How to turn your body into a fat burning machine

Did you know you can train in a way that means you will burn off a shed load of calories and fat for up to 36 hours after you leave the gym?

Have you ever run for miles only to find that, despite the litres of sweat and mind numbing fatigue in your legs, you've only used up enough calories for that large glass of wine that you had after work last night?

Well, before you consider chucking your trainers in the bin, I'll explain what Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption is or EPOC to keep it short or "The Afterburn Effect" to give it a less scientific and sexier name.

So what exactly is this after burn effect?

Let's imagine you've got your feet up on the couch after your exercise session or boot camp and you are watching your favourite TV show, your body is still burning fat without you having to do a thing.

I know that this sounds too good to be true but how exactly does that work and how can I do this?

Getting that intense after burn effect is basically about performing the right kind of exercise. Slow steady state walking on the treadmill or taking it easy on the way to work is not really going to work. You need to do an intense 20 minute interval cardio session that will produce a greater after burn effect than a slow and steady state cardio.

To achieve an efficient after burn, you need bring your heart rate up to around 80-90 per cent of its maximum for intense intervals of about 1 minute at a time. As a general rule your maximum heart rate is roughly 220 beats per minute (bpm) minus your age. This means that for a 30-year-old their max heart rate is 190 and they would be wanting to get their heart rate during exercise up to around 170 bpm.

When you make your muscles work at this level, your body begins to work anaerobically, which is a scientific way of saying there isn't enough oxygen to power your workout. In this case your body enters a state of oxygen debt, and the after burn period means that your body is trying to repay this debt.

You will not only need to get your breath back, but your muscles will also need to be repaired, any lactic acid (which cause muscle burning when you exercise) must be removed and their energy stores will need to be topped up again.

What this actually means is that your body has to use energy from calories and fat way after you've left the gym. So what do we need to do to increase our after burn effect?

High Intensity Interval training (HIIT)

Let's try and be realistic here. It's virtually impossible to keep your workout at a really high intensity for a whole hour, which is where high intensity interval training comes in. This involves quick periods of intense exercise followed by short rest or recovery periods. Your body will work most efficiently at a comfortable pace, so by increasing the intensity it really forces your muscles to bring in their oxygen supply to get them working harder. This kind of training really kick boosts the metabolism far more than slow and steady (and boring) workouts and you will find that you burn much more body fat for up to thirty-six hours even after you have finished working out.

Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT): Training with weights

It's not just spending a lot of time running on the road or on the hamster wheel that is the treadmill that's going to get you burning up body fat while you have your feet up on the sofa. Weight training stimulates after burn as well. In fact, several peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown that training with heavy weights has a greater effect on after burn than both circuit training and cardio exercise.

We recommend switching between upper body and lower body exercises in order to keep your heart rate as high as possible while at the same time giving your muscle sometime to recover.

For best results keep swapping your workouts between interval training and MRT.

Three or four 45 minute sessions a week is ideal for this and will ensure that your body is turned into a fat burning furnace.