Hello my mate, how you feeling?
In the next 10 minutes or so, if you’re up for it, we’re going to have a look at one of your biggest allies in the war against fat. It’s going to help us strip fat quicker, build some solid muscle, help us improve our mental wellbeing and we’re going to do it all by spending less time exercising. Lovely stuff.
The clue’s in the title, we’re going to get to grips with the afterburn effect, what it is, how to create it, and how it helps speed up your metabolism to burn calories long into the night.
So, strap in, and over the next 10 minutes you’ll be up to speed on how to leverage your time in the gym and ramp up your fat loss.
Ready?
What’s an afterburn effect?
The scientific name for the ‘afterburn effect’ is The Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption. It sounds fancier than it is, it’s just the name for an elevated metabolism during the hours following a workout. All we need to know is that the afterburn will help speed up our metabolism and help us burn calories long after the workout is done and dusted.
Metabolism is just the collective term for all the chemical reactions in your body, the faster these chemical reactions, the faster your metabolism will be. The faster your metabolism, the faster you can make muscle, strip fat, and create the energy for your workouts.
With the right exercise you will speed up your metabolism and this is the first part in increasing your G-Flux which is important in staying lean long term. The second part is through nutrition. If you’re interested, you can read up on what the G-Flux is here.
Summary:
The afterburn can help create a faster metabolism and a faster metabolism will keep you burning calories during, and long after your workouts are finished.
How to get it?
How to make sure you’re going to benefit from the afterburn is easy as peas, on paper anyway.
Here’s a list of the nuts and bolts of how to create the afterburn and get your metabolism fired up.
- Resistance training
You have to get into the weights. By shifting some weights about, as basic as it sounds, you’ll get your muscles firing by using energy and this will help initiate the afterburn. Running and other forms of cardio are still quality forms of exercise and should be included in your workout program, but it’s the weight training that you’ll need to benefit most from the afterburn. Plus, if it’s some serious fat loss you’re after, to look lean you’ve got to have some muscle for shape once the fat starts to bugger off.
- Compound exercises
A compound exercise is an exercise that uses as many muscles as possible in one foul swoop. More muscles used, the bigger the afterburn and the faster your metabolism. The faster your metabolism, the more fat you’ll shift and the more muscle definition you’ll see. To read up further on the beauty of compound exercises you can have a look My Best Exercise for Fat Loss here, there’s a complementary download with a complete list of what the exercises are plus an example workout for you to try. Happy days.
- Circuit format
A circuit format is several exercises completed one after the other with short rest periods between exercises. Exercising in a circuit format increases the intensity of your workout and you’ll get more work done in a shorter amount of time. The afterburn is influenced by intensity and not duration so more work in less time is the protocol, and a circuit format is perfect. The theme of this section is this: less time in the gym, more fat loss and more muscle definition.
- Mid to high reps
Rep’s or repetitions are just how many times you lift the weight. In a long term program, the reps should change every 4-6 weeks, and in my experience the best starting point is the mid to high rep range. 8-12 reps per exercise will do the trick.
- Timed density
This is where the magic happens. Timed density is the foundation of my DCI Afterburn Training programs. It’s taking your compound exercises and putting them in a circuit format, using 8-12 reps per exercise and completing as many rounds as possible of your circuit in a set time, resting only when you need to. It’s your biggest weapon in stripping fat and getting lean. If you hold fire, at the bottom of the article is a link for you to download a 4 week DCI Afterburn Training Program to get you on your way.
- Active recovery sessions
Active recovery sessions are your CV workouts, and every intense fat loss program has to Include active recovery sessions. The active recovery will keep the blood flowing to your fat areas to help flush the body fat out of the fat cell and ultimately shift it out of your body. The active recovery days will also give your muscles, nervous system, and your brain a rest from the intensity of the density circuits, and it’s a chance to top up on those calories burned through the week.
What are the results?
- You’ll burn more calories after workouts
- You’ll strip fat quicker
- You’ll increase your strength
- You’ll improve your CV fitness
- You’ll increase your G-Flux through exercise
Theses are the physical results but more important in my opinion are the improvements on your mental well-being. You’ll feel better, sleep better, be less stressed, be more focused, more driven, and ultimately have more and sustained mental and physical energy though the day. How does that’s sound? Not bad for 15 t0 20 minutes of effort in the gym right?
DCI Afterburn Training Program
Before you go, I’ve put together a 4 week program for you to have a play with. It’s built on the 6 components that we’ve just had a look at that will end in destination fat loss and all the wonderful benefits for your mental well-being too. Click the link below and It will be with you in a jiffy.
Your DCI Afterburn Training Program
When you have the program please let us know how you’re getting on with it at either Facebook or Instagram, or if you want to connect though email then send one through at rick@metafunktion.com.
Last thing before you get off, if you’re like me and you sometimes struggle with motivation to get shit done in the gym, first off this is normal don’t beat yourself up about it, and second, I’ve just what you need my mate. Just click here and have a read of The Motivation Myth article which takes you through the process I’ve learned, and I am still learning to help bypass that feeling of de-motivation. It works if you work it.
Right then, time for my dinner. Thank you for taking the time to read this, your support means everything. Don’t forget to pick up your complementary 4 week DCI Afterburn Training Program as well as have a quick read of The Motivation Myth and if you can be arsed the article on G-Flux.
Take care, god bless and speak soon.
Yours in health
Rick
