[00:00:00] Well, hey there. Welcome back. Today, I'm going to be breaking down the difference between aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise. A couple of weeks ago, I did an episode, episode 171. Do you need to feel the burn to make your workout effective? And if you haven't listened to that episode, I highly suggest you go back to it.
But after that episode, I got a lot of questions from people asking, what is the difference between anaerobic exercise and aerobic exercise and which one should they be doing? So here we are. I'm going to break it down today, explain what both are, how you know which zone you are in. If you're in anaerobic exercise or aerobic, quickly, I'm going to explain the benefits of both and give you examples of both so that you can have more power when you're Picking your workouts and feel good about your choices.
And as we talk about these different exercise styles, you know, it doesn't matter what exercise style you are doing, you need to be having enough protein in your diet to [00:01:00] fuel your muscle. It doesn't matter if it's broken down from running or strength training, yoga, Pilates, whatever it is, protein is going to be your friend to help rebuild your muscle, make you stronger, and truly just make your body more fit.
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Alright, so now that you know you're going to eat some protein when you do your [00:03:00] workouts, let's get into this conversation and talk about aerobic exercise versus anaerobic exercise.
First, I want to say that my goal is always to educate you. I never want to create any fear mongering. I think there's beauty in all different styles of exercise, different diets, different foods, different things.
So I hope that you never come to one of my episodes and feel like I'm fear mongering. I really want you to know that's really important and to see that there's beauty in everything. So as I break down the difference between these, I hope that you see the benefits of both of them. So first, let's talk about aerobic exercise.
Aerobic exercise literally is the continuous exercise where large muscle groups are working and they are working with oxygen that you are breathing in. So the [00:04:00] term aerobic literally means with oxygen. It's It's exercise where you are using oxygen to help create energy. This style of exercise, as I mentioned, does use larger muscle groups.
It's normally a little bit more rhythmic. It's repetition. It has like repetitive motions and the intensity can vary depending on how hard you're going or how light you're going. And that will also change the way that your heart pumps blood, which creates more rich oxygen for the activity. You can also go technically in aerobic exercises longer, because even though you can change the intensity to be in an aerobic range, it is normally a lower to moderate intensity.
It's also sometimes known as a steady state workout. So it's not any quick highs and lows. There's no bursts. It's pretty steady. some examples of aerobic exercise are walking. Running, hiking, bicycling, [00:05:00] swimming, jump roping, dancing, and even weights, pilates, and yoga. Now those depend on the intensity and the style because it all kind of depends on your heart rate, which I'm going to get into. weights, yoga, and Pilates are actually going to fit into both categories, but I'm going to explain why when we talk about the heart rates. But yes, those can be technically aerobic activity because if you're doing them at a low intensity, they're a calmer. Maybe you're not doing a Metcon or anything that's super heavy.
It can make your heart rate lower, which means you're going to be working with oxygen. So technically, even though there's resistance, it is a little bit of mix of resistance and cardio, depending on the intensity, but that can technically be an aerobic activity.
Even though they include resistance because of the heart rate zone.
Now, some of the benefits for aerobic exercise are it reduces your risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. [00:06:00] It increases your stamina. Even when you start something, let's say like you're running, you might feel tired at first, but over time it is going to increase your stamina and your cardiovascular system so you can do it for longer periods of time.
It helps strengthen your heart and by strengthening your heart, I literally mean that your heart doesn't have to pump as fast and it can be more efficient with the blood it is pumping to get to the different parts of your body. Aerobic exercise also can help with our mental health. It helps decrease gloominess, depression, and reduces tension that typically is associated with stress and anxiety and can help promote relaxation.
Studies even show that aerobic exercise, people who do it live longer, which is crazy. You live longer. So there's plenty of beauty in aerobic exercise. It's literally exercise using big muscles where you're working with oxygen, and it's typically in a lower heart rate zone. So let's talk about what that means.
There are five heart rate [00:07:00] zones. I'm highly going to suggest that you go back to episode 109, and I found out that some people don't actually have the numbers on there. episodes, I don't know why because some people do and some people don't, but it was from November 23rd, 2022. So if you go all the way to that one and listen to the episode, are you utilizing the five zones of cardio?
that episode is going to be very helpful because as we're breaking down aerobic and anaerobic movement, obviously those fall into the different zones of cardio based on your heart rate. So that episode is going to be helpful. But in general, aerobic exercise normally has a lower to moderate heart rate zone.
So the base of aerobic exercise is typically about 65 percent of your max heart rate. So that is kind of zone two, the beginning of your zone two. Zone one, when we're talking about cardio is very, very light. It's normally like your daily activities. It's like casual walking around your house. Nothing much.
So it is Even resting can be in zone one. It's like your recovery. But [00:08:00] once your heart rate is getting, you know, to 60, 65 or above, that's when you're going into zone two and you're working in your aerobic system, which is working with oxygen.
