Aerobic and Anaerobic Exercise

Aerobic Exercise is intense for a longer period of time

Aerobic exercise helps to keep your heart healthy. Aerobic exercise to improve fitness is performed at a fairly high intensity level, over a good amount of time. If you run at a moderate pace for a long distance, this is referred to as aerobic exercise.

Aerobic means using Oxygen

Aerobic literally means using oxygen. It helps your muscles to use oxygen as they generate energy. Aerobic exercise generally includes the types of exercises that you perform in moderate activity levels, for longer than average time periods. This helps to maintain an increased heart rate. The oxygen helps to burn glucose and fats, and it produces the substance which is the energy carrier for all the cells in your body.

Aerobic Exercise – Fats and Carbs

During your initial aerobic exercise, your body will create glucose by breaking down glycogen. In the absence of glycogen, your body will metabolize fat. In other words, when you are doing Aerobic Exercise your primary fuel for the body will be fat and glucose (carbs). This is a relatively slow process, and your performance level will decline as your body loses glycogen and burns fat. The change in fuel from glycogen to fat is the reason for “hitting the wall” in runner’s lingo.

Aerobic exercise (30 minutes, 3 times a week) can prevent hypertension, heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes and caner.

Anaerobic Exercise is intense for a shorter period of time

Aerobic activities become anaerobic when performed at a pace that raises your heart rate past 80 percent of maximum. The energy is burned over a shorter period of time. Anaerobic Exercise features strength-based, brief activities, like bodybuilding or sprinting. This helps your body learn to respond to short and intense bursts that call for use of energy. Other examples of anaerobic exercise are soccer and tennis because of its intense activities.

Anaerobic means without Oxygen

The word Anaerobic means without oxygen and refers to the intense level of the exercise, in which your muscles are not receiving enough oxygen to maintain your muscle movements, forcing you to slow down. During an aerobic training your body accumulates lactic acid at a very high speed. Your body is unable to remove the lactic acid fast enough and this creates a burning sensation in your legs, just like when you are sprinting to the end of a race.

Anaerobic Exercise – Endurance and Strength

Anaerobic improves endurance and develops strength. A greater muscle mass also increases your metabolism so you burn more calories even at rest. Anaerobic exercise also offsets the loss of muscle mass that occurs naturally as we age.