Exercise is one of two main components and principles for reducing weight and for good health. Some might say exercise is the key to weight loss and some say a good diet is the key. There is one thing for sure though that if you combine the two together they react to form an unbeatable team in the fight to reduce weight and maintain it!

So what is the difference between Aerobic Exercise and Anaerobic Exercise?

Aerobic Exercise

Firstly Aerobic Exercise is basically exercise that is carried out at a moderate intensity and for a longer period of time. Most types of exercise are actually aerobic including jogging , cycling, walking etc.

Aerobic exercise is carried out at any intensity from 60-80% of your maximum heart rate and at an intensity you can carry on for a longer period of time. When exercising, for example jogging, your body uses the energy stored from food which is turned into glycogen to push you along. There is only a certain amount of glycogen in your body and as you use up your stored energy during exercise, you will feel your body tiring and aching. This is basically your body running out of glycogen. The fact is that when your body has used up its energy stores and to keep going it has to find a new fuel source and thus fat comes into the picture.

Fat lies in reserve for energy source and exercising for a longer period of time will then be burned up by the stored fat. From aerobic exercise you will most certainly witness an increase in your overall longer lasting fitness meaning overtime you can exercise for longer and longer meaning you maximise fat burning.

Anaerobic Exercise

Anaerobic exercise is the opposite of aerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercise is performed at a much higher intensity between 80-100% max heart rate. This obviously means it isn’t long lasting. It is used by athletes to help build power, strength and speed into there bodies as exercises under an anaerobic intensity are examples like sprinting and weight lifting.

Anaerobic defines exercise carried out without the use of oxygen. As your muscles don’t have sufficient oxygen they then have to utilize another source within your body known as creatine phosphate.
The uses of these energy sources quickly burn up over a period and the use of fat as energy does come into play sometimes a lot quicker than if doing aerobic exercise. This is all done in a matter of seconds as the creatine phosphate generates what we call ATP that produces muscle contraction and after further seconds other sources are made available to ATP which includes glycogen, then lastly fat.

Muscles trained under anaerobic exercises obviously give different results than that of aerobic exercise and lead to greater performance in shorter duration activities and sports.

So Which Type Of Exercise Is The Better To Reduce Weight & Maintain It?

The fact is both will burn fat within your body for extensive research does suggest that combining the two can be hugely beneficial as your body is made to train under different intensities meaning it isn’t able to adapt to one or the other which does maximise fat burn as the human body is always looking to adapt to what you do to it.

Depending on your goals and what sort of fitness you are looking at would depend on the type of exercise you undertake but for fat burning and weight loss a combination of the two would be most beneficial within your plan.

Before you start any of the above exercise, keep in mind to see your physician first for an evaluation

Today I have finally purchased my personal pedometer and it doesn’t come cheap…cost me about SGD41 or US$29! I was told there are many cheap ones from China in the market which cost about US$10 but they also conked off very fast and most of them are not accurate in their readings due to their mercury movement detection mechanism. Upon weighing my options I decided to invest in the OMRON HJ-113 Walking Style at a reputed chemist, its still made in China, no warranty, but under the well-known Omron company. It is even endorsed by the Singapore Heart Foundation.

It also detects whether your steps are normal or aerobic and thus capture accordingly and their duration taken. I was too excited to complete the rest of the settings, so tomorrow I’ll report back again.

About the features of my Omron HJ-113 Walking Style pedomter :

• has an aerobic step counter, besides the regular step counter.

• uses a new sensor technology called accelerometer which means you can either put it in your pocket shirt, front trousers pocket, put it in your bag or hang it from your neck and it will calculate your steps automatically.

• can differentiate whether your steps are normal or aerobic by detecting the rhythmic pattern of your steps.

• has the ability to count your calories and fats burnt

• can review your full week of exercise because of the stored memory.

• can also set the time, weight and stride length.

Now no more mentally calculating my steps or rounds for an estimation when I go for my daily brisk walking again which is limited to the track path in the park. I can’t wait to carry my new pedometer with me knowing I can track my steps whenever I walk.

My challenge now is to achieve the 10,000 steps a day! Anyway, I have a Walker Tracker’s widget installed in my blog for easy tracking which I highly recommend anyone who wants to keep fit to join this community…. See ya soon & Happy Walking!

What made me brought this question up is because of the video I came across which you can watch at the end of this post.

Anyway forward or backwards, walking will still be my favourite form of exercise and I believe it should be easily fit into anyone’s lifestyle. Walking as everyone knows is a low-impact form of exercise and is also one of the safest as it does not aggravate the structures of your lower back.

