If your fitness goals include fat loss or a boost to your metabolism, have you considered EPOC? Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) or the «afterburn» effect could be the key to your success, but you’ll need a quick crash course in your energy systems first.
If EPOC seems like a hodgepodge of letters to you, let us explain it. The afterburn effect simply refers to an elevated metabolic rate after exercise — think of it as a metabolic boost — meaning you’ll burn more calories for a time after you stop exercising. This metabolic boost could help athletes who want to lose weight, burn fat and benefit from a faster resting metabolism.
But various energy systems come into play, and other factors could affect your ability to burn calories and lose weight. Below, we explain what EPOC entails, how it works, and how to boost your metabolism and burn more calories. Grab one of the best fitness trackers to measure your workout stats and read on.
What is EPOC?
Think of EPOC as an oxygen debt. After exercise, your body has to return to homeostasis (balance), which means you will consume more oxygen post-workout; this elevates your metabolism and helps your body burn calories faster as you return to a rested state, accelerating overall calorie expenditure.
There are several claims as to how long you last, but it’s thought to be around 12-24 hours after exercise, while the 48-hour myth is just that. And the intensity of that exercise matters—high-intensity interval training is said to have the most significant impact on EPOC, but more on that shortly.
EPOC: Energy Systems
Let’s hit the science, real football. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a chemical compound that provides energy for workouts and muscle contractions. Think of it as an energy currency. When that currency runs out (during exercise), your body has to produce more. And how does your body make more ATP?
Your body converts the nutrients you consume into ATP, and ATP can be made with oxygen (using your aerobic pathways) or without oxygen (using your anaerobic pathways). NASM explains energy pathways in more detail here, and we cover the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise, but to give you a brief overview of what these pathways mean, let’s talk about exercise intensity.
Your body is pretty smart. It can produce energy anaerobically (without oxygen) or aerobically (with oxygen), with the former less sustainable than the latter. An example of anaerobic exercise is sprinting: a sprinter who requires an instantaneous burst of energy for a short time will use anaerobic energy pathways for «fast access» ATP. On the flip side, endurance athletes will take advantage of «steady-state» aerobic energy pathways to sustain exercise longer. As the intensity and duration of exercise increase or decrease, it is possible to switch between energy systems.
The higher the intensity, the greater the oxygen debt and the EPOC effect; higher demand from the body means more ATP to replace, using more oxygen than low-intensity exercise. Then, the production of ATP kicks off EPOC. Damn. Now let’s get down to business: Can you improve EPOC?
HIIT and EPOC
HIIT ticks all the boxes to maximize your chances of starting EPOC. By its nature it is high intensity, anaerobic and activates fast-twitch muscle fibers. We recommend a metabolic conditioning workout or this fat burning workout if you’re looking for inspiration on where to start.
At higher intensities, your body needs immediate energy, which is when anaerobic pathways can step in to provide ATP, but it’s short-lived and needs to be recharged. Come in, interval training. ATP can be produced during short periods of strenuous exercise, then refreshed during rest breaks and recovery. Hello, aerobic metabolism.
You should always do exercises you enjoy, but endurance sports like swimming or long-distance running have a lower EPOC effect. They don’t kick-start your metabolism or burn calories like heavy weight training or a high-intensity resistance session. The aerobic system produces energy using oxygen, which means you’re replenishing as you go, so you have less debt to pay off.
How to improve EPOC
We know that the higher the intensity of exercise, the greater the EPOC effect, but which sports should you prioritize?
1. Choose high intensity
Workouts that stimulate fast-twitch muscle fibers (those recruited for powerful, explosive anaerobic activity such as sprinting or HIIT) require more ATP to fuel movement than slow-twitch fibers that are more active during walking or running . And the more ATP required, the more calories you’ll likely burn.
2. Add compound exercise
A compound exercise recruits multiple joints and muscle groups, such as squats, deadlifts and burpees. More muscles mean more energy is required. Powerlifting, jump rope workouts, HIIT, sprinting, heavy resistance training, and plyometrics help kickstart EPOC because they require ATP from anaerobic pathways and require explosive, fast-reacting movements.
Better yet: Combining resistance sessions with HIIT could help build lean muscle mass and strength while kicking off EPOC.
3. Increase the intensity during endurance activities
If you enjoy sports like long-distance running, swimming or cycling, add some interval sprints towards the middle or end of your sessions. For example, cycle as fast as you can for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds, rinse, and repeat.
You can also lift heavier weights during your sessions and switch from lighter to heavier weights to increase the intensity. But remember, muscles need time to rest and repair if you want them to grow, so plan on a few days for active recovery to avoid injury and overtraining. We recommend this mobility routine several days a week or a yoga class before bed to help soothe your muscles.
4. Reduce rest times
You can increase ATP demand and EPOC by decreasing training intervals during a workout — rest for less time. Look at variables like work-rest ratios to increase muscle intensity and effort, while decreasing rest time between work sets. Think Tabata-style training: 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, for example.
Verdict
Existing research has shown us that intensity matters when considering EPOC, and further studies show that high-intensity sessions are time-efficient and may result in greater energy expenditure than steady-state exercise. And even better, HIIT could increase your calorie burn by 25-30% compared to other types of exercise.
That said, the jury is still out on whether EPOC Truly it lasts as long as people are promoting and there’s no magic button you can press—everyone burns calories differently. Stress levels, sleep quality, and diet can determine your ability to lose fat. And let’s not forget energy in versus energy out, which is how much energy you spend versus what you consume overall during the day.
We cover more on calorie counting if you want to learn more about diet and metabolism. But to increase your chances of burning calories and boosting your metabolism overall, consider adding activity throughout the day. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) refers to calorie burn outside of exercise, which can create a cumulative impact on calorie burn and metabolism.
Also, adaptation comes from constantly challenging your body to adapt and your muscles to grow, so consider varying your workout routine, being consistent, and adopting progressive overload to keep your muscles working hard and responding to change.
And if you run out of inspiration, burn up with the best HIIT classes for beginners to burn calories, boost your metabolism, build lean muscle, and improve cardiovascular fitness. Sounds good to us.
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