EPOC er Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consuption, som innebærer at kroppen bruker mer oksygen etter trening for å fylle på lagrene den har tømt under treningsøkten.

Dette er også en viktig årsak til at pusteteknikker etter treningsøkten har så gode resultater. Ikke minst fordi økt CO2 gjør at O2 lettere hopper av blodcellene og kan benyttes i cellene som trenger det.

EPOC er aktuelt om treningsintensiteten er over 70% VO2max og varer lenger enn 50 minutter, eller er superintens på over 105% VO2max i mer enn 6 minutter.

Wiki siden her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_post-exercise_oxygen_consumption

In recovery, oxygen (EPOC) is used in the processes that restore the body to a resting state and adapt it to the exercise just performed. These include: hormone balancing, replenishment of fuel stores, cellular repair, innervation and anabolism. Post-exercise oxygen consumption replenishes the phosphagen system. New ATP is synthesized and some of this ATP donates phosphate groups to creatine until ATP and creatine levels are back to resting state levels again. Post-exercise oxygen is also used to oxidize lactic acid. Lactic acid is produced during exercise and then travels via the blood stream to the kidneys, cardiac muscle, and liver. An increased amount of oxygen is necessary to convert the lactic acid back to pyruvic acid at these locations. Another use of EPOC is to fuel the body’s increased metabolism from the increase in body temperature which occurs during exercise.[2]

En studie her: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17101527

Recovery from a bout of exercise is associated with an elevation in metabolism referred to as the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).

Evidence has accumulated to suggest an exponential relationship between exercise intensity and the magnitude of the EPOC for specific exercise durations. Furthermore, work at exercise intensities >or=50-60% VO2max stimulate a linear increase in EPOC as exercise duration increases.

it is now apparent that a prolonged EPOC (3-24 h) may result from an appropriate exercise stimulus (submaximal: >or=50 min at >or=70% VO2max; supramaximal: >or=6 min at >or=105% VO2max).

However, even those studies incorporating exercise stimuli resulting in prolonged EPOC durations have identified that the EPOC comprises only 6-15% of the net total oxygen cost of the exercise.

Og en studie til her: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3527216/

Trained individuals have better thermoregulatory capacities than untrained individuals because physical training enhances the sweating mechanism at a given level of the central sweating drive [11]. Therefore, elevated body temperature in untrained individuals could last longer than in trained individuals [12]. Moreover, subjects with lower VO2max might produce more lactate than those with higher VO2max especially during strenuous exercise. An enhanced lactate metabolism requires oxygen consumption for recovery. Thus, fitness level may contribute to the magnitude of EPOC.

In conclusion, we revealed that cardiorespiratory fitness level correlates inversely with the magnitude of EPOC, especially when performing an aerobic-type interval exercise.