Interval Training iPod Workouts - Your Ticket to Fat Burning and Cardio Results!

Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN
myTreadmillTrainer.com

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Now let’s have a look at a few studies supporting the efficacy of interval training for fat loss after your workout. A concept known as your excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC, which basically represents the number of calories burned after exercise.

A study from the Journal of Applied Physiology investigated the effects of a continuous run (30 minutes at 70% VO2max) versus an interval run (20 bouts of1-minute duration at 105% VO2max, referred to as supra-maximal exercise). The authors reported a significantly greater EPOC following the intermittent bouts of supra-maximal exercise (15 L, 75 calories vs. 6.9 L, 34.5 calories).

In another study out of the British Journal of Sports Medicine it was found that subjects demonstrated a significantly greater EPOC following an interval bout of exercise (two 25-minute sessions at 70% VO2max) when compared to a continuous bout (a 50-minute run at 75% VO2max). The EPOC values for the interval exercise sessions were combined and averaged 3.1 L (15.5 calories) versus just 1.4 L (7 calories) for the continuous exercise session.

Similarly, a Canadian study reported greater EPOC values following two 15-minute exercise bouts when compared to 30 minutes of continuous exercise at 70% VO2max. The average EPOC following the interval exercise was 7.4 L (37 calories) versus 5.3 L (26.5 calories) following continuous exercise.

Take Home Message About EPOC and Interval Cardio Training

I hope that it is now clear to you that interval training is powerful – far more powerful than long boring, low intensity aerobic exercise. Not only does it promote a greater improvement in your aerobic endurance, it will also keep your metabolic engine burning for hours on end after your workout.

So even while you’re sitting at home or in the office your body is churning through your fat stores as it tries to recover itself back to “homeostasis” (or balance). The more oxygen your body consumes, the more calories you’re going to burn. And since your post-workout intensity is almost a resting state your body will turn to fat as its primary fuel source.

Although it is tempting to be guided by the number of calories your cardio machine is claiming that you’re burning, the true burn occurs after your workouts. That is the power of EPOC!

My challenge to you is to get out of the mind-set that low-intensity, long duration (continuous) cardio workouts are best for burning fat. Yes they will work but who has time for 2 hour cardio sessions? Why not get a more invigorating workout in less than 20 minutes by doing intervals?

That is my challenge…will you accept it?

References:

Laforgia,J.,et al.1997.Comparison of exercise expenditure elevations after submaximal and supramaximal running. Journal of Applied Physiology, 82(2),661–6.

Kaminsky,L.A.,Padjen,S.,& LaHam-Saeger,J.1990. Effect of split exercise sessions on excess postexercise oxygen consumption. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 24(2), 95–8.

Almuzaini,K.S.,Potteiger,J.A.,& Green,S.B.1998.Effects of split exercise sessions on excess post exercise oxygen consumption and resting metabolic rate. Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology,23(5),433–43.

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