So, how do you burn fat? By being more efficient with your workouts! The Aspiring Fitness workouts I’ve designed through my certification with Metabolic Effect, combines cardio with weight training to give you more fat burning for your workout buck!
People are SO surprised when I tell them that they only need to workout for 30 minutes 3x/week.
How does this work?
It’s called reaching “EPOC”.
What is EPOC?
EPOC is an acronym for Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption. Exercise research has shown that you can burn fat and calories for up to 48 HOURS after your workout when reach EPOC.
Here’s the scoop:
- During your workouts, your body uses oxygen to fuel your muscles. You start breathing harder…
- The more intense your workout, you start to breathe harder and use up more oxygen.
- When you use up oxygen, you create a deficit that needs to be restored. Your body likes to be balanced and to balance it back, your body will burn fat and calories after your workout.
What’s really important is to do is to make sure your body is burning fat after the workout. Certain things need to be in place to make sure fat burning is at an optimal level.
Compared to traditional cardio workouts, HIIT or Aspiring Fitness Workouts will create a longer afterburn of fat!! Check out the graph below!
Photo courtesy of Metabolic Effect
- Replace muscle glycogen. With these types of workouts, your body will use muscle glycogen as a primary source of fuel. Your body will be insulin sensitive as a result and you will need to eat a starchy carb and protein source as a snack to replenish and build muscle. My favorite Post-Workout Snack? 1 cup of Reese’s Puff Cereal and a chocolate whey protein shake!!
- Relax. When your workout is over, you will probably feel hot, sweaty and increased heart beat. Your heart is working hard to supply blood, nutrients and energy to your muscles and the rest of your body, so your heart rate will increase. It may take awhile to have your heart return to it’s normal pulse, and this helps increase fat burning.
- Muscle Repair. When you’re weight training, your muscles are being torn down and built back up. Remember that increased muscle leads to increased metabolic potential. So increased muscle will help keep that fat off and help burn it off as well!!
These body functions all require oxygen and fuel. AND, the fuel is uses is FAT!! Aside from calories, fat is used as an energy source! Which is what we want to reshape and tone our bodies!!