Two types of exercise exist: aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise. Each type of exercise has benefits, but if your goal is to achieve total body health, you’ll need to include both types in your exercise plan.

Aerobic Exercise Explained

Most of us are familiar with aerobic exercise. Mention the word “aerobics” and the first things that come to mind are the aerobics classes offered at the local gyms. Aerobics is associated with a dance type activity that’s accompanied by music and lots of jumping around. By the end of the aerobics class, you’ll be covered in sweat and worn out. While this is one kind of aerobic exercise, it certainly isn’t the only kind.

The word ‘aerobic’  refers to using oxygen. The cells in our body need oxygen in order for them to keep the body functioning properly. When you do aerobic exercises, you’re essentially pumping in more oxygen into your body through your lungs.

The lungs, in turn, send the oxygen to the cells in the body through the blood. Your heart moves the blood throughout your body to all the organs and cells, and it also returns the carbon dioxide to your lungs. Your lungs then expel the carbon dioxide when you breathe out.

In order for your lungs and heart to keep a good, steady supply of oxygen to the cells, they need to be in tip top shape. This is where aerobic exercise comes in as it makes your lungs and heart stronger.

An exercise routine with aerobic exercise is an important part of being healthy. Aerobic exercises provide oxygen to the muscles you are using to work out. When you first start working, out you will notice an increase in your heart rate as your body adjusts to the changes. The more you exercise, the more your heart gets used to it and your heart rate remains at a stable level during exercise after awhile.

Aerobic exercise will help you feel more energized. You’ll feel fatigued at first, because lactic acid will starting building up in your muscles. Once you learn how to breathe properly while exercising, your muscle cells will receive more oxygen, causing a reduction in the lactic acid produced. When this happens, you’ll find yourself able to exercising longer.

Aerobic exercise also helps to reduce your total cholesterol while raising the “good” cholesterol level in your blood. The good cholesterol is what’s responsible for removing plaque from the arteries. When the level of good cholesterol in your bloodstream is high, your arteries are less likely to have a build up of deposits, allowing blood to flow through smoothly.

Anaerobic Exercise Explained

An anaerobic exercise is exercise you can do without oxygen. You don’t stop breathing, of course. Anaerobic exercises are meant to increase muscle mass. These exercises increase muscle mass by lengthening and shortening the fibers.

It is important to increase muscle mass as you age since you naturally lose muscle mass. Muscle mass is important because muscle is much better at burning calories than fat is. Aerobic exercise helps you burn fat once you get to certain level. It keeps your body burning fat even when you are done exercising. Your body can be working to burn fat all day long if you do the right anaerobic exercises. How great is that?

Strength training and weight lifting are two forms of anaerobic exercise. Women often shy away from weight lifting because they associate the term with men having giant muscles all over their bodies. What strength training does is help increase muscle mass while burning fat. How effective your exercises will be at burning fat has a lot to do with how many repetitions you do and how much weight you are lifting.

The best exercise plan is one that has both anaerobic and aerobic exercises in it. This way you can increase muscle mass, burn fat and get more oxygen into your body. All of these will make you healthier.

There are two main kinds of exercise - aerobic and anaerobic. Both kinds are necessary for total fitness. Everyone - men, women and children - should all consider the two main types of training and incorporate them into their exercise schedules on a regular basis.

Aerobic Exercise

Most everyone knows about aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise classes were made popular more than two decades ago. This was about the time that researchers determined the importance of aerobic exercise to total body health. The term aerobic means “with oxygen” and describes exercise that generates the use of oxygen in the body. There are many types of aerobic exercises including running, biking and dancing. Many outdoor activities can be done in the warm months to help make the workout more enjoyable.

Aerobic exercise generally starts with a short warm-up period followed by the exercise itself and then a cool-down period. These warm-up and cool-down periods are necessary to help the body slowly achieve peak performance. Heart rate is used to determine the best pace for each person to use when they exercise. Consult a heart rate chart before beginning your workout and check your heart rate during exercise. A heart rate monitor can be used to help make sure that you are performing at the proper level or you can check your own heart rate by taking your pulse. The typical amount of time that is needed for peak performance is to spend 20 minutes at your target heart rate.

Anaerobic Exercise

Anaerobic exercise is a type of exercise that doesn’t use extra oxygen. These types of exercises are done more slowly - you won’t noticeably get out of breath. Anaerobic exercises include strength training or weight lifting. Anaerobic exercises help the body to produce more muscle. Building up muscle tissue helps us to stay healthy, especially as we age. The body needs to keep plenty of muscle tissue. You may be tempted to skip these types of exercises for fear of developing large or unsightly muscles. Controlling exercise will keep your muscles at a proper size. It is important to understand that strength training helps the body burn fat thus helping to keep a toned and physically fit body.

Strength training is important to keeping the body strong even as we age. As the body gets older it loses much of its strength, especially if muscles are allowed to atrophy through lack of use. This can leave the body weak and allows it not to function at its peak. Another important part of anaerobic exercise is muscle tone. Toning keeps the body in proper shape and thus functioning at its best.

Starting A Workout Routine

It’s never too late to start a workout routine. Everyone needs to start slowly and only do what he or she can comfortably do at each workout. Be sure to combine both types of exercise into your weekly routine. Older individuals, those with existing medical problems or those who have not exercised recently should begin very gradually. There are many exercises that can be done to get you started. Try taking a walk around the block or try some simple exercises while sitting in a chair. Always get a physical exam and discuss your new workout routine with your doctor before you begin.