Aerobic Vs Anaerobic Exercise

Part of maintaining a healthy-living regime is focusing on a correct diet, the other half of course is exercising correctly.

For many years I used to train like a Trojan (no pain- no gain type of attitude) without any particular understanding what it was doing to my body.

Unfortunately as mentioned in some of my previous postings I often suffered with burn-out. Thankfully I'm now beginning to understand the reason why.

Here's what I've recently discovered.

Aerobic exercise basically describes any type of activity that is performed at a moderate level, that increases the heart rate for an extended period of time. (Aerobic literally means 'with oxygen'.)

This type of exercise helps to remove toxins and acids from the body and rabidly burns stored fat, while helping to regulate the metabolism and is primary used for building stamina.

Of course there are many ways to exercise aerobically, my own preferred methods are, walking, running, cycling, swimming, and martial art 'forms' practice.

My 'general rule of thumb' is that if I'm able to hold a conversation with someone while performing an activity, means that I'm doing the exercise correctly.

Anaerobic training, which is exercise performed at a more rapid heart rate can often lead to more acid build-up in the body (lactic acid).

When the heart beats over a certain rate of BPM (beats per minute) the body begins to burn sugar instead of fat, this is where the change from aerobic to anaerobic occurs.

When this shift occurs the body switches from using stored fat as energy to the use of carbohydrate (sugar) as the primary source of energy.

There are of course benefits in exercising anerobically such as an increase in strength and speed, but for me personally my own training is specifically geared for endurance, strength, stamina and fleixbility.