You're starting to get your heart rate up. You're starting to do some of those things and you're in zone two. Now, if you move into Zone 3 where your heart rate is moving to anywhere from that 65 to typically 80 ish of your max heart rate, so 80 percent of your max heart rate, that would put you in Zone 3.
3 and that is also still considered aerobic exercise.
So aerobic exercise is zone 2, zone 3 of the cardio zones. And typically your heart rate is anywhere from 65, maybe 60, but most charts I read said 65 to about 80 to 85 percent of your max heart rate. Now, just to explain really fast, you might be thinking, well, how do I know if I'm in my max heart rate?
Max heart rate is actually pretty easy to figure out. There's two different formulas. I'm going to list [00:09:00] both and I'm also going to put both in the show notes so you can easily go back and reference them. For the first option, you can take 220. Minus your age, and that can be a really simple formula that's going to give you a number and that is your max heart rate.
Lately there's been a couple more studies that have shown a little bit more of an accurate formula, which would be 206. 9. Minus 0. 67 times your age, and that would be your max heart rate. So when you get those numbers, then it's easy to figure out what cardio zones you're in, and if you're in an aerobic or an anaerobic stage.
And I will also link a chart showing those, and also, as I mentioned, going back to that episode 109 where I explain them in detail. So, for aerobic exercise, as I mentioned, it's steady state, it's lower, it is typically a situation where you can easily breathe and do it at the same time. It can be anywhere from walking to running, cycling, any of those things, and even including some [00:10:00] strength forms if they are a little bit lighter in intensity.
So now let's talk about what anaerobic is In this last episode where I talked about if you had to have the burn, the reason I wanted to break them both down is because both of these areas, aerobic and anaerobic, are important. I never wanna shame one of them. And the truth is you need both of them, but you don't have to be in an anaerobic to build a muscle, which is what I was trying to explain, because you could have a fatigued muscle and it doesn't necessarily mean you're building muscle.
But there are a lot of benefits of being in this stage. So anaerobic exercise is any exercise that doesn't use oxygen to break down glucose and energy. That breakdown from the glucose molecules then turns into energy which creates the acid buildup and hydrogen ions that we talked about a couple weeks ago.
So that includes any exercise that is just short bursts of high intensity movement and that is fueled by energy stored in our muscles. So [00:11:00] some simple examples of that could be Intense lifting, as I mentioned, lifting weights can technically be in both. If I'm lifting pretty light and going pretty casual and I can hold a conversation, I'm probably not in an anaerobic phase of lifting.
But if I'm doing, you know, an AMRAP, which is as many reps as possible, and I'm pounding, you know, a clean, or I'm doing a heavy squat or whatever I'm doing, yeah, I could be in a much higher threshold. So lifting can fall into either. Same with yoga and Pilates for yoga, if I'm moving in a faster flow, if I'm doing power yoga, my heart rate's going to get a little bit higher, it can easily shift me into this phase, you know, in comparison to something that's more of a stretching, calm, relaxing flow, and it can be that way with Pilates too, even though some of those all has some strength components, your heart rate still varying depending on the intensity.
So Weightlifting, yoga, Pilates can all be examples. They can fall in either. And then thinking about [00:12:00] jumping or jump roping, that can really get the heart rate up. Sprinting in any fashion. That's that short burst of energy. So sprinting, you can do it while you're running, you can do it while you're biking, you can do it while you're swimming, you can do it while you're playing sports.
Any short burst of energy that's quick, that you're like, I've got to go hard for 30 seconds, or I've got to go hard for a minute. That's going to push you probably into your anaerobic territory. Plyos are a really good example of this and just hit in general, which is high intensity intervals is going to push you into the anaerobic territory where you are working without oxygen.
Now stepping back to talk about those cardio zones and understanding our heart rates, as I mentioned, Aerobic typically is zone one, because that's recovery, but zone two and three. And then in zone four, we start to shift out of aerobic, and we're starting to work without oxygen, and our heart rate's getting pretty high.
In zone four, [00:13:00] you start moving into the anaerobic capacity zone. And then as you get into zone five, you're in full blown anaerobic training, where you're working without oxygen. These zones are typically 85 percent is at zone 4, 85 percent of your max heart rate. And when you get in zone 5, you're working above 90 percent of your max heart rate.
I already listed the ways for you guys to get your max heart rate, but check the show notes if you've already forgotten to kind of check your own and see what you're pumping out in that time period.
Now, if you're wearing any sort of exercise band that tells you your heart rate, that's going to be really easy for you to tell what zone you're in, but if not, you can know your max heart rate with those estimates I gave you. And I suggest putting the tip of your index and middle finger just on your artery, press lightly, and you're going to hold it there for
30 seconds, counting how many beats you can pump. That's basically pumping your heart, pumping [00:14:00] for 30 seconds and then times it by two. And that's going to tell you where your heart rate is, which is going to make it easy to compare that to your max heart rate. So you know what zone you are in.
