Intervals vs. Steady State Cardio Part II

Previously I went over what intervals were.

Today, I'm going to sum it all up and explain why intervals are superior to low intensity steady state cardio when it comes to fat loss.

The term is known as Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption(EPOC).

When you start working your muscles, your heart rate increases (thus also increasing your breathing) in order to get oxygen to those working muscles at the rate that is needed in order to sustain that activity. Once you are done doing that activity, your body is still going to take in more oxygen than you were before doing the activity for a period of time in order to continue to repair the muscles (as well as other functions) that you just worked.

You can try this yourself. Check your heart rate for 15 seconds. Then run in place as quickly as you can for 30 seconds. Check your heart rate after you’re done for 15 seconds. The heart rate is elevated above your pre-run-in-place rate. Now check it again in a minute, and you’ll still find that it’s above the rate that it was at prior to running in place. That’s EPOC. Your body continues to need oxygen at above the pre-activity rate in order to bring the body back to the pre-activity condition. And during this EPOC time period, your body is still burning calories from the result of that activity.

How does this relate to Intervals?

Let’s say you took a walk at a normal pace for 45 minutes. Let’s say you burn 150 calories during that time. Since the work you perform on the muscles is not very intense, the amount of EPOC needed after the exercise is not that big. You may only need about an hour before your body is back to your pre-walk condition. So the amount of calories you continue to burn from the walk, after the walk is very small.

Now let’s say you get on the bike and do Intervals for 20 minutes. The intervals are intense and require a lot of work of large muscle groups in your legs. The intensity is so much that within those 20 minutes, you may burn 125 calories.

But, the key is the EPOC. Because the intensity of the exercise was high, and large muscle groups in the legs were used, it’s going to take a longer EPOC in order to bring your body back to the pre-bike condition. It may take up to 24 HOURS for your body to get back to that pre-bike condition, and that means that during that EPOC, you are still burning calories. How many calories burned depends on a variety of factors but it could result in another hundred or so calories being burned.

This is not only why intervals are great for burning fat, but also why strength training is a great fat burner as well. When you strength train, it could take up to 48 hours for your body to return to your pre-exercise state, thus meaning 48 hours of calorie burning for an activity that you did 2 days ago!

Bottom Line. Do the intervals. They hurt, but I can tell you with absolutely certainty, if you do them consistently along with a strength training plan, fat WILL fall off.

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