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Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption
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<p>Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC, informally called afterburn) is a measurably increased rate of <a href="/facts/Oxygen/acyn6o8r">oxygen</a> intake following strenuous <a href="/facts/Exercise/egYQjt8A">activity</a>. In historical contexts the term "oxygen debt" was popularized to explain or perhaps attempt to quantify <a href="/facts/Anaerobic_energy/EcD1WW3U">anaerobic energy</a> expenditure, particularly as regards <a href="/facts/Lactic_acid/BsVRFx7s">lactic acid</a>/<a href="/facts/Lactic_acid/BsVRFx7s">lactate</a> metabolism; in fact, the term "oxygen debt" is still widely used to this day. However, direct and indirect <a href="/facts/Calorimeter/Njp46oI8">calorimeter</a> experiments have definitively disproven any association of lactate metabolism as causal to an elevated oxygen uptake. </p><p>In recovery, oxygen (EPOC) is used in the processes that restore the body to a <a href="/facts/Homeostasis/rloTGAHa">resting state</a> and adapt it to the <a href="/facts/Exercise/egYQjt8A">exercise</a> just performed. These include: <a href="/facts/Hormone/WFnBnINJ">hormone</a> balancing, replenishment of fuel stores, <a href="/facts/Cell_(biology)/bLM9UQvy">cellular</a> repair, innervation, and <a href="/facts/Anabolism/eH3Q5AHF">anabolism</a>. Post-exercise oxygen consumption replenishes the <a href="/facts/Bioenergetic_systems/mdu3B590">phosphagen system</a>. New ATP is synthesized and some of this ATP donates phosphate groups to <a href="/facts/Creatine/xhBTBard">creatine</a> until ATP and creatine levels are back to resting state levels again. Another use of EPOC is to fuel the body’s increased metabolism from the increase in body temperature which occurs during exercise. </p><p>EPOC is accompanied by an elevated consumption of fuel. In response to exercise, fat stores are broken down and <a href="/facts/Fatty_acid/JGg3erIu">free fatty acids</a> (FFA) are released into the blood stream. In recovery, the direct oxidation of free fatty acids as fuel and the energy consuming re-conversion of FFAs back into fat stores both take place. </p>