Another crazy exercise science blog post title! I know you love ”˜em!
I’ve been meaning to write another SCIENCE post (aka interesting things I’m learning from NASM), so when I received an exercise question from a reader this morning, I knew it would be the perfect way to introduce Excess Postexercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) (aka “exercise afterburn”) to you guys. The “afterburn” is how many additional calories your body burns after a workout in order to return your body to the state it was in before the exercise took place.
The question I received asked if splitting a workout into more than one session is just as beneficial for burning calories as a single session. According to NASM and their research, splitting your workout into multiple sessions of equal time has a greater effect on EPOC (and ultimately calorie burn) because the body’s metabolism is elevated after each bout of exercise. If you workout twice in one day, for instance, your body needs to return itself to its pre-exercise state two different times, which means more oxygen is consumed (to aid various bodily functions) and more calories are burned than a single session. The EPOC effect increases with the intensity and duration of the exercise.
If your schedule allows for it, splitting up your workout (ex: cardio in the AM; strength in the PM) is just one way to get a little more bang for your buck. (FYI: The afterburn doesn’t burn all that many extra calories, but it’s still better than nothing!) Of course, there’s a lot more to this whole EPOC thing as well as ways to increase it (minimal rest, heavy lifting, etc.), but, in a nutshell, that’s what it’s all about. Neat, right? I love this stuff!
Snack
Around 10:30, my stomach started to grumbled so I made myself a snack of two clementines and some pistachios. Does anyone else love pistachios more than other nuts? I do. A lot.
Workout
I needed to run a bunch of errands this morning, so I planned a quick trip to the gym during my travels. I ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes and covered 3.35 miles using the workout below.
I’m planning to go to CrossFit tonight, so I kept my workout short and sweet (and sweaty. I’m usually disgusting after an interval workout on the treadmill).
Lunch
For lunch, I made a “healthier” egg salad sandwich by adding an extra egg white and nixing the mayo all together. I used Greek yogurt, grainy mustard, and relish to mix up the eggs.
“Healthier” Egg Salad for One
- 1 egg + 1 egg white
- 1 tsp Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp grainy mustard
- 1 tsp relish
Directions: Hard-boil eggs, remove shells, allow to cool, and mix with yogurt, mustard, and relish. Spread on bread, crackers, or whatever else floats your boat.
On the side, I had a salad, which I made from Dole’s Endless Summer Salad Kit (romaine, Swiss and Gruyere cheeses, roasted sunflower seeds, pepper and herb seasoning, and a “summer vinaigrette,” which is sort of citrus-y).
I first fell in love with this salad at the Dole Healthy Lifestyle Blogger Summit, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere. Most grocery stores sell these Dole Salad Kits, but the Endless Summer variety is always sold out. (I guess other people love it too!) I finally saw them at Stop & Shop yesterday and immediately grabbed one. It was as delicious as I remembered!
After lunch, I ate a piece of chocolate from our Advent calendar.
Snack
My afternoon snack was sunflower butter and banana slices on a whole wheat Sandwich Thin. I love this as a pre-workout snack.
Recipe Fun
A recipe in a 140 characters? These super short recipe include ingredients and instructions. Cool, right? Follow @tinyrecipes on Twitter! And after more than a year, I finally updated my Recipe page!!
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Off to walk the pug and then CrossFit!
