What is EPOC?
EPOC is a measurably increased rate of oxygen intake following strenuous activity. Increased EPOC means you burn more calories when you have finished exercise. The extra oxygen is used in the processes that restore the body to a resting state and adapt it to the exercise just performed. These include: (removal of lactic acid after exercise, restoration of muscle and blood oxygen stores, elevated body temperature, post exercise elevation of heart rate and breathing, elevated hormones and cell repair). Studies show that the EPOC effect exists after both anaerobic exercise and aerobic exercise, but all studies comparing the two show that anaerobic exercise increases EPOC more than aerobic exercise does. For exercise regimens of comparable duration and intensity, aerobic exercise burns more calories during the exercise itself4, but anaerobic exercise (exercise that causes high increases in lactic acid) burns more calories when you are finished exercising. Anaerobic exercise in the form of high-intensity interval training was also found in one study to result in greater loss of subcutaneous fat, even though the subjects expended fewer than half as many calories during exercise.


1 Second Up, 3 Seconds Down Increases EPOC for 72 hours!
Here at Fitness Rx for Women, we are dedicated to bring you the cutting edge research first! So if you really want to increase your metabolic rate, this is the workout routine for you, however be aware this program in hardcore! If you examine all the studies that have examined EPOC after resistance exercise, one study that reported the single greatest prolonged effect on metabolism was when the subjects used eccentric exercise on the leg press6. Eccentric exercise is when you lower the weight. Eccentric contractions tend to produce muscle damage and tend to produce muscle soreness. Researchers wanted to see what effect emphasizing the eccentric contraction would have on post-exercise metabolism. They recruited both trained and untrained subjects and had them before a full body, high volume exercise protocol with a protocol in which they raised the weight in 1 second but lowered it in 3 seconds. Eight sets of six repetitions were performed on eight exercise machines (Chest press, Leg Press, Biceps Curls, Lat Pull Downs, Leg Curls, Triceps Extensions, Shoulder Press, and Leg Extension.) So do you want the Good News or the Bad News First? The bad news was that all the subjects reported muscle soreness after the exercise program which the untrained subjects having more soreness; the good news is that the 1 second up, 3 seconds down protocol increased post-exercise metabolism for 72 hours after exercise9! Previous research using the 1 second up, 1 second down reported that exercise metabolism was increased for 14 to 15 hours7, 8, but here we have 72 hours with 1 second up, 3 seconds down! Why did this exercise program jack up the subject’s metabolism so much? The researchers suspected that it had to do with the muscle repair process. As mentioned previously, the subjects were extremely sore, it takes additional calories to repair muscle proteins so the increased metabolic advantage was likely due to muscle repair which takes energy. The trained subjects elevated their resting energy expenditure by 8% after the workout!
If you are a beginner, this program may be too much as many of the untrained subjects felt extreme muscle soreness so if you are just starting to exercise wait a few months before you try this program.

This article hopefully will give you a creative way to pump up your weight lifting routine. There are 2 ways to increase post-exercise calories being burned: either make your workout sessions longer or make them more intense. To me the choice is simple, hit it hard and go home. Just to give you an example, a study in women who performed the same workout session at low intensity (45% of a 8-repetition maximum) had a lower amount of calories burned in the post-exercise period than women who trained with high intensity (85% of a 8-repetition maximum)14. The moral of the story is that those little pink dumbbells are not going to enhance your metabolism compared to throwing some weight on the bar. Intensity is a woman’s best friend for losing fat. If you are up for the challenge, try the 1 second up, 3 seconds down routine using large muscle groups (leg press, chest press, bent rows, ect) for enhanced calorie burning. You may be sore...but think about your revved up metabolism!


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Source:musculardevelopment.com