We have already seen in previous Articles about the so-called Afterburn effect reports: When you work out intensely, you're still burning calories at rest hours after your workout. That's the theory.
But is this effect worth it at all, or is it so small that you don't need to deal with it at all?
However, if the afterburn effect is worth it - what do you need to do to make it last as long as possible?
Why do we burn calories at rest in the first place?
The "afterburn" is divided into 3 phases:
Phase 1:
The first phase begins directly after your workout. If you have completed a sweaty workout with your PAKAMA training backpack, this phase lasts up to one hour after the end of the workout. During this period, your body searches for energy reserves in your organism to recover from the stress. In order for your muscles, metabolism, breathing and heart activity to calm down, you need to burn additional calories.
Phase 2:
The second phase of the afterburn effect can last several hours. Here your muscles regenerate. Through the training, they are tired and tense. Therefore, especially many proteins are needed to rebuild your muscle cells. To "produce" these, a lot of energy is needed and you continue to consume numerous calories... Perfect, right?
Phase 3:
The afterburn effect is only activated when you really push yourself to your limit. Try one of our multi-week training programs in our app with our super motivating PAKAMA coaches! These heat you up so right, but the fun comes also nciht too short!
When you've really worked yourself out, you'll benefit from phase 3 of the afterburn effect! Your muscles are still under tension and maybe you even feel a muscle soreness?
To keep the regeneration going, your energy demand is still increased. Thereby you still burn several days after your sporty load a few extra calories!
You must be wondering now:
- how many extra calories you can burn?
- how long the afterburn effect can last?
This fluctuates a lot - depending on your fitness level and the workout you have done. The amount of calories burned ranges from 20-200 kcal and the duration approx. from 1-72 hours.
According to various studies, the afterburn effect is only about 5% of the calories burned during moderate endurance training and up to about 20% during high-intensity interval training. You should keep in mind that the afterburn effect, among other benefits, is only a positive side effect.
Training intensity or training duration?
Many still think that long training sessions achieve better effects. This is not the case. The decisive factor for your calorie consumption as well as for your afterburn effect is the Training intensity.
Why not try one of our Quick & Dirty Workouts! Super easy with your Fitness backpack, your Training tools, like The bar and your resistance bands with different resistance strengths, and your Training app.
Alternatively, 15-30 minutes of effective HIIT will do the trick.
This means that intense interval training is the best way for you to burn calories.
