Get To Know Your Respiratory Exchange Rate To Improve Your Fitness Outcomes

There’s a lot that goes into ensuring that a professional athlete performs at their peak. However, it’s not only professional athletes who benefit from good eating, sleeping, and exercise habits, or advancements in sports science.

Indeed, thanks to continued sport science research, both professional athletes and laypeople alike are learning more about the ways in which the human body functions as well as how to best promote higher levels of athletic performance, regardless of what activity is undertaken. While most people with just a modicum of interest in exercise science are likely to be familiar with concepts around differences in diet and exercise routines for muscle building versus weight loss, for example, one aspect that the average fitness enthusiast might be less familiar with is their respiratory exchange rate (RER).

Researchers and trainers use the RER to establish at what point a person starts metabolising sugar. That is, while resting, a human should usually have an RER of around 0.8, which means that their bodies are busy metabolising a combination of fats and sugars. Under stress – like when running a marathon – the body’s RER can go up to as much as 1.2, which indicates that carbohydrates are being processed.

By testing a person’s RER and establishing where exactly on this rating spectrum their body metabolises different molecules, it becomes easier to work out exercise regimes and diets to ensure top performance. While this is already common practice for professional athletes, anyone interested in improving their health and fitness and making their workouts work for them could benefit from knowing their RER.

As sports science as a whole continues advancing, it is likely that many more findings and practices implemented for professional athletes will filter down to non-professionals looking to improve their general health and fitness levels.