Why Walking promotes general health and longevity:

* Lowers blood pressure
* Reduces high cholesterol and improves blood lipid profile
* Reduces body fat as it improves metabolism
* Enhances mental well being, elevates good mood
* Increases bone density, hence helping to prevent osteoporosis
* Reduces the risk of cancer of the colon
* Reduces the risk of non insulin dependent diabetes
* Helps to control body weight and maintain it
* Helps osteoarthritis and reduces arthritis pain
* Helps with flexibility and co-ordination hence reducing the risk of falls

Studies have been done extensively and now supports the many benefits of regular walking.

Regular participation in physical activity (like walking) is associated with reduced mortality rates for both older and younger adults (US Dept of Health 1996). In other words, walkers live longer!

In particular, walking has a high impact on cardiovascular disease. Fit and active individuals have around half the risk of cardiovascular disease compared to unfit inactive people. This level of risk is similar to smoking, high blood pressure or high cholesterol in causing heart disease.

Fit walkers are less likely to fall and suffer injuries such as hip fractures because the bones are strengthened; less likely to sustain injury because joints have a better range of movement and muscles are more flexible; less prone
to depression and anxiety; tend to be good sleepers; and are better able to control body weight.

For general health, experts recommend accumulating a total of 30 minutes of brisk walking on most, preferably all days of the week.

(Sources: US Dept of Health 1996, UK Dept of Health 2000, Health Education Authority 1996)
(Sources: Davison & Grant 1993, US Dept of Health 1996, British Heart Foundation 2000)

In this video, this chap says he does backwalking and encourages it because apparently he claims that backwalking has improved his eyesight which is something new.

Anyone game to give it a try?

Swiss ball seems to be a popular exercise these days, especially when one gets too lazy to exercise. It is infact, very easy to carry out simple exercises on it and having fun at the same time.

Initially, I kept on falling off the ball but after much sliding off, for the ball kept on rolling away from me, I managed to ‘tame’ it Recently, I seemed to be getting back aches quite frequently due to not having been exercising as often as I should be. The excuse is the weather is too hot to be outdoors, REALLY, even without moving the perspiration just ‘pours’ out which really irritates me. And often with a tummy full of water top up, naturally I got too lazy to move my butt!

I have been eyeing swiss ball for sometime actually, and I am now glad that I finally got on it. After some back rolling on the ball, my spine seems more stretched and flexible. This therapy should strengthen your muscles because you need them to control the balance when you are on the ball. Have a go at it, but first you need to have plenty of patience before your body knows what you are trying to do.
Let me share with you some of the tips I picked from this video - they are simple and easy for a newbie - Enjoy…

Finally, I did some exercise last evening…. haven’t been keeping up with my exercise the last three weeks as I was very busy and having late nights, so now I have to start slowly again. I am very lucky indeed to live by a well-maintained park that has nice trees along the path with 2 cycle machines and 2 hands-cycle machines plus various stretching benches……all for free….

Looks like I can do only 6km for this week before I go back to my normal 10km brisk walking. Ok, I didn’t do it at one shot…. Depending on my mood, I would break my 10 km into two or three. As I didn’t want to strain myself today I decided to break after 4km and went on the cycle machine and did 1 set each of clockwise and anticlockwise. A set consist of 100 revolutions and the same with the hands-cycle. I like to do stretching too as I find it helps especially with my back and shoulders-aches. Then, I continued to finish my 2km brisk walk. I added a slow slow walk to cool down after that. Actually I find that after each exercise, I feel completely invigorated physically and mentally.

To me exercise is a REAL pleasure!

Here‘s what I would recommend to anyone who wants to do the easy way:

1. Go for checkup at your GP, if you think you have some health concerns and let him know of your intentions.

2. Plan what kind of exercise you would like to do, brisk walking is the best, it’s free and can be done anywhere. I don’t have any set exercises to do, I just do what I feel my body is comfortable with and I do it at my own pace and time. Sometimes I observe or copy what others do and then improvise it to suit my body.

3. Make it a habit, after you have done it for a month, you will find that it is so much easier. I find that if you exercise everyday, the body will some how tune in and you will get this ‘uncomfortable’ feel if you missed a day’s exercise.If you need company, find like-minded company so that you will commit to each other. Most of the time I exercise alone because I like to have personal time and enjoy some peace.

4. After your exercise, drink plenty of water to get rid of toxins from the body. If you have a juicer at home, juice some fruits and you will feel very fresh after that!

I truly hope the above ideas will encourage you to begin your exercise soon …..