![\"woman](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/21121845\/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-exercise-600-running.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nThe difference between a brisk jog and a more intense workout like interval training or weightlifting lies in the type of energy system your body uses to fuel these exercises: aerobic vs anaerobic.<\/p>\n
Whether you should prioritize aerobic exercise or anaerobic exercise depends on your goals, but a well-rounded fitness routine should include both. Learn the differences between the two types of exercise and what\u2019s happening in your body during each one.<\/p>\n
The textbook distinction between aerobic and anaerobic exercise is whether or not oxygen is used to produce the energy required for the effort. \u201cDuring aerobic exercise, the body relies primarily on oxygen to produce energy,\u201d says Trevor Thieme, C.S.C.S. \u201cDuring anaerobic exercise, it doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
In practical terms, whether or not an exercise is aerobic vs anaerobic hinges on its duration and intensity.<\/p>\n
According to kinesiologist Frances Lee Smith, M.S., PN1, anaerobic exercises \u201ccan only be done in repeated, short bursts, and requires a decent amount of recovery [between them].\u201d<\/p>\n
To work at this level you\u2019ll go hard for each burst of physical activity, working at a pace you can maintain for up to two minutes. Examples of anaerobic exercise include the following:<\/p>\n
Most programs on OzHelp can be classified as primarily anaerobic.<\/p>\n
Aerobic exercises, meanwhile, are generally performed \u201cat a low or moderate pace for an extended period of time,\u201d says Smith. In practice, that usually includes activities lasting longer than two to three minutes, and generally encompasses what trainers refer to as\u00a0low-intensity exercise and steady-state cardio.<\/p>\n
Examples of aerobic exercises include the following:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Technically, the body never relies exclusively on aerobic or anaerobic energy production.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt uses three different systems to produce energy \u2014 two are anaerobic, and one is aerobic \u2014 and they\u2019re all in operation all of the time, regardless of whether you\u2019re walking your dog, swimming laps, performing intervals on a track, or pumping iron,\u201d says Thieme, adding that all three also shift into a higher gear when you begin to exercise. \u201cBut the intensity and duration of each bout of effort determines which system is emphasized.\u201d<\/p>\n
When you begin to exercise, your body can\u2019t immediately meet your energy needs with its current supply of available oxygen, so it uses anaerobic respiration (also called \u201canaerobic metabolism\u201d) to make up the shortfall, which known as the \u201coxygen deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re doing repeated bouts of short-duration work (sprint intervals, squats, curls, etc.) anaerobic respiration remains one of your primary energy sources. The reason is that its production speed is very fast \u2014 indeed much faster than aerobic respiration \u2014 allowing it to meet the immediate, high demand for energy from your muscles.<\/p>\n
But if your exercise bout lasts longer than two or three minutes, aerobic metabolism (which has a greater production capacity but slower production speed) has time to get up to speed, and it takes over.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s an overview of how the three energy systems (phosphagen, glycolytic, and oxidative) come into play during exercise.<\/p>\n
Energy system use by exercise intensity and duration<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI would recommend a mix of everything,\u201d says Smith. \u201cIt\u2019s important to tax the heart and the body in different ways,\u201d she says. That means a\u00a0balanced exercise program\u00a0for general fitness should include both anaerobic and aerobic activities, as they tend to build different skills and produce different results.<\/p>\n Even if you\u2019re focused on goals that are aerobic in nature, like running a\u00a0half-marathon, doing anaerobic exercise can help you perform better.<\/p>\n Strength training, for instance,\u00a0can help runners\u00a0improve their speed, economy, power output, time to exhaustion, and potentially even VO2 max \u2014\u00a0not to mention decrease their risk of injury. If your primary focus is strength training, meanwhile, performing light aerobic exercise between workouts can help optimize your recovery.