Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption

Originally published October 12, 2009 By John Kuzora

There are two ways that physical activity can help you lose body fat. First, you burn calories while you are actually doing the activity and create a calorie deficit. This one is pretty self explanatory. If you walk for 30 minutes and burn 300 calories you have created a calorie deficit. Theoretically if you eat the same and create this 300 calorie per day deficit you would lose approximately 2.5 pounds per month. Of course things rarely work out that way for a number of reasons. Your body adapts the stress of the exercise, you subconsciously eat more to compensate for the calories you are burning, or the intensity of the exercise simply isn’t high enough to force your body out of homeostasis.

But there is a second, more powerful way that exercise can help you lose body fat. You continue to burn calories for a period of time after exercise. This known as excess post exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC, and maximizing this metabolic boost can be a powerful tool in body composition.

EPOC is the calories expended above resting values after exercise. After activity, the body needs to perform several metabolic functions to return to a rested state. These include replenishment of oxygen stores, resynthesis of phosphagen, removal of lactic acid, among other things. Studies show that it can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 48 hours for the body to fully recover. Most studies show that the intensity of exercise has more effect on EPOC than duration. In other words, working really hard for shorter amounts of time seems to increase your metabolism longer than slowly pounding away on a treadmill at 2.5 mph.

For a more detailed discussion of EPOC please visit http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/epoc.html

The following workout fits the bill perfectly for maximizing EPOC and boosting your metabolism to new heights:

The 60 yard shuttle

The 60 yard shuttle is a simple yet brutally effective anaerobic conditioning workout. It will improve your VO2 max, agility, and speed while burning calories and speeding up your metabolism.

To perform the workout, set up three cones 5 yards apart. The participant starts from one end, runs 5 yards and back to the start, 10 yards and back, then 15 yards and finishes at the start line. A total of 60 yards is completed. The person is required to touch the line with their hand at each turn, for a total of five touches.

Make sure you warm-up before starting this workout. Some general cardio (jogging or jumping rope for five minutes) and some dynamic flexibility exercises (leg swings and marching inch worms) will do. Start with anywhere from 6 to 12 repetitions. For example, someone new to interval training may start with 6 reps completed in 30 seconds followed by 90 seconds rest. At 30 seconds, you will be running, not sprinting, but this may be appropriate if your body is not used to 100% efforts. In this example progress first by decreasing you rest, then increase your speed, and finally add reps.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you are already in great shape and are looking for an intense challenge try completing 12 reps in 12 minutes each under 12 seconds. The intensity of this 12 minutes workout will amaze you.