Garmin EPOC – A definition
Since restarting regular training in February, I’ve come to enjoy the Garmin Connect Ecosystem and Garmin EPOC. EPOC is an acronym that stands for: “Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption”. It means this: When you exercise, you burn fat and carbs. The ratios of fat and carbs burned for fuel, depend on cardio-vascular intensities. AFTER the workout, Oxidation, or fat-burning, is important. The amount and duration of fat-burning after an exercise can be assumed via EPOC. Garmin’s EPOC is based on the work of a company called ‘FirstBeat’, which has been studying metabolics and heart rate variability since the turn of the Century and before. Most Garmin Fitness Products these days have EPOC built into the firmware.
Garmin EPOC Assesses Points for a ‘Scoring’ System
EPOC is work, measured in Kilojoules and Calories, and then scored in a points system. It’s also called ‘Load’. The score is accumulated with time and intensity. Low intensity work translates into scores rising slowly. High intensity work means the scores will rise more quickly.
‘Load Focus’ Over A Rolling 28 Days
In Garmin Connect, I began to notice that before and after workouts, the 28-day ‘Load Focus’ would change, based on daily EPOC scores, as well as the intensities. For general fitness purposes, the ‘Load Focus’ reveals EPOC points, accumulated in three different zones:
- Low Aerobic
- High Aerobic
- Anaerobic
Every ride leads to gains in any of these three zones, and losses as the 28-day window ‘time’s out’. This helps people understand the benefits of consistency, and it can help them better assess their conditioning needs.
How to find ‘Load Focus’ in the Garmin Connect App.
***This is for the iPhone version of Garmin Connect. I own an Android, but have not updated it in months. If asked, I’ll append a new post with that information and directions. Thanks ***
Open your Garmin Connect App, then click on ‘•••’ on the bottom right hand corner.
Next, tap on ‘Performance Stats’.
Tap on ‘Training Status’.
And then, tap on ‘Load’.
You’ll get three horizontal bars, highlighting ‘Load Focus’ (EPOC) points at different intensities.
Load Focus and EPOC
The chart for ‘Load Focus‘ shows the accumulated, 28-day totals, for EPOC in the three zones. The zones are color-coded, and include an oval ‘Optimal Range‘. I’ll be honest. I have NO IDEA where this value comes from, or how it changes. I’ve asked Garmin for more information. I SUSPECT it’s related to the Acute Training Load, Chronic Training Load, and even Sleep Scores and Sleep Strain Scores. However, that’s pure conjecture. Still, it’s not a bad algorithm for cardio fitness!
Here’s a chart of mine from last week.
Now, the workout consisted of multiple 75-second intervals at high intensity, with a 150-second recovery (1:2 w/r ratio), and lasted roughly an hour.
When we look at a post I made earlier this year on Garmin’s Post-Ride Analysis Reports, EPOC dictates Aerobic and Anaerobic Training Effect. In the “Olden Days”, I would look at time spent in different heart rate zones, to make an assessment about just what a workout might have accomplished. Adding EPOC points and simplifying training zones to, “Breathing, Heaving, Gasping”, adds another degree of interpretation to the information.
Post-Ride EPOC Zone Placement
With a hard workout that included a lot of time in Heart Rate Zones 4 and 5, almost 25% of the entire ride, EPOC ended up at 295 points. You’ve seen the ‘Before’ chart, now, let’s compare the ‘after’ chart, and see where those ‘Load’ points went.
Out of 295 Points Earned on this workout, 139 of them were added to the ‘Anaerobic’ zone. FirstBeat does not publish their algorithm, but 139 points is just under one point for every second spent in ZONE 5 of my heart rate intensity.
For the ‘High Aerobic Load’, 155 of the 295 points were placed in that zone. This was enough to skew my Load Focus from ‘Balanced’ to ‘High Aerobic’.
Notice also that ‘Low Aerobic’ did not move. It remained at 1066 points for the 28 days. This leads me to wonder if the points are not assessed position until after the workout is completed. This would make sense.
CONCLUSION – EPOC Is A Scoring System That Works With Heart Rate (and Wattage) To More Accurately Assess Fitness Improvements
I always suspected that EPOC scores directly affected Acute Training Load and Load Focus. I’ll try to assess just how Load changes the Acute Training Load in Garmin Connect in another post. For now, however, it’s just fun to see how a ride with varying intensities of heart rate and power, changes assessments in Garmin Connect. I like EPOC. It’s got the backing of Dozens of studies. The earliest I found has been 1992, and I believe FirstBeat was founded in 2002. EPOC is built into the Garmin Connect Ecosystem. As technology measuring heart rate and heart rate variability has improved, the algorithms for EPOC have also improved.
I think there’s something ‘there’, there, and my clients are enjoying the combination of heart rate, heart rate variability, and power, for a more Holistic approach to cardio fitness on bikes!
Thanks for reading, and ENJOY THE RIDE!
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