<\/p>\n If your goal is\u00a0weight loss, however, the exercise type that science recommends might surprise you: Anaerobic. \u201cStudies show that anaerobic exercise typically\u00a0produces greater fat loss\u00a0than aerobic exercise, and that\u2019s largely because it keeps your metabolism elevated for longer after you work out,\u201d says Thieme.<\/p>\n That idea bucks popular (non-science based) wisdom, which holds that slow and steady exercise wins the fat loss race. But if you think back to the idea of creating an oxygen deficit, it begins to make sense. When you perform anaerobic exercise, you never make up that initial oxygen deficit by switching over to aerobic metabolism, as you would during, say, a distance run.<\/p>\n In fact, your oxygen deficit compounds, ultimately becoming an oxygen debt. The process of repaying that debt keeps your body\u2019s metabolism elevated for hours (or even days, according to some studies) after you stop working out. The white coats call this phenomenon excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. You might know it as the \u201cafterburn effect.\u201d<\/p>\n Either way, the bottom line is this: Aerobic exercise might burn more calories during a workout simply because such workouts tend to last longer, but anaerobic exercise typically burns more calories overall, because it keeps your metabolism elevated for much longer after you\u2019re done.<\/p>\n A heart rate monitor\u00a0is the most accurate way to determine if you\u2019re exercising in the anaerobic or aerobic zone. \u201cOnce you push past 80 percent of your maximum heart rate, you\u2019re anaerobic,\u201d says Thieme.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t own or have access to a heart rate monitor, try the talk test. \u201cIf you find it difficult to speak even in short sentences, or if you would rate your exertion 15 or higher on a scale of 20, you\u2019re exercising anaerobically,\u201d says Thieme. If you can carry on a conversation, you\u2019re working aerobically.<\/p>\n In practice, that might mean dialing back your pace if you find it difficult to speak during a nine-mile run, or going a little harder if you\u2019re able to talk politics with your buddy during a\u00a0FOCUS T25\u00a0workout. But don\u2019t forget that, as always, your\u00a0fitness level\u00a0is a key factor. Smith says, \u201cIf you\u2019re new to fitness, jumping right into a series of 40-yard sprints isn\u2019t advised. But doing a 20-minute jog might be doable.\u201d<\/p>\n Your goal is to walk the line between pushing yourself hard enough to optimize your progress and pushing yourself so hard that end up sidelined by overtraining. \u201cThe talk test will help keep you on track,\u201d says Thieme.<\/p>\n The difference between a brisk jog and a more intense workout like interval training or weightlifting lies in the type of energy system your body uses to fuel these exercises: aerobic vs anaerobic. Whether you should prioritize aerobic exercise or anaerobic exercise depends on your goals, but a well-rounded fitness routine should include both. Learn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
\n Intensity<\/strong><\/td>\n Duration<\/strong><\/td>\n Energy System Used<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Extremely high<\/td>\n 0\u20136 seconds<\/td>\n Phosphagen (Anaerobic)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Very high<\/td>\n 6\u201330 seconds<\/td>\n Phosphagen and Glycolitic (Anaerobic)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n High<\/td>\n 30 seconds to 2 minutes<\/td>\n Glycolytic (Anaerobic)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Moderate<\/td>\n 2\u20133 minutes<\/td>\n Glycolytic and Oxidative (Aerobic)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Low<\/td>\n 3 minutes +<\/td>\n Oxidative (Aerobic)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Anaerobic vs. Aerobic Exercise: Which Is Better for Your Goals?<\/h2>\n
![\"man](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/21125856\/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-exercise-600-kettlebell.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n\n
Focused on weight loss? Go anaerobic<\/h3>\n
How to Tell Whether Your Workout Is Aerobic or Anaerobic<\/h2>\n
![\"woman](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/21125700\/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-exercise-600-test.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nHeart rate monitor<\/h3>\n
Talk test<\/h3>\n
![\"Anaerobic](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/2017_Nov-New-Pins-Batch1-Anaerobic-vs-Aerobic-Exercise_v2.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"