can melt you
from the inside.”CHILLOUTBut however old you
are, what can you do to
improve matters?
First, you need to
understand what your
metabolism does.
Basically,it’sthe
process via which
nutrientsinfoodare
broken down to fuel
your body’s functions
— but to complicate
things slightly, the
speed of your
metabolism depends
on complex chemicalCan cooling yourself down really speed up your
metabolism? In short: maybe. “There’s been
some recent coverage of how cold affects
your body’s brown adipose tissue – the fat
that helps to regulate body temperature,”
says Leaman. “What we’re figuring out is that
cold therapy — training in the cold with as few
clothes as you can handle — can kick-start fat
loss, if it’s done correctly.” Even turning your
shower down a couple of notches might help
— but until more research is done, the more
tried-and-tested solutions here are a surer bet.messages sent to your
brainbyyourbody,
telling it how much it
needstokeepgoing.
“What that means is
that if any of these
chemical processes
getderailed,sodoes
your metabolism,”
says nutritionist Luke
Leaman.Soevenif
you’re crushing it in
thegym,yourfat
might stick around.
Here’s what you need
to know.Get your metabolism firing on all cylinders and you’ll burn fat all day long.
A diet high in B
vitamins — found
in leafy green
veg — will help you
achieve a healthy
metabolism.38 MEN’S FITNESS APRIL 2017