Aerobic? Anaerobic?

Exercise and fitness image.

There appears to be a great deal of controversy over which is the preferred type of metabolic training - aerobic or anaerobic? Metabolic training involves performing specific exercises that are designed to increase the efficiency of the certain pathways in your body that store and deliver energy for certain activities. Three energy pathways store energy – one is aerobic and two are anaerobic. So…what’s the difference?

Aerobic activity makes your heart and lungs work harder and increases the body’s need for oxygen. Activities such as running, swimming, bicycling, working out on a treadmill, and other activities that generally take place for a longer period are types of aerobic activity.

Anaerobic activity involves lower-impact exercise that doesn’t work the cardiovascular system as strenuously as aerobic. Anaerobic exercise involves activities such as lifting weights, running sprints, and other shorter-duration exercises (i.e., under two minutes of medium to high intensity activity).

Many people seem to be partial to aerobic activity because it burns fat and keeps their metabolisms pumping for some time after they actually stop exercising. But…aerobic activity also causes loss of muscle, strength, speed and power if that’s the only exercise you do.

Anaerobic activity, on the other hand, increases muscle, strength, power, speed and aerobic function and it also decreases body fat.

So actually, there really shouldn’t be any controversy. Ideally in terms of metabolic training, the best of both worlds would be a combination of high intensity/short duration activity, medium intensity/medium duration activity and low intensity/long duration activity – the best of all worlds for those energy pathways!

 Dr. Daryl Asks some important questions of interest to New York residents - Chiropractor New York Dr. Daryl Asks...

How could a child benefit from chiropractic?
Regardless of our age, each of us in New York encounters physical, chemical and emotional stresses that exceed our ability to handle. For newborns, it could be the trauma encountered at birth. For toddlers it could be from learning to walk or ride a bike. Many of the problems we chiropractors see in adults are the result of neglected traumas from childhood.
Is a muscle spasm a cause or an effect?
With the knee-jerk use of muscle relaxers, you'd think it was a cause. But it's an effect. Chiropractors know that bones don't move unless muscles move them. And muscles don't contract unless commanded by the nervous system. That's why your nervous system is the focus of our New York chiropractic practice.