It’s Wednesday and time for fitness notes again. Today we will see how the oft-talked Basal Metabolic Rate (or BMR) is affected by workouts. But before we begin, let us do a quick touch on what BMR is. BMR is the minimum amount of energy that a body requires at the state of rest and which is just sufficient for the functioning the vital organs such as heart, brain, liver, nervous system etc.
A person’s BMR is affected by a number of factors and exercise is only one of those factors. The other factors are age, weight, level of fitness, genetics, temperature, stress levels, previous meal, glands and body surface area etc. In this post, we will concern ourselves with exercises. BMR is closely related to lean body mass. If you have less lean body mass, or are endowed with more fat mass, you have a lower BMR. Alternatively, increasing the lean muscle mass (not fat), increases BMR.