How to Achieve Max Afterburn Effect

You can’t get something for nothing when you’re trying to burn calories. If you want to trim the fat, you have to put in the work. But certain types of workouts may lift your metabolism enough that you continue to burn calories after you stop exercising. This is known as the afterburn effect. While your results may vary, research indicates that your body continues burning calories as it recovers from intense exercise. So if you’re up for a challenging workout, you may receive a nice bonus afterward.

Instructions

    • 1

      Warm up before performing high-intensity exercise. Do five to 10 minutes of your favorite aerobic activity prior to your workout.

    • 2

      Exercise aerobically at an intensity level that makes it impossible to hold a normal conversation, for approximately 45 minutes. A 2011 study published in “Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise” determined that subjects who rode an exercise bike at 75-percent intensity for 45 minutes burned extra calories after the workout session ended.

    • 3

      Perform intense interval training. Several studies have concluded that intense interval training leads to a greater afterburn effect that intense steady-pace exercise. For example, a 1997 study published in the “Journal of Applied Physiology” determined that runners who performed 20 one-minute sprint repetitions at maximum intensity burned more calories after exercising than subjects who ran for 30 minutes at a steady 70-percent intensity level.

    • 4

      Train with heavy weights. Perform three to eight repetitions of eight different exercises in which you lift 80 to 90 percent of your one-rep max -- the heaviest weight that you can lift one time. Do three sets of each exercise.

    • 5

      Perform a weight-training circuit in which you don’t rest between exercises within each set. Perform three sets of six exercises in which you lift 50 percent of your one-rep max. Take no more than 30 seconds to move from one exercise to the next.

    • 6

      Do intense workouts that produce an afterburn effect as often as you wish If you're in good enough shape. Just don't perform resistance training on the same muscle group two days in a row. A more realistic schedule would be two to four sessions per week, alternating between resistance and aerobic training.