After burn

[Q.]

One of the benefits of weight training over the usual "aerobic" training that is done is the "after burn." Does this happen to the same degree with body weight training? Does after burn require weights or can intensity of the workout make up for this?

[JoshDunn]

After burn or turbulence is determined by the ratio of carbon dioxide and 0xygen breathed out. In other words anything that gets your breathing harder creates an excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) which is what burns calories post exercise.

This can be done through many forms; intervals, weights, bodyweight workouts would definalty count.

A high intensity (ie burning carbohydrates while working out) creates an increase in resting values which essentually the same as performing low intensity exercise while you are recovering.

Not sure if that helped but i tried to explain what causes the after burn.

[Craig]

Afterburn/turbulence doesn't require weights, it can be done with high-intensity exercise (that can be weights, intervals, or bodyweight exercises). It just has to be intense...it can be something you can do for 30 minutes straight - like slow cardio.

[Q.]

Both responses answered my question. Thanks! It's kind of what I suspected and I'm assuming CB's answer was a typo:

"It just has to be intense...it can be something you can do for 30 minutes straight - like slow cardio."

This was supposed to be "can't do" so the key is intensity either with weights or without.

Thanks again!

[JoshDunn]

You do get an EPOC post cardio but it is much less then a more intense exercise.

[UConnJulie]

And from what I understand ... the EPOC after cardio only lasts a few minutes, whereas after a TT workout or intervals it can last hours and hours!

[UConnJulie]

Alwyn actually talks about this in his blog today ...

Here's a study I looked at recently and mentioned at the last seminar I taught:

====
Schuenke MD, Mikat RP, McBride JM.
Effect of an acute period of resistance exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC): implications for body fat management.
Eur J Appl Physiol 2002 Mar;86(5):411-7

This group looked at the effects of circuit weight training on EPOC.

The exercise routine consisted of three exercises (the bench press, the power clean and the squat), performed with 10RM loads as a circuit. The circuit was performed four times (i.e. twelve total sets) and took 31 mins.

EPOC was elevated for 38 hours post workout (possibly longer as this was when the researchers stopped measuring). The duration and magnitude of the EPOC observed in this study indicates the importance of the role of high intensity resistance training in a fat loss program.
====

This type of information should go a long way in helping fitness professionals design and implement effective fat loss programs. It's not the workout - it's the effect of that workout on EPOC.

I call this Afterburn - metabolic disturbance. Craig Ballantyne calls this Turbulence. but we're talking about the same thing - elevating EPOC to maximize caloric burn for the other 23+ hours per day. Is there much of a real world effect of burning 300 calories per workout (e.g. aerobic work) if I don't elevate EPOC?

If we could elevate EPOC even an apparently insignificant 1/4 of a calorie per minute for the 38 hours that the study showed, then that 31 minute resistance training workout would burn X calories during the session plus an extra 570 calories over the next 38 hours. That becomes significant.

In the past - fitness professionals and researchers have looked at how much fat is burned during the exercise session itself. This is extremely short-sighted.

As my colleague Alan Aragon said:

"Caring how much fat is burned during training makes as much sense as caring how much muscle is built during training."
Think about that. If we looked at a weight training session that started at 9am and finished at 10am - how much muscle would we see built if we stopped looking at 10am? None.

In fact - we'd see muscle damage. We could make the conclusion that weight training does not increase muscle - in fact it decreases muscle right? It's only when we look at the big picture - and look at the recovery from the session - that we find the reverse is true - weight training builds muscle.

Fat loss training is the same way. Someone talking about the benefits of the "fat burning zones" or "fasted cardio" is a sure sign that the individual has stopped looking at the end of the exercise session. They have come to the conclusion that fasted, lower intensity steady state exercise burns the most fat and made a massive leap of faith to suggest it is best for real world fat loss.

Using that same logic these same people would suggest avoiding weight training if you want to grow muscle.

Take home message - focus on the Afterburn effect not just what happens during the exercise session.

--
AC

PS - My question is - could we get ANOTHER EPOC boost if we train less than 38 hours later? Could we raise an already elevated metabolism further? These are the questions that keep me up at night....

[Craig]

That is a good post. I'm dissappointed though that he beat me to this...i just started writing a similar article last week.

Oh well, at least he can't sleep.

One clarification, which i know Alwyn understands, but that i want to mention (even though it is relatively irrelevant)...

our workout names describe different things:
Turbulence describes the stimulus during the workout

Afterburn describes what goes on after the workout because of the stimulus during the workout

But results are similar, differences are only semantic.

That's a really good post that all trainers should read. And understand.

The analogy with muscle building is long overdue.

cb

[sillybubba74]

>>>PS - My question is - could we get ANOTHER EPOC boost if we train less than 38 hours later? Could we raise an already elevated metabolism further? These are the questions that keep me up at night.... <<<

Craig, what are your thoughts on Alwyn's hypothesis? Do you think it's possible to get almost a double boost to the metabolism in this situation? Since it would be tough doing a full-body workout less than 48 hours apart, I wonder if intervals or body weight exercises would suffice for an added EPOC.

[Craig]

Possibly, if had enough variation in exercises and interval methods, and muscle groups worked.

But a lesser chance if you tried to repeat the same workout as the day before.

Hard to explain without writing a novel...and there's no research to back it up. The studies remain to be done.