Get Fit Lab - For Your Health and Fitness

There are aerobic or endurance exercises, anaerobic or strengthening exercises and stretching exercises. The main difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise is the duration and intensity.

Knowing the differences and benefits between the three types allows you to develop an effective workout.

Aerobic Exercise (Endurance, Cardiovascular or Cardio)

Any physical exercise in which the body uses oxygen to generate energy. Your body requires a great deal of oxygen in the process of generating energy (aka aerobic metabolic process) causing your heart and lungs to work harder. Sources of energy are carbohydrates, fats and then proteins, in that order.

Aerobic exercises use large muscle groups continuously over a relatively long period of time to improve the cardiovascular system’s intake of oxygen by cells. To be effective, it needs to be sustained for at least 15 minutes while you maintain 65-85 percent of your maximum heart rate.

Examples:

• Walking
• Running (long distance)
• Dancing
• Cycling

The health benefits from aerobic exercises are numerous. They include improved cardiovascular function, lower blood pressure, higher HDL (and decreased LDL), lower body fat, improved weight control, and improved glucose tolerance and reduced insulin resistance.

Anaerobic Exercise (Strengthening)

Any intensive, short burst exercise that causes your muscles to work without oxygen. Energy comes from stored sources since oxygen is used up more quickly than it can be replenished in the working muscle. Stored sources include glycogen (stored carbohydrates), ATP (Adenosine Tri-Phosphate), and CP (Creatine Phosphate). This type of exercise can cause fatigue.

Due to the muscle’s reduced ability to function without oxygen, anaerobic exercises are high intensity activities with a short duration lasting less than two minutes followed by periods of rest. Any activity longer than approximately two minutes will have an aerobic metabolic component.

Examples:

• Weight lifting
• Sprinting
• Power lifting

Anaerobic exercises helps build muscle mass, strengthens bones, develops muscle strength, increases speed, improves power and increases metabolic rate. While it doesn’t burn fat, it contributes to weight loss because bigger muscles burn more calories per unit than any other tissue in your body and they burn more even at rest. (Further reading: Myths & Facts About Exercise Benefits and Weight Loss)

Stretching Exercise (Flexibility)

Stretching exercises are designed to help your muscles move further, more easily and more freely. It produces a feeling of increased muscle control, flexibility and range of motion.

Athletes and fitness enthusiasts mainly use stretching exercises before and after aerobic and anaerobic activity. During the warm-up, gentle stretching can begin the process of blood flowing to muscles, reduce the risk of injury during activity and increase individual performance. Cool-down stretching can help prevent post exercise muscle soreness and stiffness.

Stretching can be an important part of rehabilitation for people recovering from an injury or surgery, and some diseases, such as arthritis. Stretching improves and maintains a good range of motion in the joints. By repeatedly stretching, with the needs of specific joints in mind, people can usually regain their full range of motion generally over a period of weeks or months.

Examples:

• Warm-up / Cool-down
• Yoga

While they may not have a direct effect on health, it can enhance your quality of life by improving your posture and body alignment. Neither anaerobic nor aerobic exercises stimulate muscles in a way to become more limber.

Why You Need All Three Exercise Types in Your Workout

Each type of exercise promotes different responses from our body. Even though we may want to focus on the benefits from one type of exercise, we need all three types to attain higher levels of fitness and prevent injuries from overtraining which can happen when a workout program only uses one type of exercise.

Your goal should be to include all three types to enhance your health benefits and lead to greater performance.