Fitness bootcamp afterburn, more technically known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), is simply the process of the body restoring itself to its pre-exercise (or resting) condition.

When you begin exercising, you start creating an oxygen deficit that must be replenished when your workout is complete.  In order to do this, the body must use energy (calories).  The more intense the workout, the more calories you burn to fully recover your resting state.  This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 48 hours, again depending on the intensity of the exercise.

Often people equate being out of breath with being out of shape. This is not entirely true.  Have you ever watched an Olympic track event?  Each competitor normally remains out of breath for several minutes, even during the interview process.  This is not because of a low fitness level.  They are among the fitness elite!  It is their EPOC hard at work, bringing in extra oxygen to shift all their physiological variables back down to the rest-stage.

Image of Out Of Breath Runner

So when you’re in the middle of your fitness bootcamp workout, don’t fight the urge to breathe harder or faster.  Giving your body the extra oxygen it needs by giving it license to burn more calories for you in the workout and after!  Don’t cheat yourself of that benefit just because you don’t want to seem out of breath.

Of course, the huffing and puffing doesn’t last for 48 hours. Ventilation (rate of breathing) is one of the first variables to readjust.  But what else does EPOC accomplish?  Body temperature and heart rate also stabilize fairly quickly.  But it may take hours to re-oxygenate the blood; replenish and re-synthesize energy stores in the body.  So the more energy you use in a workout, the more calories you will burn afterwards to replace it.

This means you have to do the work on the front end if you expect prolonged afterburn.  Routines such as yoga and tai chi won’t trigger much EPOC.  (Do not discount these exercises. Remember flexibility is one of the 5 components of physical fitness.)  In order to achieve an optimal exercise afterburn, you need to exercise at or above 70% of your maximum effort.  So if 10 is the absolute hardest exercise you could do, try to stay within the 7 or 8 range during your steady-state cardio.

Fitness Bootcamp Resistance Push Exercise

During a fitness bootcamp workout with HIIT (high intensity interval training), you may even reach 9 or 10 at multiple intervals. Because of the fast pace of the camp exercise, those peaks continue to multiply in intensity. This is one reason that HIIT results in such significant fat burn.

Embrace those difficult workouts.  They will pay off for you!  In fact, as you continue to attend camp, you will see a training effect that allows you to work out longer and harder.  This extra intensity is magnified with EPOC, so fitness bootcamp workout afterburn truly becomes your secret weapon for time efficiency and weight management.

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