What is Anaerobic Exercise? Anaerobic activity is a high-intensity workout that lasts for a short time. During the workout, the body uses oxygen that the body stores in the muscles. Thus, the body needs much more oxygen than the lungs can supply. The result is that when you engage in anaerobic exercise, the body burns up more calories, even when the body is at rest.
Anaerobic Exercise Examples:
- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
- Climbing
- Jumping rope
- Running
- Biking
- Swimming
- Weightlifting
- Walking
- Rowing
- Benefits of Aerobic Exercise
Anaerobic exercise type of workout offers many benefits to your body that can help to enhance your health:
1. Build Muscle Mass
When you engage in intense, short bursts of activity, it causes your muscles to tear up. Your body will then repair these tears and cause your muscles to become stronger, bigger, and more toned.
Once you reach 27 years old, you will lose 1% of muscle per year unless you stop that decline. That is why exercising regularly is advisable, especially as you get older.
The gain of muscle mass will happen on the muscles that you use the most. This is particularly more obvious in people who were living sedentary lives before but started exercising. But if you want to gain a lot of muscle mass, anaerobic exercise remains the most recommended workout.
2. Increase Your Metabolism
Anaerobic exercise helps to build your muscle mass. Having bigger muscles increases your rate of metabolism. You will be hungrier, and your body will burn more calories after anaerobic exercise. This will boost your metabolism even when your body is at rest.
3. Increase Your Energy Levels
Anaerobic exercise increases your body’s ability to store glycogen. The more glycogen you have, the higher your energy levels, since your body relies on glycogen stored in your muscles for energy.
Improved energy levels will increase your stamina and make it easier for you to perform your daily life tasks, as you will have more strength. It will be easier for you to do activities, such as climbing up the stairs, lifting heavy things, or playing with your kids.
You will also become stronger, fitter and be able to workout for longer periods of time.
4. Increase Your Bone Density
Anaerobic exercise helps to increase bone density. This will help you battle against osteoporosis, which is a condition where your bones weaken as you get older.
5. Save Time
If you have time constraints, you can get more done with anaerobic exercise. You will burn more calories faster than if you were doing a cardio workout.
6. Maintain Your Weight
Also, anaerobic exercise helps you maintain healthy muscle and weight. High-intensity exercises can help reduce a small amount of body weight.
7. Lose Body Fat While You Sleep
Anaerobic Exercise can help you lose body fat around the clock. It can also help you reduce your waist circumference. You will see changes after performing these workouts a couple of days a week consistently over a period.
These workouts’ major advantage is that they will help you lose the fat surrounding your vital body organs. So, if you are overweight, it is worth considering doing anaerobic exercise.
8. Reduce Blood Pressure and Resting Heart Rate in Overweight Individuals
Overweight individuals will notice a reduction in their blood pressure and heart rate when they perform anaerobic exercise regularly. However, you will not observe these changes in normal weight individuals who have normal blood pressure.
Reduction in blood pressure and body fat has great cardiovascular benefits as it reduces your chances of passing away from coronary artery disease.
9. Reduce Blood Sugar
Some observe that anaerobic exercise can help reduce blood sugar in people at risk of getting type 2 diabetes. Not only does it reduce blood sugar, but it also enhances insulin resistance more than traditional workouts do. But, again, we can observe this in programs lasting less than 3 months.
10. Enhance Oxygen Consumption
Anaerobic exercise can enhance your oxygen consumption. Oxygen consumption refers to your body’s ability to use oxygen in the muscles. For example, doing a high-intensity workout will get your heart pumping faster, blood will pump quickly through your body, and you will take in more oxygen through your lungs.
You can get better results from anaerobic exercise, but mainly high-intensity interval training programs within a shorter period than regular workouts.
11. Positive Mental Benefits
Anaerobic exercise programs help in reducing anxiety and depression. They also help in minimizing stress levels.
How to Get Started with Anaerobic Exercise
The first thing is to choose which specific workouts you will engage in, biking, running, walking, etc. Then, substitute exercises include sprinting or jogging.
Choose the duration of exercising and recovery periods. This will take a little experimenting for you to figure out what will work for you.
It might also be worth it to consult a certified professional to help you develop a suitable workout program based on your fitness and the state of your health.
Conclusion on why you should consider anaerobic activity
Anaerobic exercise can help you burn up more calories than traditional workout programs. We can largely attribute this to the higher rate of metabolism that takes place even hours after you have completed your workout program.
Anaerobic exercise will provide you with the same health benefits that you will get from other workouts. Still, in this case, the anaerobic workouts will exercise you within a shorter period. The benefits associated with these workouts are more than the problems that you may face.
Some of these benefits include:
- Reduced blood sugar
- Reduced blood pressure and heart rate in obese people
- Increased bone density
- Enhanced metabolism
- Lower body fat
- Build muscle mass
It also helps in the management of diabetes, aging, and pregnancy.
Therefore, if you are short on time and want to work out, think about engaging in anaerobic exercise.
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