When it comes to using exercise as a means of weight maintenance, we can benefit from a physiological reaction to intense activity known as the afterburn effect or EPOC.
EPOC stands for Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption and relates to the fact the body will continue to consume more calories and require more oxygen for several hours after coming to rest post workout.
This afterburn effect ensures an elevated pulse and breathing rate for some time after you finish your activity, along with an increased release of hormones which aid the refilling, repair and regeneration of muscles cells.
For those who enjoy high intensity workouts such as circuit training or high intensity interval training, the afterburn effect will be greatest with some studies pointing to elevated metabolism for 24 hours with particularly high intensities.
Endurance training has a lower and shorter effect, but more calories are often used during the workout itself.
But what about those who can’t perform star jumps and burpees or run on a treadmill? Can they still boost their afterburn effect?
It turns out strength training is a good way to ensure we continue to burn extra calories after our workout, but this effect is best observed in those who can push their muscle tissue closer to its natural limits.
We spend considerable time and energy explaining to our clients how they should feel during resistance training as it can be daunting for those who have not weight lifted before.
The fact a pushing or pulling exercise is challenging and causes movements to be
slow and laboured with a “burn” or discomfort in the muscle tissue is normal and perfect to elicit a training response.
This training response includes a potential increase in muscle size, improved strength and power and heightened muscle tone.
For a body conscious young dude, this can mean increased arm size and perhaps some tighter fitting t-shirts, but for the 93-year-old lady it can mean arms are no longer required to stand up out of a chair and the risk of fall is reduced significantly.
If you are wondering why I picked the age 93, I have just reviewed one of our more mature clients after eight weeks of resistance training and they now exhibit a 2.2kg increase in lean muscle tissue. Old age starts at 95 and it is never too late to start pumping a little iron.
We see these effects daily and they can be life changing in terms of being able to carry out the activities of daily life and maintaining independence.
The post exercise afterburn can be further enhanced if we work large muscle groups and gradually reduce our normal rest periods to increase the intensity of the workout.
Spending longer on a workout doesn’t necessarily correlate with an increased afterburn. It’s more about intensity and embracing the feeling of being a little uncomfortable.
If you could benefit from guidance on how to become a little stronger and control body fat levels, self refer to our Thrive programme by visiting www.lornhealthyoptions.co.uk.
Cameron Johnson, exercise professional, Healthy Options.