Aerobic exercise is usually the first thing that comes to mind when people think of burning fat. While most people dread the thought of endless, boring hours working in the aerobic heart rate zone, it’s often what people turn to for fat loss. But the good news is that combining aerobic and anaerobic exercises is the best for burning fat.
But before I tell you why a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise is better than aerobic exercise alone, let’s talk about what “aerobic” and “anaerobic” mean.
Aerobics means in the presence of oxygen. Any activity done at a low to moderate intensity for more than 90 seconds that allows oxygen to release energy through metabolism is called aerobic activity.
The benefits of aerobic activity are…
Increased cardiovascular function Decreased body fat
But prolonged aerobic exercise has its downsides…
Decreased muscle mass Decreased strength Decreased power Decreased speed Decreased anaerobic capacity
You should start to realize why combining aerobic activity and anaerobic activity is a better option.
Anaerobic means in the absence of oxygen. Any activity done at a medium to high intensity for less than 2 minutes, where energy is obtained without oxygen, is generally called anaerobic activity.
The benefits of anaerobic type activities are…
Increased cardiovascular function Decreased body fat Increased muscle mass Improved strength Improved power Improved speed Increased aerobic capacity
And the negative aspects of anaerobic style activity are…
Anaerobic activity requires an aerobic base
As you can clearly see, anaerobic workouts are the best option. And you may be wondering, “Why do you say combining aerobic and anaerobic exercise is best? Why not just do anaerobic training?”
Combining aerobic and anaerobic training is necessary because it is impossible to exercise at the high intensity level of anaerobic exercise throughout the entire workout. Even if you try to work at such a high intensity, you will eventually fatigue and return to the aerobic zone. So while it is possible to exercise in the aerobic zone throughout your entire workout, it is impossible to exercise exclusively at an anaerobic pace.
This is why combining aerobic and anaerobic style exercises is a must for an optimal fat loss workout!
Here’s the bad news. Most people who want to lose fat and build a muscular body ARE combining exercises of the aerobic and anaerobic types. They are just combining them all WRONG!
The sad reality is that most workouts that claim to burn fat by combining aerobic and anaerobic exercise are doing “bodybuilding” style weight training followed by aerobic activity. And unless you plan to spend hours a day in the gym (as bodybuilders do), you won’t get the results they do.
Think of it this way. There should be two “types” of exercise that you do…resistance training and energy system training. And when you combine aerobic activity and anaerobic training, it’s not just in the training part of the energy system. You need to smartly combine aerobic and anaerobic activity throughout your workout.
Therefore, combining aerobic exercise and anaerobic training is key to fat loss success. But how you combine the two is even more important. If you’ve been combining these two styles of training with weight training followed by aerobic exercise and haven’t been able to get the fat loss results you wanted… you’re not alone.
Combining anaerobic and aerobic exercise isn’t enough…you need to combine both for maximum fat loss results.