Dr. Aravind PadmarajuHealwitharavind · Founder & CEO

Strength Training & Basal Metabolic Rate

31 May 2023 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:18

In this concise explanatory video, Aravind Padmaraju, Ph.D., defines basal metabolic rate (BMR) as the calories the body expends while at rest, and outlines the five major components of body composition: muscle mass, essential body fat, excess body fat, organs, and bones. He describes how strength training initiates muscle protein breakdown, which is followed by a 24‑ to 48‑hour repair and rebuilding phase that leads to muscle growth. Because maintaining a larger amount of muscle requires more energy, individuals with greater muscle mass experience a higher BMR, meaning they burn more calories even while sitting still. The video emphasizes that the muscle‑mass component of body composition is a key driver of resting calorie expenditure.

Chapters

So how strength training improves your overall basal metabolic rate. So what is a basal metabolic rate? Is, uh, your body burns your calories even you are just sitting ideally doing nothing for 24 hours to do a basic functions of your body. So let's understand what our body exactly consists of. Your body consists of 5 elements. One is your muscle mass, essential body fat, excess body fat, your organs, and your bones. All these 5 are together is your overall body. So whenever you do a strength training, what happens is your muscles breakdown happens. In the next 24 to 48 hours, the muscle repair and rebuilding happens. So that's how your muscle grows. Whenever you work out, then next 24 to 48 hours, the repair and recovery happens. So when you have more muscle mass, by default your body burns more calories to maintain, to follow this process of breaking down and repair and rebuilding. So that's why in overall, if you have a higher muscle mass, by default you burn— your body burns more calories even at the rest. So that's how it contributes, because one of the factor in your BMR, in your overall body, is a muscle mass. So that's how you can have a good muscle mass and you can burn more calories by just sitting at the rest. Hope that helps.