Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC, informally called afterburn) is a measurably increased rate of oxygen intake following strenuous activity. In historical contexts the term "oxygen debt" was popularized to explain or perhaps attempt to quantify anaerobic energy expenditure, particularly as regards lactic acid/lactate metabolism; in fact, the term "oxygen debt" is still widely used to this day. However, direct and indirect calorimeter experiments have definitively disproven any association of lactate metabolism as causal to an elevated oxygen uptake. In recovery, oxygen (EPOC) is used in the processes that restore the body to a resting state and
Arteriovenous oxygen difference blood than they do at rest. Alternatively, in order to find the efficiency of the lungs in replenishing blood oxygen levels, the a-vO diff may instead be taken by comparing blood from the pulmonary artery and the pulmonary vein; in this case a negative value for a-vO diff would be obtained as the oxygen content of the blood would have increased. Physical exercise leads to an increase in the arteriovenous oxygen difference in all individuals. As exercise intensities increase, the muscles increase the amount of oxygen they extract from the blood, and this therefore results in further increases in a-vO