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BOUNTIFUL — Imagine burning calories hours, even days after exercising.
What sounds too good to be true is called EPOC, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, also known as the "afterburn effect."
Owner of Forever Change Fitness & Nutrition, Tamara Watt, says the afterburn effect is "where the body can really go in and burn body fat at its fullest potential."
The secret to burning those extra calories hours after breaking a sweat boils down to a numbers game. The first number you need to know is your max heart rate. To determine your max heart rate, subtract 220 from your age. The other number you need to know to make this method work is your fat burning zone.
Your fat-burning zone is 60-70 percent of your max heart rate. The best way to figure that out is to multiply your max heart rate by .60. Keeping those two numbers in mind, you're ready to begin.
Watt says always get in a really good warm-up and start strong. "A lot of people's idea is lots of cardio. Even though cardio can be long in duration and high in caloric burn, it doesn't mean the body is working to max capacity," she said.
Start off by getting your heart rate above your fat burning zone for a good 10-15 minutes to get your heart pumping. Then continue with lower intensity exercises that keep you within that fat burning zone. To get the longest afterburn affect, focus on anaerobic training or threshold training.
"With this type of training the body gets uncomfortable long enough that it's adapted and adjusts," Watt said. "But the body has to be pushed to a certain capacity. This has an afterburn from 12, 24 to 36 hours in just one workout. That's not even the compound effects of one week's training."
Alternate between lower intensity training for 10-15 minutes to one minute of high intensity interval training or HIIT training. These intervals will keep your body in a constant state of fat burning that lasts hours after exercising. The higher and longer the intensity, the longer duration of the afterburn effect.
"So the turtle wins the race for a reason. It's consistency and persistence over time," Watt says.
To learn more about how to get a personalized plan to your unique lifestyle and body type click here.
Jenniffer is a Special Projects Producer who heads up the Your Life Your Health, Zero Fatalities and High 5 initiatives. For questions, feedback or possible story ideas, please email jmichaelson@ksl.com.
