Aerobic exercises depend on breathing and oxygen intake for endurance. In contrast, anaerobic exercises rely mostly on muscle-stored energy sources rather than oxygen to keep the body moving during fast-paced, powerful exercises. Exercises like sprinting, weightlifting, hill climbing and interval training, which involve high-intensity, short-lasting bursts of energy, best exemplify the most common forms of anaerobic activity.
Sprinting
Sprinting, whether on a bike, by foot or in the water, forces your body to use stored energy as your demands for oxygen outpace your rate of breathing. As a result, lactic acid--a byproduct of anaerobic respiration--may build up, causing muscular fatigue, or the soreness that occurs the next day after a heavy workout. Sprinting generally means to perform an exercise at your fastest possible rate. For instance, instead of jogging, you would push yourself to your maximum speed, perhaps even greater than running. Nevertheless, keep your health limitations in mind before overexerting your heart and muscles.
Weightlifting
Most forms of anaerobic exercise, including the heavy lifting of weights, are intended to build muscle. Excess muscle mass increases your resting metabolic rate and helps you to burn more calories in a day and lose weight faster. Different forms of weightlifting include leg presses, chest presses, bicep curls, push-ups and dips. For a strength-training exercise to be considered anaerobic, it must contain more than one set and more than one repetition of the exercise per set.
Hill Climbing
Climbing steep hills, even at a moderate rate, can produce the effects of anaerobic respiration. To increase anaerobic effects on smaller inclines, simply increase your speed. Also, adding more weight during your hike will help intensify and improve your results.
Interval Training
Interval training is the alternation of quick bursts of energy and more casual pacing. Research at the Mayo Clinic suggests that it can increase the number of calories you burn faster than slower exercises. Furthermore, it can improve your ability to store oxygen during aerobic exercise. Interval training may be integrated into most every exercise. For instance, with swimming, you might swim one length of the pool at full-speed, the next two at a slower pace and then restart the fast-slow cycle. According to the Spark People website, athletes rely on interval training to improve their fastest rates, and it may not be suitable for less-fit adults. As like all forms of anaerobic exercise, you should only engage in interval training after repeatedly performing a less-intense related exercise.
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