The Difference Between Anaerobic and Aerobic Exercise

Anaerobic and anaerobic exercise are the most common forms of daily exercise. They are not divided according to the type of exercise, which often becomes a misunderstanding. So, what distinguishes aerobic exercise from anaerobic exercise? This is the main content of today’s talk. I hope that after reading this, you can arrange your exercise reasonably.

Aerobic exercise

It means that during exercise, the human body is mainly based on aerobic metabolism, reflecting that the human body performs physical fitness exercises under the condition of sufficient oxygen supply, and the energy generated by the metabolism of sugar, fat and amino acids meets the needs of the body. It is characterized by low intensity, rhythm and long duration. The main purpose of aerobic exercise is to increase your heart rate and exercise your heart, which is why aerobic exercise is also called cardiovascular exercise.

Anaerobic exercise

It refers to the human body performing some high-speed, intense exercise in a short period of time. When the human body is exercising hard, the oxygen supply is insufficient, or the sugar in the human body does not have time to be decomposed by oxygen, and the human body has to rely on "anaerobic energy supply", that is, the sugar in the body uses anaerobic fermentation to generate energy to supply the body's needs. The metabolites of anaerobic metabolism can only be carbohydrates, not fats and proteins. Therefore, the effect of weight loss is far inferior to aerobic metabolism. In addition, during anaerobic metabolism, sugar is broken down into lactic acid through anaerobic glycolysis, which can cause muscle fatigue and soreness. This is why we feel muscle soreness when we do strenuous exercise or high-intensity exercise for a long time.

Light exercise is not aerobic exercise and cannot achieve the purpose of exercise. Only aerobic exercise that reaches a certain intensity can exercise the cardiopulmonary circulation function, improve people's physical strength, endurance and metabolic potential, and is the most valuable exercise. That is to say, aerobic exercise is only meaningful when it reaches or approaches its upper limit. And the limit of this upper limit is different for everyone.

In short, aerobic exercise is carried out under conditions of sufficient oxygen, and people need to go through long-distance exercise to gradually enter the state of aerobic exercise. On the contrary, anaerobic exercise is performed in a state of oxygen deficiency, which will make people feel sore, and aerobic exercise is often very intense. This is the most fundamental difference between the two.