Raising RMR, does volume matter?

[Y2A]

Its said that weight training will increase your RMR for "x" hours after you are done, causing you to burn more calories than normal. I was wondering if volume had anything to do with this. Can you get the same "afterburn" effect with low and high volumes? Are there a minimum number of working sets to make this happen? Thanks!

[ElPietro]

I'm assuming you are speaking of resting metabolic rate???

If so, cardio will do so I believe for 1-2 hours afterwards. Weight training, probably not much afterwards, but the added muscle mass you gain through weight training in and of itself places more needs on the body, thus increasing your resting metabolic rate.

I guess volume could have a lot to do with it, insofar as if you go high volume with little rest you are adding cardiovascular properties to your workout.

Hope that helps, but maybe someone else can chime in with a better response.

[fuzz]

I'm not sure about volume in regards to weight training and its effect upon RMR. But I do know that HIIT has been shown to have a better effect upon RMR then standard, low intensity long duration cardio.

[Y2A]

ElP- yes thats what Im talking about. I could have sworn that weight training increases RMR for alot longer than traditional cardio, and that HIIT mimicks weight training with the RMR effect.

My question is about volume, for example: If I do a workout of 6 total working sets, will I still get the after-effect? If I do a workout of 20 sets, will I get a higher after-effect than the 6 set workout?

[ftotti10]

High intensity cardio like HIIT or max ot cardio is proven to increase RMR also as elpietro states the extra demand that weightlifting puts on the body causes an increase. Put the two together and you should have quite a high RMR
As for volume/sets etc I would say whatever system that allows you to gain muscle at the fastest rate is the routine to go for, I assume that you are doing whats most effective for you anyway right now, so i'd say just carry on.

[fuzz]

I agree with ftotti - choose a routine that is most effective for you as far as your goals. You shouldn't pick a routine based on what is most effective at raising RMR, as I'm willing to bet that the difference between a low volume and high volume workout would be neglible - especially over the long term.

If you really want to raise your RMR, increase your activity. Walk more, take the stairs, do more cardio, etc...

[Holto]

I find that my RMR is drastically effected by resistance training

I also find that 1 set per bodypart has slightly less effect than when I was doing 12 per bodypart

in either case it dosen't seem like somthing to base decisions on

[ElPietro]

How do you "find" slight variations in your resting metabolic rate?

[Y2A]

Thanks for the info folks

[Holto]

Originally posted by ElPietro
How do you "find" slight variations in your resting metabolic rate?

ie: the difference between consistant hunger and ravenous hunger is slight IMO

I see what you mean by the use of the term slight

I used it to stress that it's not the type of thing to base a training decision on

I was never full when I was a volume trainer

I believe you mentioned you don't think training effects RMR

I'm borderline hypothyroid and it makes an enormous difference to me

I mean training VS not training with weights (no cardio) has a tremendous difference in the cals I consume per week

I can compare before I started training, 2.5 yrs I was training and in the 7 months I've been off since

I would say I consume minnimum an extra 10,000cals/wk

doing a push/pull/legs(no cardio) 1x/wk VS not training at all

[LAM]

Originally posted by Y2A
ElP- yes thats what Im talking about. I could have sworn that weight training increases RMR for alot longer than traditional cardio, and that HIIT mimicks weight training with the RMR effect.

My question is about volume, for example: If I do a workout of 6 total working sets, will I still get the after-effect? If I do a workout of 20 sets, will I get a higher after-effect than the 6 set workout?

it depends on how you train. the 75% of the metabolic work done during a repitition is done in the concentric portion of the lift.

if you are a heavy eccentric trainer focusing on negatives (like HST) you would burn less calories during and after the training session