After lifting heavy with your legs, your body keeps burning extra calories for about 40 minutes—but after doing chest flys with long breaks, it only lasts 20 minutes.
Scientific Claim
Excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) lasts approximately 40 minutes after horizontal leg press and 20 minutes after chest fly with a 3-minute rest interval in healthy, resistance-trained men, indicating that muscle mass size determines the duration of metabolic elevation after exercise.
Original Statement
“The EPOC lasted approximately 40 minutes after LP1, LP3, and CF1, being longer than after CF3 (20 minutes, p < 0.05).”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
appropriately stated
Study Design Support
Design supports claim
Appropriate Language Strength
definitive
Can make definitive causal claims
Assessment Explanation
The study directly measured EPOC duration over 90 minutes with statistical validation (p < 0.05). The claim is specific to the population and exercises studied, avoiding overgeneralization.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (0)
Contradicting (1)
The effect of Between-Set Rest Intervals on the Oxygen Uptake During and After Resistance Exercise Sessions Performed with Large- and Small-Muscle Mass
The study found that how long you rest between sets affects how long your body keeps burning calories after exercise — not just which muscles you used. So, even small-muscle exercises can have long-lasting effects if you rest less, which contradicts the claim that only big muscles determine this.