Day 4 News about boosting your metabolism

In the winter it is best to find an indoor track to 
do your fastest intervals ... or outside 
when the path is clear of ice.

          Day 4 News about boosting your metabolism!
People we do power walking training with will tell you that Dave and I are always promoting intervals in their workshop sessions.   Simply put interval training is pushing your speed and energy output in timed or random intervals throughout your walk. 
We usually talk about starting with about 30 seconds of 'as fast as your can' walking and then recovering for 1 to 2 minutes or however long it takes to get your heart rate back to normal.  If you do four 30 second bursts in a walk30 you will get maximum calorie burn and boost your human growth hormone production. 
Going for you daily walk30 is great and offers many, many benefits ... no matter how fast you walk.  If you add some extra speed it will take your benefits and multiply them. Start with just a few and as you get stronger challenge yourself to longer periods of 'as fast as you can' walking in each session.  Just remember to always recover for at least twice the interval time period or more. The recovery is the secret key to building strength and endurance safely.
I just got an article about this in my email by Jillian Michaels a Biggest Loser trainer  here are the high lights regarding human growth hormone and its importance:
"In addition to these amazing feats, growth hormone helps your liver synthesize glucose, and it promotes gluconeogenesis, a really cool process that allows your body to create carbs out of protein. This helps you lose fat faster while providing your brain and other tissues with the energy they need.

As with so many other beneficial hormones, production of growth hormone declines with age, and many things we do speed the decline:

1. We deprive ourselves of good-quality sleep. Growth hormone is released in adults in an average of five pulses throughout the day, the largest of which happens during deep sleep. Shortchange yourself on sleep and you'll shortchange yourself on growth hormone.

2. We eat too many low-quality carbs. Refined carbs, such as those in white bread and white rice, keep our blood sugar and insulin levels high, which suppresses the release of growth hormone. Protein, on the other hand, can facilitate the release of higher levels of growth hormone.

3. We don't exercise enough. When you don't exercise and your muscles become insulin-resistant, you increase your level of circulating insulin, which further suppresses growth hormone. We need to get off our butts and capitalize on this incredibly healthy hormone! 

One surefire way we can turn our bodies into growth hormone factories is with intense exercise. During intense exercise, and especially during interval training, growth hormone encourages the body to use fat as its fuel instead of glucose. Not only does this help you burn fat while you exercise, but it stabilizes your blood glucose level so that you have the energy to keep exercising."

 For a look at the entire article check out this link:

The Hormone You Want More Of

I am off for my walk30 plus a few minutes and today I am going to do intervals!

Walk On Strong,

Sue