Fat Burning Tip - How to maximize your fat burning the other 23 hours of the day using the EPOC strategy
February 28th, 2008 · Filed Under: Fat Burning · Fat Burning Workouts · Fat Loss Training
If there was ever a secret to fat burning, it’s EPOC. Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption is the “missing link” in so many training programs of today. Sure, you may burn 400-600 calories on the treadmill during an hour of light to moderate activity, but what is your body doing the other 23 hours of the day? EPOC has been shown to burn calories by elevating your metabolism for 24-48 hours following intense resistance training sessions or high-intensity interval training sessions. This metabolic disturbance does not occur after steady-state cardio that is ever-so-common in mainstream gyms. In effect, after a long, steady-state cardio session, your body is done burning calories. You get what you pay for with minutes – more minutes equals more calories burned.
Steady-state cardio has tremendous benefits, but the EPOC-inducing interval training will help you burn more fat. The best solution is using both types of training to your advantage.
If your goal is fat loss, then you need to be maximizing the benefits of EPOC to burn extra calories during the rest of the day; even while you’re sleeping. The best ways to ramp up your metabolism with EPOC are heavy resistance training and other CNS intensive work such as running, sled pulling and pushing, and interval training.
The key to interval training is maximizing your effort in waves. Here’s an example of an EPOC-inducing high-intensity interval training (HIIT) program using running as an example:
Jog 5 minutes to warm-up
Repeat 6X:
1 minute of fast running or sprinting
2 minutes of walking or light jogging
This is an 18 minute HIIT session with an extra 5 minutes added to warm-up. This little workout will probably rev up your metabolism so much that you’ll be burning calories the following day because of it.
Another example using an exercise bike:
Pedal for 5 minutes at low intensity to warm-up
Repeat 10X:
30 seconds at full speed – this is an all-out effort, there is no pacing yourself here.
1 minute at low speed.
This one is only 15 minutes, plus 5 minutes for the warm-up. Again, this short workout will literally fry your metabolism into fat burning overload.
As you can probably tell, there are literally endless variations on how to structure your interval training. Find an activity that you enjoy and play around with the variables a little bit - you won’t be disappointed with the results.
To your success,
John Sifferman NSCA-CPT
P.S. If you have tried interval training in the past, we would love to hear from you. Whether it’s to share a workout, moan and groan about how much you hate sprints, or just ask a question, just leave us a comment below.
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Comments RSS 
March 17th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
John -
I’d lost nearly 50 lbs when I hit a plateau. I was looking for ways to break through without cutting calories or spending endless hours in the gym. HIIT was definitely the solution I was after.
Now on Tues and Thur (non lift days) I almost look forward to doing HIIT intervals on the elliptical. I warm up 6 min, then sprint for a minute, rest for 2 repeat, upto 8X.
I love the fact that the EPOC boosts my burn the rest of the day/night. Even with warm-up and cool-down each HIIT workout only takes about 36 minutes (far less than the hour of LSD (long slow distance) cardio I’ve been trying to avoid.
Another plus is the opportunity to use progression. When I started, my “sprint” was only about 90 rpm at resistance 6. It was enough to drive my heart rate up above anearobic threshold. I could only do about 4 intervals before wimping out.
Within a couple of weeks, I was able to do 8 intervals at that speed and resistance.
Next, I upped the speed to 100 rpm at resistance 6. Once again, I struggled to do 4 or 5 intervals at the faster pace, but with a couple weeks I was able to do 8 intervals.
Next step is to up the resistance. Tommorrow, I’m shooting for 4 to 6 intervals at resistance 7. I’ll be able to keep ratcheting up the speed then resistance as I get in increasingly better shape.
P.S. I mentioned I “almost” look forward to each HIIT session. Actually I approach each one with a small dose of fear somewhere inside me. Oddly, this smidgen of fear melts away during the first interval. After that I’m eager to outdo my previous best.