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Metabolism and exercise
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Is it true that exercise raises you metabolic rate even when you are not exercising?
Yes it is true, but only for a short while after exercise.
Exercise raises your metabolic rate to provide you with the increased energy supply that you need. However, this continues for a period of time - up to approximately 2 hours - after exercise.
During this time, as your metabolism is slowly winding down to your resting BMR, your body burns an increased number of calories even whilst not exercising.
Metabolism and types of exercise
When you are exercising aerobically your 'short-term' metabolism speeds up and you burn increased levels of calories.
When you are lifting weights or doing other resistance work, your 'short-term' metabolism will also speed up (perhaps not by as much as when doing aerobic work) and you will also burn increased levels of calories.
However, resistance work has positive effects on your 'long-term' metabolism - your basal metabolic rate (BMR) - as it increases muscle mass, muscle strength, tone and endurance. The greater your muscle mass, the higher your BMR.
Thus, a sensible combination of aerobic activity and weight training will result in a body that has more muscle and less fat - so the end result will be a higher metabolism.