From a reduced cardiovascular risk to improved weight control or an overall sense of psychological well-being, regular physical activity has important benefits for your long term health. While all forms of exercise can be beneficial, aerobic and anaerobic slightly differ in their physiology, energy use and specific benefits. (Reference 2)
Definition
The American College of Sports Medicine, known as ACSM, describes aerobic exercise as "any activity that uses large muscle groups, can be maintained continuously, and is rhythmic in nature." Anaerobic activity may target large or small muscle groups and differs from aerobic activity in that it involves short bursts of strenuous exertion, followed by periods of rest. Thus, aerobic activity generally has a low to moderate-intensity and long duration, while anaerobic activity is highly intense and short-lasting.
Physiology
Weber State University exercise physiologist Molly Smith defines three main energy systems that often operate simultaneously during physical exercise. The immediate system uses ATP and creatine phosphate as energy sources at the very beginning of exercise. The short-term, or anaerobic system, involves breaking down carbohydrate energy stores in the relative absence of oxygen. In the long-term, or aerobic system, your body burns fuel sources in the presence of oxygen. Smith remarks that energy becomes more dependent on aerobic metabolism as you reduce your exercise intensity and extend its duration beyond four minutes.
Types
Common aerobic activities include running, dancing, bicycling, jogging and brisk walking. These usually last more than 15 minutes. By contrast, anaerobic activities are characterized by short bursts of 10 seconds to one or two minutes. Classic examples of anaerobic exercises include track sprints, weight lifting, power lifting and other resistance training.
Energy Consumption
In "Nutrition for Sport and Exercise," University of Colorado professor Jacqueline Berning explains that the body uses glucose and carbohydrate reserves as the preferred fuel for all physical exercises. This is because they are easier to mobilize than fats and require less oxygen to break down. However, carbohydrate stores are much smaller than fat stores, and rapidly get depleted. Berning estimates that it takes about 20 minutes of exercise to start burning fat. As the duration of exercise increases, intensity generally decreases, and the contribution of fat as an energy source increases.
Calorie Use
Anaerobic activity uses carbohydrates as the main fuel source, while the longer-lasting aerobic activities use more fat. An important property of fat is that it contains more than twice the amount of energy in carbohydrates. Indeed, each gram of fat contains 9 calories, while carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram. Thus, aerobic activity generally burns more calories than anaerobic activity. However, it may be argued that the increased lean muscle mass resulting from anaerobic activity burns more calories in the long run.
Benefits
The greatest benefits of regular aerobic exercise are probably the improved function and capacity of your heart and lungs, as well as weight loss and improved weight control. Anaerobic training, on the other hand, produces increased lean body mass, improved balance, muscular strength and muscular endurance. Both exercise types can improve blood cholesterol levels, blood pressure and glucose tolerance.
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