Does Your Body Keep Burning Calories After a Cardio Work Out?

Cardio exercises offer a laundry list of benefits -- activities such as running and biking can help improve your mood, enhance your energy levels and promote superior sleep. Additionally, cardio can assist in your weight-loss efforts because it burns calories. And while you'll certainly feel the effort that burns calories during your workouts, you may not realize that your body isn't finished burning calories at the end of your workout. Your body actually continues to burn calories for hours after cardio sessions, further assisting your efforts to shed pounds. Always consult a doctor before starting any workout plan.

  1. Burn, Body Burn

    • It isn't difficult to understand why your body burns calories during exercise -- it takes fuel to move your body, particularly at high rates of speed or for long periods of time. What you might not realize, though, is that your metabolic rate remains elevated even after you stop exercising, as your body has to adjust to the stress of cardio. Increased metabolic tasks such as cooling your body down, clearing metabolic waste product from muscle and stabilizing circulation require energy, so your body continues to burn calories at a higher rate than normal. This state of elevated calorie burning is known as exercise after burn or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, commonly abbreviated as EPOC.

    Influences on After Burn

    • Not every type of exercise -- and not even every form of cardio -- will trigger the same level of EPOC. The primary factors influencing EPOC, or after burn, are the duration and intensity of your exercise. So if you're running a marathon, you can expect a higher level of after burn than if you're gently cycling. Your physical condition also influences after burn; the more "in shape" you are, the less benefit you get. Additionally, research from the "European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology" indicates that men experience longer bouts of after burn than women.

    Specific Statistics: Number of Calories Burned

    • Numerous scientific studies have investigated the extent of the after-burn effect on calorie burning. A 1993 study by J. Smith and L. McNaughton published in the "European Journal of Applied Physiology" found that high-intensity bouts of cardio 30 minutes in length can result in the after burn of up to 140 calories for men and up to 121 calories for women. Meanwhile, a 1992 study by D. A. Sedlock published in the "Journal of Applied Sport Science Research" found that lower-intensity workouts -- such as 30 minutes of moderate cycling -- may burn as few as 15.5 calories. Thus, tailoring your workouts to maximize after burn can have a significant impact on overall weight loss.

    Maximizing After Burn

    • If you want to burn as many calories as possible, you can tailor your workouts to maximize the degree of EPOC that occurs. According to research published in the "British Journal of Medicine," performing two of your cardio sessions in two halves rather than all at once results in a higher rate of EPOC. In addition to extending the duration of your exercise and enhancing the intensity of your workouts, you can make dietary changes to maximize after burn. For example, a study published in the September 2006 edition of the journal "Metabolism" found people with diets high in unsaturated as opposed to saturated fats experienced more exercise after burn.