7 Exercises To Boost Your Metabolism

Exercising, losing weight and burning calories all contribute towards improving your metabolism. Your metabolism is how many calories your body burns through each day.

Here are seven exercises that can help you to boost your metabolism:

1. Mountain Climbers:

Mountain climbers are a popular exercise as they are a full-body, high-intensity exercise. Doing a full-body exercise allows you to target more muscles, which in time will speed up the process of boosting your metabolism.

How to: Get into a plank position, making sure to distribute your weight evenly between your hands and your toes. Check your form—your hands should be about shoulder-width apart, back flat, abs engaged, and head in alignment.

Pull your right knee into your chest as far as you can. Switch legs, pulling one knee out and bringing the other knee in. Keep your hips down, run your knees in and out as far and as fast as you can. Alternate inhaling and exhaling with each leg change.

2. Reverse Lunges:

Reverse Lunges area great leg exercise as they help you strengthen the muscles in your legs. This is also a great exercise to build your quads and glutes.

How to: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, hands at the side or on your hips. With your right foot, step back about one and a half times your normal stride length, landing with the ball of that foot on the ground and your heel up.

Lower the back leg straight down until it gently grazes the ground or close to, creating a 90-degree angle in the front leg. Push through the heel and midfoot of the front leg to return to standing, bringing your right foot back in line with your left. Repeat on the left side. That’s one rep.

3. Planks

Planks are fantastic if you want to build muscle and durability. In terms of increasing your metabolism, the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be, and planks can help with that.

How to: Place your elbows on the floor directly under your shoulders. Your legs should be fully extended behind you with your knees off the floor. Keep your body in a straight line and hold this position for a set time. Aim to increase the time you can hold a plank.

4. Squats Jumps:

Squat Jumps are a useful way to boost your metabolic rate, as they are a compound exercise which target various muscle groups. The more muscles you target, the greater the metabolic demand will be. 

How to: To do a squat jump, jump as high as possible off the floor by pressing through a flat foot. Your toes should be the last thing to leave the floor. Keep your eyes fixed on a point directly in front of you; this will ensure that your back stays upright.

Aim to land in the same spot you took off from with this exercise. You want to develop power, so really aim to explode up from the floor with as much strength and speed as you can and remember, plyometrics should be seen and not heard – keep your landing soft.

5. Burpees:

Burpees combine components of bodyweight exercises and cardio, making them an excellent activity to burn calories and aid grow muscle.

How to: Begin in a standing position. Move into a squat position with your hands on the ground. Kick your feet back into a plank position, while keeping your arms extended, making sure that your knees, hips and shoulders are aligned. Quickly return to a standing position and jump upwards with your hands on your head.

6. Running

Cardiovascular exercises such as running stimulate your metabolism, helping you burn calories, and increasing your heart rate.

7. Ice Skaters

Ice Staters are a great cardiovascular exercise which increase your heart rate, strengthen your legs and improve stability and balance. This exercise targets your quads, hamstrings, calves and glutes.

How to: Start by standing on one leg. Hop from side to side switching legs as if you were skating. Swing your arms side to side touching the opposite arm to the opposite standing leg, lowering your body down to do so.