‘We identified two hormones that are stimulated by cold – irisin and FGF21- released from shivering muscle and brown fat respectively,’ said study leader Dr Paul Lee, from Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research.

‘These hormones fired up the energy-burning rate of human brown fat cells in the laboratory, and the treated fat cells began to emit heat, a hallmark of brown fat function.’

Around 10 to 15 minutes of shivering produced as big a rise in irisin as an hour of moderate exercise, the scientists found.

If simply shivering burns calories, think how many calories a runner burns when running in cold weather. Not only do you benefit from the usual calorie burning effects of running, but your shivering muscles “fire up” fat burning hormones.

So if you ever find yourself not wanting to run on a cold day, think about this study and how many calories you’ll burn if you can get out the door.

[Daily Mail]

The post Want to burn more calories? Run in cold weather. appeared first on The Runner's Resource.

One way to make it through the cold weather months is to layer your running clothes properly. A television station in Nebraska (who knows something about cold weather) has the following advice for layering:

The bottom layer should be skin tight and a fabric that wicks away moisture from the body.

The second layer should be another moisture wicking fabric just a little looser.

“And then the outer layer really needs to be waterproof and wind proof.”

Knowing how to layer properly can be the difference between a productive training run and a painful run with no benefit besides making you miserable.

[KNOP News]

The post How to layer properly when running in the cold appeared first on The Runner's Resource.