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By Amy Marturana Winder | Apr 27, 2022
Of all the fitness acronyms out there – HIIT, AMRAP, EMOM, DOMS, the list goes on – EPOC is arguably the coolest, and the most misunderstood. EPOC, or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, is informally known as ‘the afterburn effect’ and refers to the physiological phenomenon in which the body continues to burn extra energy even after your workout has ended. Very cool, no?
To be honest, it almost sounds too good to be true, even to experts. You’re no longer putting exercise demands on the body, yet your metabolism and muscles and heart are still pumping as if you were? “Theoretically, it’s not something you might expect,” says J. Luke Pryor, associate director of elite athlete performance at the University of Buffalo. What’s more, the EPOC effect gets hyped up a lot (think: that group fitness instructor who raves about how you’ll keep torching a bajillion calories long after class ends).
Thing is, EPOC is indeed real. Your muscles, heart rate, and metabolism are all plugging away at higher rates for some length of time post-workout. And if you know what you’re doing and are structuring your sweat sessions accordingly, you can get more bang for your buck thanks to this internal simmer.
Ahead, what we know right now about the mysterious EPOC effect and how to harness it for the ultimate post-sweat burn.
To understand EPOC, you need basic knowledge of your internal happenings first. When you breathe in oxygen, your body moves some of it from the lungs into the blood, Pryor says, so the muscles can convert it into energy for exercise.
You have some stored energy the body can tap immediately, but there’s not enough oxygen at the get-go. “When you start exercising and feel terrible, that’s due to an oxygen deficit,” says associate professor of physiology Abbie E. Smith-Ryan. “Once oxygen metabolism kicks in, you feel better and more energised.”
And the higher your workout on the hardcore scale, the greater the amount of O2 you need to take in… and the more kilojoules you burn. Following certain workouts (read: intense ones!), “the body continues to consume higher oxygen volumes once exercise has stopped,” says Pryor. That right there is EPOC. Your body is essentially working overtime to recover. “Your body needs to reset and get all of its processes back to baseline,” says Professor Jill Kanaley, who specialises in nutrition and exercise physiology. “That means bringing your breathing and heart rate back to resting, lowering body temp, starting to repair muscle fibres, and scrambling to replenish your energy stores – which is hard work that requires energy to accomplish.” Just how much fuel it uses is up for debate.
Get this : You’ll burn more kilojoules and fat if you eat something pre-workout (versus doing it fasted). And if you make it protein? Clutch move, as you’ll burn even more. One serving of protein had a greater EPOC effect than 376kJ of carbs, found Abbie E. Smith-Ryan’s research. “It’s also better for fat metabolism,” she says, adding that the payoff is more prominent for women.
Our bodies, metabolisms, and hormones are vastly different, so it can vary considerably from person to person. The exact amount of time EPOC lasts is hard to pinpoint, Pryor says. But generally, the more oomph in a sesh, the further your body gets from baseline and the greater the effect you’ll experience.
FYI: There’s both a fast and a slow phase with EPOC. In the fast phase, your body is quickly bringing your HR and other vitals to normal when you first stop exercising – but it lasts for only about three minutes, Kanaley says. The slow phase, in which your body continues to recover and operate with slightly higher energy needs than usual, can go on for a long time. “How long depends on the intensity and duration of exercise,” Kanaley says. Some research only lasered in on EPOC for 30 minutes after exercise; other studies measured impacts that lasted up to 72 hours(!).
In terms of calories, it’s probably “a few hundred,” Smith-Ryan says, adding that the number depends on the exercise intensity and other factors like body composition and diet. It’s also pretty much impossible to get your exact EPOC stats if you’re not in a lab, considering existing estimates come from sophisticated technology used in sports medicine studies. You just have to assume it’s happening to some extent.
Bottom line: EPOC is a bonus to an otherwise beneficial workout that is likely moving you closer to your goals, says Smith-Ryan. Plus, knowing it’s on the other side of a sweat might give you more motivation to push through and crank it up. Wins for all.
20 Minutes of HIIT: High-intensity interval training is generally recognised as an efficient way to boost EPOC. This can look like a class that alternates high-energy and recovery periods, or even a run with sprint intervals paired with slower paced bouts.
Incline Work: Increase the grade on your treadmill or the resistance on your bike, or add hill sprints to a run to challenge both your muscles and cardiovascular system even more.
Heavy-Weight Circuits: Choose 10 exercises that, in total, work your whole body. Then, for each move, grab the heaviest weight you can lift for 10 reps. Do 10 reps of each, making the eccentric (lowering) phase of your reps four seconds long.
Walking on Soft Surfaces: Taking your feet to plush ground, like sand, requires more muscle contractions to maintain the same pace, Pryor says. “Essentially you become less efficient, and more energy is expended.”
Amy is a freelance writer and editor who covers health, fitness, outdoors, and travel. She is an ACE-certified personal trainer and a PRONatal pre/postnatal performance training specialist. Her work has been published in Cosmo, Women's Health, Men's Health, Runner's World, Self, Livestrong, and more. Outside of work, you can find her hiking, cooking a new recipe she found on Pinterest, working on DIY home renovations, or tending to her beloved houseplants.
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