Looking to Lose More Fat? Simply Add More Intensity To Your Exercise

Intense exercise has been shown time and time again to be more effective at burning fat than low intensity exercise . Part of this is due to the exercise after-burn, also referred to as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). This is the number of calories expended (above resting
values) after an exercise bout.
    
The oxygen consumption the body uses to return to its pre-exercise state represents EPOC .

The physiologic mechanisms responsible for increased metabolism following exercise include oxygen replenishment, phosphagen (ATP-PC) resynthesis, lactic acid removal, increased ventilation, and increased blood circulation and body temperature.

Your body can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 48 hours to fully recover to a resting state . Studies have found that the magnitude and duration of EPOC depend on the intensity and duration of exercise.
  The intensity of your cardio workout has the greatest impact on EPOC as research as shown .

The magnitute and duration of EPOC increases as your exercise intensity increases .

In a study by Bahr and Sejersted (1991), subjects accomplished exercise bouts at intensities of 29%, 50% and 75% of their VO2max for a period of 80 minutes. The greatest EPOC was reported following the highest exercise intensity (75% VO2max) with 30 liters of oxygen consumed or 150 calories burned.

(Note: it is well understood in all exercise physiology and nutrition texts that for every liter of oxygen consumed, approximately 5 calories are burned.)

In a more recent study, Phelain and his colleagues also investigated the effects of low-intensity (50% VO2max) and high-intensity (75% VO2max) exercise on the EPOC response.

Although the energy expended during both exercise bouts was the same 500 calories, the higher intensity bout caused a significantly higher EPOC than the lower intensity bout – 9 liters of oxygen (or 45 calories) versus 4.8 liters (or 24 calories).

Additionally, the duration of EPOC following the highest intensity exercise was significantly longer when compared to the lower-intensity bouts (10.5 hours versus 0.3 and 3.3 hours). That’s an astounding difference!
Intensity is king when it comes to burning calories as these results have shown . So even if the calorie count on your cardio machine isn’t what you want it to be don’t worry – the real fat burning benefit is taking place for several hours after your session!

One of the reasons for this occurrence is that after exercise your body is restoring its depleted glycogen (carbohyrate) reserves, therefore, for its primary fuel source, it will to turn to fat !

LOOK AT HOW SPRINTERS TRAIN

If you’ve ever seen a sprinter’s training session the one thing you would have noticed is the intensity at which they train . They perform near maximal efforts for short periods of time. This includes their resistance and cardio training. And the results speak for themselves. How many sprinters do you know of that are fat and flabby?