Does Interval Training Burn More Calories After Exercise Is Done?

Aug 18, 2011 | By Laura Niedziocha

Exercise burns calories during the workout and afterward. For your body to recover after exercise, your metabolic rate is enhanced. Your body uses this time for repairing, adapting and refueling. Interval training is a type of exercise that is an intense full body workout. This type of training can increase the calories you burn during recovery.

Interval Exercise

Interval training is an intense form of exercise. When you interval train you work by doing a high intense activity for one minute, then take a two-minute break. For example, if you are trying to improve your running pace you might sprint for 60 seconds, then walk for two minutes and repeat 10 or more times. You can also use interval training to fulfill a full body workout in a shorter time frame by choosing exercises that use all of your major muscle groups with each interval.

Exercise Recovery

After exercise your body must recover. For a duration after physical activity your body experiences an excess post exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC. During this time your metabolic rate and oxygen use is greater than it would normally be at rest. This is because your body is working hard to recover from the stimulus of exercise. An increase in temperature, mineral and mitochondrial recovery can also be blamed for the rise in metabolism after exercise.

Intensity

The amount of calories your body continues to burn after exercise is dependent on the intensity of your activity. Higher intensity exercise takes more work for your body to recover from. Therefore, excess post-exertional oxygen consumption is higher and lasts longer. Interval training, being that it is an intense workout, will increase calorie burn after exercise more so than the conventional aerobic workout of the same duration.

Resistance Training

Adding resistance training as part of your interval workout can also boost calorie burn. High intensity resistance training increases the duration of EPOC, leading to a larger amount of calories burned. To include weight training inside your interval workout, space periods of cardio and weightlifting with periods of rest.