The Afterburn Effect a.k.a. EPOC
The afterburn effect is also known as EPOC in the personal trainer circles. EPOC stands for Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption. Lets simply break down the verbiage of the EPOC acronym:
E = Excess
P = Post-exercise
O = Oxygen
C = Consumption
In other words, after (“post-exercise”) an intense workout (the cause of “excess” “oxygen consumption”) the body experiences an increase in metabolic functioning. This increase in your metabolism causes more calories to be burned. The more calories burned, the more fat burned. The more fat burned, the faster you’re on track to LIVING LEAN!
This Type of Exercise WILL NOT Maximize The Afterburn Effect
It still floors me with all the research being published, that very few fitness professionals are taking advantage of this style of training and its potential to help more people live lean.
It takes a certain type of workout to maximize the afterburn effect. Unfortunately 84.53% of people at the gym don’t follow this “specialized” program. And yes, that is a science-backed percentage with a sample size of 1,002,111. Ok, maybe not…but you get the point.
Do this the next time you go to the gym. Stop by the cardio equipment. Take a moment to look at the people on the machines. Don’t worry, you’ll only be that creepy “gym gawker” for a few seconds.
Now, what percentage of people are going through the motions i.e. slow and steady cardio, barely breaking a sweat, if any? If your gym is like any of the hundreds that I’ve visited, I’d say 70%+ of the people fall into this category. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of these “cardio jockeys” are lean and muscular.