Research
Macro partitioning
High-intensity exercise stimulates intramuscular triglyceride (IMTG) lipolysis, but the released fatty acids are not immediately oxidized; instead, they are released into the plasma and utilized during recovery.
During high-intensity exercise, your muscles break down stored fat (IMTG), but you don't burn it all right away. Some of this fat is released into your blood and used for energy during the recovery period after the workout.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Muscle TG lipolysis is stimulated by high-intensity exercises. Therefore, after a high-intensity exercise, while lipolysis is immediately decreased, the release of FFA into the plasma increases, indicating that these derive from previously hydrolyzed triglycerides during the recovery.
Why this rating
Supported by specific studies cited (e.g., Romijin et al.), but the paper notes that IMTG cannot fully compensate for reduced plasma FFA oxidation during high-intensity exercise.
Source
The Regulation of Fat Metabolism during Aerobic Exercise
Antonella Muscella et al. · Biomolecules · 2020
DOI 10.3390/biom10121699
narrative_reviewCited 217×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Fat oxidation during aerobic exercise is maximized at moderate intensities (approximately 60-65% VO2max) and decreases significantly at higher intensities (>75% VO2max) due to the Randle cycle and reduced plasma fatty acid availability.Good
- Endurance training increases maximal fat oxidation (MFO) and shifts the intensity at which MFO occurs to higher workloads, primarily through increased intramuscular triglyceride (IMTG) utilization and mitochondrial density.Good
Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →