What is Aerobic Exercise? Get Amazing Health Benefits
“Aerobic” means “with oxygen” in its most basic sense. Aerobic exercises are physical activities that speed up the heartbeat and increase oxygen consumption. It is also known as cardio exercise or cardiovascular exercise.
Your breathing affects how much oxygen gets to your muscles while working out. Your body produces this energy by combining stored proteins, fats, and carbohydrates with oxygen.
Aerobic vs Anaerobic Exercise
On the other hand, anaerobic exercises like weightlifting quickly produce a large amount of energy. Aerobic exercises are performed over a sustained period.
Aerobic Exercises
Walking, running, swimming, cycling
- Require the presence of oxygen
- Mainly work type 1 muscle fibers
- Increase muscle endurance and capillary size
- Sustain a period of time
Anaerobic Exercises
Weightlifting, sprinting, high-intensity interval training (HIIT)
- Not require the presence of oxygen
- Works type 2 muscle fibers
- Increase muscle size and strength
- A short period of time
Benefits of Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercises carry many benefits. It promotes the health of your heart, lungs, and circulatory system and expands your body’s capacity.
Additionally, it lowers blood pressure and lowers the risk of cardiovascular diseases. It reduces the possibility of developing metabolic diseases like diabetes. It aids in blood sugar control and increases HDL, which is the good cholesterol in the body.
The best thing is that it helps with weight loss and maintains a healthy body.
- Improve cardiovascular capacity
- Improve lung capacity and decrease respiratory rate
- Lower blood pressure and heart rate
- Lower risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes
- Improved memory and attention
- Fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety
- Better quality of life
Examples of Aerobic Exercise
You can mainly classify aerobic exercises as low-impact exercises or high-impact exercises.
Low-impact aerobic exercises include swimming, cycling, walking, rowing, and other low-intensity exercises.
You can engage in long, high-intensity aerobic exercises like running and jumping rope.
Moderate-intensity aerobic exercises
- Brisk walking
- Swimming
- Dancing
- Gardening
Vigorous intensity aerobic exercises
- Hiking
- Jumping rope
- Cycling (fast)
- Fast running
What to Do/How to Begin?
The American Heart Association recommends getting at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise each week.
Also, the American College of Sports Medicine advises engaging in a minimum of 30-minute moderate workouts every 5 days per week to help with weight management and increase cardiorespiratory fitness.
I hope you know the importance of aerobic exercise in your daily life. If you’d like more content like this, subscribe to Clips2Click.
References
- Cleveland clinic (2019). Aerobic Exercise Health Information | Cleveland Clinic. [online] Cleveland Clinic. Available at: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/7050-aerobic-exercise
- Chertoff, J. (2018). Aerobic Exercise Examples: At Home, at the Gym, Benefits, and More. [online] Healthline. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/aerobic-exercise-examples
- Contributors, W.E. (2021). What Are Aerobic Exercises? [online] WebMD. Available at: https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/what-are-aerobic-exercises
- Exercise Physiology: Overview, Basic Concepts — Sex Differences, Musculoskeletal System. (2022). eMedicine. [online] Available at: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/88484-overview?icd=ssl_login_success_221118 [Accessed 18 Nov. 2022].
- American Heart Association (2018). American Heart Association Recommendations for Physical Activity in Adults and Kids. [online] www.heart.org. Available at: https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/aha-recs-for-physical-activity-in-adults
- American College of Sports Medicine (2022). Physical Activity Guidelines Resources. [online] ACSM_CMS. Available at: https://www.acsm.org/education-resources/trending-topics-resources/physical-activity-guidelines
- Johnson, J. (2020). Aerobic vs. anaerobic exercises: What to know. [online] www.medicalnewstoday.com. Available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-exercises.
