Beginners can learn Muay Thai as a fun exercise that not only keeps you fit but also boosts your metabolism. Metabolism refers to the chemical process of the body converting food to energy. The higher your metabolism, the faster you will burn calories, the higher your energy levels will be and the less your body will store excess calories as fat. Here we outline why Muay Thai boosts your metabolism.
How Does Your Metabolism Work?
Many things including your body type, gender, age, and fitness level determine your metabolic rate. The harder you push your physical fitness, the more your metabolism improves to handle the workload. There are three main stages of your metabolic rate:
- Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR): Your RMR accounts for up to 75 percent of the energy you burn every day. Your body needs to supply your organs with energy. Resting Metabolic Rate is the amount of calories your body burns to function.
- Thermic Effect of Food (TEF): When you eat, your body has to turn up the heat in your digestive system to process the food. Thus your body requires more energy during digestion. The TEF accounts for roughly 10 percent of the energy you use in a day.
- Physical Activity Energy Expenditure (PAEE): PAEE is the part of your metabolism that depends on your movement. While you are working out or engaged in activity, your body uses this energy.
How Does Muay Thai Improve Your Metabolism?
In order to increase your RMR, do exercises that drain the muscles of glucose rather than fatty acids. This means any high-intensity exercise or strength-training workout. Muay Thai builds lean muscle by engaging the core and improves cardiovascular endurance. This makes Muay Thai the ideal activity to boost your metabolism.
Muay Thai training is most often a series of three minutes rounds with a one minute break in between. The three minutes on are very intense with tons of explosive, power strikes. During these intense intervals, your heart rate speeds up, slows down, then speeds up again. This is how Muay Thai training boosts your metabolic rate and burns more fat than slower, more constant exercise. While Muay Thai is explosive and done in shorter intervals, it still keeps your heart rate up for long periods. Three minutes is a good length of time! This forces your body to feed on FFAs (free fatty acids) to fuel you throughout your workout.
Upping your physical activity is the best way to keep your metabolism engaged. Muay Thai is a great way to stay engaged and lose weight. It increases your flexibility, improves cardio and builds strength. This all results in increased metabolism among other benefits.
