Let’s go ahead and start a fight!
Here’s a topic that makes all the fitness guru’s upset. Mention it at 24 Hr fitness and you’re sure to get an earful. And unless you are an Olympic sprinter don’t even think about mentioning this to an Aerobics instructor unless you’re ready to scoot fast….
There’s been a debate for some time now over anaerobic versus aerobic exercise and which is better for you…
I have heavily come down on the anaerobic side for many years only because of the observations I’ve made in my own aging body. I intuitively have found that I regulate my weight better, feel better and have more energy when I engage in anaerobic exercise regularly. By anaerobic I mean weight lifting either machinery or free weights or body weight exercises.
As opposed to aerobic exercising like jogging, cycling, Stairmaster, elliptical, aerobics classes, etc.
Well, Dr. Alan Sears, MD (“PACE Power Native Fitness”), citing a study out of Harvard Medical School, indicates that the effects of aerobic activity are only achieved while performing the activity and that soon after cessation of exercise the benefits disappear.
While with high intensity anaerobic activity, the body continues to burn more calories and consume oxygen long after the exercise has stopped.
Therefore, aerobic activities burn calories only during exercise, while anaerobic exercise burns calories during AND afterward for up to 48 hours.
Other studies in the past have shown people lose more weight and keep it off longer by implementing high intensity anaerobic exercise into their routine versus people who engage in aerobics 3 times each week or more. Just don’t tell your aerobic instructor that…she might want to fight!
Now we know why. There is a period after anaerobic activity that our body is still burning more calories–our metabolism is set higher by these activities.
And we haven’t even mentioned the fact that many people sustain repetitive stress injuries from their aerobic activities—that’s another fight we’ll have to pick later!
My bottom line on this issue hasn’t changed—do intense anaerobic activity to build lean muscle mass and maintain weight and do aerobic activities as a sport because you like it. But don’t feel like you must slave away in spin classes or jog 5 miles a day to stay fit. Science tells us otherwise.
