Aerobic as contrasted with Anaerobic Exercising: Low Intensity vs Elevated Intensity

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by: AviMarents
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Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 Time: 11:45 PM
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Aerobic exercise seems to be a core component of many fitness programs, especially beginners workout routines. But, would the addition of anaerobic exercise be beneficial? To answer this, you must understand the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise as well as the benefits to be gained from each. At its simplest, it's a matter of a high intensity workout as compared to a low intensity workout. In general, most people consider aerobic exercise a fat burning cardio activity of low intensity. Most do not know much about anaerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercise also includes a high intensity portion, such as strength training or an HIIT program.

The literal meaning of aerobic is "with oxygen." Muscles need oxygen to remain active over an extended stretch of time. Muscles use this oxygen to burn fat. Aerobic exercises include activities that are long duration and low to moderate intensity, including jogging, swimming, cycling, or skiing.


Anaerobic, on the other hand, means "without oxygen"; of course, your body will still need oxygen during anaerobic exercise but your muscles do not receive enough to keep up the extremely intense pace. Without the oxygen, your muscles are forced to burn glycogen, a component of carbohydrates. Exercise that is intense and of short duration is considered anaerobic activity, such as weight training or sprinting.

Aerobic exercise has a number of health benefits. Your heart, lungs and blood flow are improved with a minimum of thirty daily minutes of exercise, which, in the end, means a longer lifespan. Some of the additional benefits include:

1. Losing weight

2. Better endurance

3. Enhanced immune system activity

4. Reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, certain cancers and obesity.

5. Improved cardiovascular system and circulation


6. Increasing beneficial cholesterol while decreasing harmful cholesterol.

There are many benefits to be gained from anaerobic exercise as well. You'll enjoy much stronger muscles and a reduced amount of body fat. Strength training has many of the same health benefits as aerobic exercises, but will also help you increase your muscle mass and bone density while you reduce the amount of body fat. Another common form of anaerobic training is a HIIT routine, which involves short bursts followed by recovery periods. Such quick bursts of high activity followed by recovery periods have been shown to increase the metabolism as well as burning more calories than the low intensity variety. There's also the release of HGH, a hormone that promotes fat loss and muscle gain. You will also see increased aerobic capacity, and, improvement to your cardiovascular system.

As you can see, both aerobic training and anaerobic training each have unique benefits. As such, both have great benefit as part of an exercise regimen. However, aerobic exercise should be the starting point in a beginners workout routine. You will require a strong aerobic foundation to perform high-intensity anaerobic exercise. There is debate amongst advanced exercises whether they should perform aerobic vs anaerobic exercise. For most of these regular exercisers, aerobic activity often seems far too easy and doesn't seem to provide any real benefit, especially when compared to anaerobic exercise. No matter how advanced you are in your programs, your exercise program should include both, since there are many significant health benefits to be gained from both the high and low intensity exercises. Additionally, too much anaerobic exercise can lead to burnout or overtraining.


The next time you are deciding between aerobic vs anaerobic routines, keep in mind that the key question is really low intensity vs high intensity. Aerobic training is low intensity, long duration and anaerobic training is high intensity, short duration. Aerobic activities such as jogging or walking provide a number of cardiovascular and general health benefits, while anaerobic activity, like strength training or a HIIT regimen provide better muscle building and fat burning.

About the Author

About me: Dave gives no-nonsense "best of the best" dieting and exercise guidelines to reduce weight as well as get toned, defined muscle mass without spending hours in the weight room. There is not any reason for using a bodybuilder routine to obtain a fitness model physique. These are Not Your Average Fitness Tips. Read more about aerobic vs anaerobic exercise and get a low fat, athletic appearance in virtually no time.