Some other simple ways to tell what zone you are in is if you were able to talk while you're doing the exercise, you're probably in an aerobic exercise phase and in a lower zone of cardio. If you are not able to talk, not even able to fit out like more than like Two words, because you're so out of breath, you've probably shifted into a higher zone and you're moving into anaerobic zone and also that burning of the muscles is a sign that you're moving into anaerobic territory, which simply means your muscles are now working without oxygen. Some of the benefits of working in an aerobic exercise territory is you have a better VO2 max.
That's the max amount of oxygen your body uses for energy during intense exercise. Sometimes if you are using this style of exercise, you can work out for a lot shorter. HIIT routine, [00:15:00] You only really last for 15, 20, maybe 30 minutes compared to if you are steady state running, you could go for 45 minutes, an hour longer for many people.
That's why they get into endurance running. So it's just simply a different phase.
Anaerobic exercise can be really powerful for building muscle power. So if you are an athlete or you are trying to improve your athleticism, Being able to do the short bursts of energy is really important for athletes. If you're swinging a bat, if you're trying to run to catch a football, if you're trying to, you know, jump to block a soccer goal, or even just run down the field to stop someone who is about to score on you.
Those are all great examples of where this style of training is really, really important.
And can be very, very effective for athleticism, just like aerobic. Anaerobic can help elevate your mood with endorphins. And anytime you're doing weight bearing exercise in general, [00:16:00] whether it's anaerobic or aerobic, it helps make your bones stronger. So both of those are going to be effective. The other thing about anaerobic exercise is it challenges your balance a little bit more and it can help develop better posture.
Which can be really amazing for how you feel day in and day out. So as you see, there are benefits in both. There is plenty of activities in both. So let's talk about now. What's best? And my answer is both. I hate when people make everything so black and white. There is beauty to both of them. Sometimes people will say, Well, where do I build muscle the most?
You build muscle in both. I could be lifting weights and my heart rate might not be up that much but my tempo is slow and it could still be challenging me but it doesn't mean that it's burning as I talked about a couple weeks ago and I could still be building muscle. I could be doing a Metcon [00:17:00] workout, and by Metcon workout, it's basically a short metabolic conditioning activity that uses strength training and cardio. I could be doing one of those, and I could be, you know, in an anaerobic territory and still building muscle.
The whole point of that episode a couple weeks ago was that you don't have to feel the burn to build muscle. It doesn't guarantee you are. But you can feel the burn and be building muscle. So both of them can be effective. The other question people might ask is, well, which one am I going to have more fat loss in? And the answer is both. There are so many studies that show that steady state, you know, just walking in a zone two is going to help with fat loss and it doesn't stress out your cortisol levels.
There are plenty of studies that show that sometimes those high bursts where you're going from really high intensity and then you're Allowing your heart rate to come all the way down to level and going back and forth can burn a ton of calories, which can also help with fat [00:18:00] loss. So there's beauty in both and depending on what side you want to stand in, you're going to find studies showing that both can be really effective.
And as I was researching this, I found so many articles that said aerobic is better for fat loss. But then this study in X year said anaerobic is better for fat loss. So they both have benefits, both of them, strength training benefits, fat loss benefits, and all the other benefits that I suggested and that I named.
But in general, understanding the difference is important because
a variety of exercise and movement is the optimal thing for your body for overall health. So sometimes when I lift weights, I'm going to be at a lower heart rate and my heart rate is not going to be high. still can build muscle. Sometimes I'm going to be doing a metcon.
It's going to be pretty intense. Sometimes I'm going to choose just to walk because that's good for my joints and my bones. And that's just a normal aerobic activity. [00:19:00] Sometimes I'll choose a really light flow for yoga. I'm definitely not a Yogi, but I am trying to get into a variety of activities to just make my body stronger and more well rounded.
So that might be at a lower intensity.
And yes, I still enjoy plyos. I still enjoy doing quick bursts where I am doing jump squats for 30 seconds and then I'm resting for 30 seconds because it changes the way that my muscles work under pressure and what, you know, I'm doing to actually make the muscles work, where my energy is coming from.
And it also trains my heart in a different way and makes my heart stronger because of that really quick burst of energy. So there you have it. Neither one of them is an all over winner. Weight training can fall in both as, as some of the other. examples I gave. So mixing and matching and having a variety in your workouts is best and understanding there is benefit in all of them, but it's important to see the difference and know the difference and understand [00:20:00] what you're doing based on your goals to make yourself more rounded and just to make your workouts a little bit more effective.
I hope you found that helpful. I hope it helps you just see a little bit more inside to your fitness journey and the things that you are doing. As always, I mean it from the bottom of my heart. You are doing so much better than you think you are.
We'll chat next week.