You betcha! Your exercise intensity will determine your training results and how many calories you burn during and AFTER your workout! How does this happen?
EPOC = Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption
What is this? EPOC is the process of restoring the body to baseline levels after you’re done exercise. This can be reflected by the number of calories you burn AFTER your workout is over! This is your fat burning during this time! EPOC increases as your exercise intensity increases.
Represented another way, see the red “afterburn” in the graph below.
When you train at a high intensity (red area) you are burning MORE calories than you would from a typical workout (grey area). That’s great, but the real bonus comes in the “afterburn”. This is EPOC! This is where your body is trying to get back to baseline so it continues to burn MORE calories without you even doing anything! This is the major benefit to high intensity training if your goal is fat loss! Your metabolism can be elevated up to 38-hrs after your workout IF your intensity is high enough.
How high is high enough? 80-90% of your heart rate max is needed to keep your metabolism elevated for 12-36-hrs. This means you are still burning calories after you exercise. This is a great time to refuel your body with HEALTHY food!
After your workout, while your metabolism is elevated, grab a little something with carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in it. This will help you feel refreshed again, fuel you up for the next workout, and you’ll burn these calories fast!! Train hard, burn fat!