Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC, informally called afterburn) is a measurable rate of oxygen consumption following strenuous activity intended to clear the body’s “oxygen deficit.” In fact, the term “oxygen debt” is still widely used to this day. In recovery, oxygen (EPOC) is used in the processes that restore the body to a resting state and adapt it to the exercise just performed. Another use of EPOC is to fuel the body’s increased metabolism from the increase in body temperature that occurs during exercise. EPOC is accompanied by high fuel consumption. THAT FUEL IS GREASE!

The EPOC effect is greatest soon after exercise is completed and decays to a lower level over time. One study also found that anaerobic exercise in the form of high-intensity interval training resulted in greater loss of subcutaneous fat, even though the subjects expended less than half the calories during exercise! In a 1992 Purdue study, results showed that high-intensity anaerobic-type exercise resulted in a significantly greater magnitude of EPOC than aerobic exercise of equal work output.

Ok Clint! Enough of the exercise jargon! What does that mean for me?!?! It means that if your workouts are short and intense, you will continue to burn fat through EPOC for up to 38 hours after you finish. If you do LSD (steady state exercise on a treadmill, outdoors, elliptical, etc.), EPOC ends very shortly after you’re done!

Are you okay, fitness boy? How the hell do I do that?! The easiest way to reach and maintain intensity is interval training (quick/rest). Interval is cardio at its best and Tabata (20 seconds hard/10 seconds rest) is the king of intervals!

By the way, there is also a way to get the EPOC effect in your resistance (lifting) training. Weightlifting with compound lifts, meaning multi-joint weightlifting exercises that perform a weightlifting circuit that alternates between upper and lower body exercises will result in a greater demand for adenosine triphosphate or ATP to the muscles involved. ATP is a high energy molecule found in all cells. Its job is to store and supply the cell with the necessary energy. The higher demand for anaerobic ATP also places a higher demand on the aerobic system to replenish the muscles with ATP during rest periods and during recovery from exercise.

So what does it all mean? It means that intensity is more important than duration. Exercise sessions should be short, fast, and hard. Cardio workouts should be high-intensity intervals, whether it’s bodyweight circuits, sprints, or some type of machine like an elliptical or treadmill. The lift should privilege compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, over isolation exercises such as curls or leg extensions. The cardio sessions alone will give you the EPOC effect for up to 36 hours after the end of the exercise!