As we get older, our metabolism slows down.  This happens for a variety of reasons:

• Your body produces less testosterone and growth hormone. 
• Unless you stay active and lift weights, you lose muscle mass and become more insulin resistant, which promotes fat storage, which promotes higher insulin and the cycle repeats.
• We tend to become less active as we get older. 
• We tend to eat more as we get older, and crave sugar more.  

There are some simple things you can do to boost your metabolism:

1. Lift weights 3 times per week.  Try to do 3-4 sets of 6-8 weight training exercises 3 times per week.  This may seem like a lot, but you can make it interesting by working out with someone else, doing it outside, or by listening to audiobooks while you work out.  Building muscle boosts metabolism.
2. Walk or stand more. Try to take 10,000 steps per day.  ​Sitting all day can be destructive for your health.  
3. Do your workouts earlier in the day.  This will give you energy and help you to be more sensitive to insulin the rest of the day.
4. Don't starve yourself.  You need to eat. If you take too long between meals every single day, you could actually end up slowing down your metabolism, because eating burns calories. If you're going to fast, only do it 1-3 days per week.
5. Train Fast-Twitch Muscle fibers by doing power exercises and heavier weight training. Fast-twitch muscle fibers burn fat more effectively, which is one reason sprinters tend to be so muscular and lean.
6. Do H.I.I.T. exercise sessions.   Do interval training (High Intensity Interval Training) will tend to boost your metabolism.  30-90 second intervals mixed with 10-90 second recoveries.
7. Moderate Carbohydrate Intake and Fat Intake.  Either one can be a problem in excess.  You don't have to eliminate either but the insulin-spike of simple carbs and the high-calorie status of fat can both create problems.  
8. Mild caffeine use before exercise can help burn fat.  1-2 servings of tea or coffee can be beneficial before a workout to help utilize fat as an energy source. * Be careful with this if you have high blood pressure or heart disease.  
9. Don’t Become Catabolic. Always time your meals so that you eat after a workout: 200-600 calories, 20-40 grams of protein, 20-60 grams of carbs, 10-30 grams of fat.  The bottom line is that you need to eat after you train, or you’ll become catabolic, which means you’ll start to use your precious muscle mass for recovery.   You want to preserve and build muscle, not waste away!

Get in the habit of doing these things and they add up.  Your metabolism will go up significantly. 

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And remember...there's never been a better day than TODAY to make it happen!
 
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I’m going to do something with this principle which has never been done before.  On one simple page, I’m going to give everyone a formula for training.  This will cover most every goal you might have.  It will work for any sport, any goal, and any training situation. 
 
Basic Components- For any sport or training goal, you will need these components.  Give priority to what your goals are, as well as what you need to improve on.  

1. Aerobic conditioning – No matter the goal, your heart and lungs need to have a basic amount of conditioning.
2. Anaerobic conditioning - This is glycolytic interval training, your ability to maximally produce energy for 30 seconds up to 3 minutes, it combines aerobic conditioning and strength along with your body’s ability to rid itself of lactic acid (the byproduct of muscular exertion).   
3. Stability/ Agility- Balance and your ability to move in an agile way.  
4. Flexibility- Your range of motion and your ability to move dynamically.
5. Strength- Your ability to exert force.  
6. Power- Your ability to apply force with velocity (speed).

 
Specific Components

• Your sport or goal- What exactly is your primary goal?  This will determine how you train.
• Practice the skills for your sport or goal-  If you have a specific goal, let’s say golf for example, you will have to train specifically for that.  I don’t care how fit you are, you need to be specific.  If you want to hike the Appalachian trail, you better get out and hike!
• Health care, performance and fitness testing and retesting- Get your routine physicals, and also use OBJECTIVE performance and fitness testing to determine what you need to work on.  

 
Sample Schedule for Everyone
 
*If you have a sport, or hobby you’re training for, add in 30-120 minutes of practice, 5 days per week.  Play Saturday and Rest on Sunday. 
 
Day 1- Stability (5 minutes), Flexibility (5 minutes), Strength and Power Training (30+ minutes) 
Day 2- Flexibility (10 minutes) Aerobic Conditioning Intervals (24 Minutes) 1 minute Intense, 1 Minute Moderate
Day 3- Stability, Flexibility, and Strength on the Floor (30+ minutes), Optional 20 Minutes Strength Training with Weights
Day 4- Flexibility (5 minutes) Aerobic Conditioning (30 Minutes)
Day 5- Stability (5 minutes), Flexibility (5 minutes), Strength and Power Training (30 minutes) + Specific Training.  
Day 6- Aerobic Conditioning Moderate Intensity (30-45 minutes)
Day 7- REST!

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And remember...there's never been a better day than TODAY to make it happen!
 
Read Next:  History as the Decline of Community  
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“Excellence is a process.” - Nick Saban
 
“What gets measured gets managed.” - Peter Drucker
 
We all need a system to get things done. Like many other things in life, when it comes to exercise, fitness, and training, systems work. What does it mean to have a system? It means that there’s a certain order to what happening. The order, or system, can be complex or it can be very simple. A system might have several levels, all interacting with each other in a complex way. Or a system might be a couple of simple guidelines put together. If you apply various guidelines or rules of thumb, to an organized approach to reaching a goal, then you have a system. Systems thinking is a “slow” way of thinking in the sense that it forces us to slow down and be methodical about planning out what we’re going to do. 
 
In his excellent book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman writes about the critical differences between fast and slow thinking. We need to do both. We need good instincts, or fast thinking, because thinking fast often keeps us safe and because we only have so much time to deliberate. We can’t think slow all the time because we’d never get anything done. On the other hand, our society does not value slow thinking like it should and slow thinking determines how our lives turn out. Slow thinking is about settling down and really planning, turning off distractions and focusing. Creating systems requires slow and deliberate reflection. And this is the part we have a hard time doing, because we live in an instant gratification culture. Buy this, hurry here or there, eat this, desire this, consume that, become angry impulsively at this tweet or that post, and the list goes on. Fast thinking is instinctual we are groomed and trained by the culture to think fast. 
 
Slow thinking is hard work at first.  But in the end, slow thinking resulting in systems is a kind of shortcut. Once we set up the system, then we can switch to fast thinking. Once a system is in place then all we have to do is follow it, and then periodically slow down and re-evaluate the system. But once a system is in place the work and effort can begin. Another great example is a business.  Even though I’m a sole proprietor, I have a system for how I operate.  I track leads, lead conversions, marketing channels, revenue, appointments, and many other factors, and I have entire systems for each aspect of running a small business and subsystems under the primary ones.