Weight Training Not Aerobic?
August 1st 2007 13:22
A particularly pronounced example of a fitness myth is that weight training is not aerobic. Actually it is probably more of an oversimplification than a full-fledged myth. Yet by assuming the truth of the proposition many people steer themselves away from the very weight training that can provide so many benefits that aerobic exercise cannot.
It is obvious that lifting a heavy weight is a different type of exercise than running a mile. The latter is said to be aerobic because to perform it the body will incorporate oxygen, while lifting a weight is so intense and rapid that it will occur anaerobically or without oxygen, because the body takes a certain amount of time to martial its pulmonary capacity. When so-called experts (or at least the purveyors of fitness information to the public) elaborate on this basic axiom,however, the misinformation begins to flow.
If you wish to lose weight,for instance,you are told to concentrate on aerobic exercise and throw in weight training as essentially a subsidiary activity-like its a good idea,but aerobics should be the priority. That means you might appear at the gym and concentrate on treadmilling for a time and then add a few weight machines afterwards. The problems with this approach are manifold,but they are not my focus here.
The reality is that the idea that weight training is not aerobic is only true in the most micro sense. When you pick up a weight and move it, you will not be using oxygen.But when you move it over and over you will not only start to use it, but, if the weight is heavy enough, you will begin not only to use oxygen,but even tax you breathing. Suddenly what is not aerobic is aerobic. This is so obvious that I can only conclude that those who suggest weight training is not aerobic have never seriously pursued it seriously.
Seriously? Let me explain. Seriously means that you do sets of weight training with an eye on the clock. You do your sets with moderate or even short rest periods between. You always seek to do you sets with the maximum amount of weight your program can allow. In fact, you do your sets with enough ferocity that sometimes you have to add extra rest time because of your rate of breathing and not muscle fatigue. You order your workout so that you can proceed from exercise to exercise and not stand around waiting to do the same exercise again. If you do not enter into some aerobic stress with workouts built around these principles you are kidding yourself about your commitment to work.
The fact is that weight training has so many benefits that aerobic exercise doesn't that learning to do it aerobically is really learning to get the best of both worlds. I do not mean drop aerobics. I mean maximize weight training and go from there.
If you want proof of weight training's aerobic potential, drop by the gym and locate the leg press machine. Put some weight on it-enough to challenge you a little. Start pressing. Keep pressing. What is happening? Legs hurt like the deuce? Forget them for a second. You are breathing pretty hard, aren't you? Your servant, as always.
It is obvious that lifting a heavy weight is a different type of exercise than running a mile. The latter is said to be aerobic because to perform it the body will incorporate oxygen, while lifting a weight is so intense and rapid that it will occur anaerobically or without oxygen, because the body takes a certain amount of time to martial its pulmonary capacity. When so-called experts (or at least the purveyors of fitness information to the public) elaborate on this basic axiom,however, the misinformation begins to flow.
If you wish to lose weight,for instance,you are told to concentrate on aerobic exercise and throw in weight training as essentially a subsidiary activity-like its a good idea,but aerobics should be the priority. That means you might appear at the gym and concentrate on treadmilling for a time and then add a few weight machines afterwards. The problems with this approach are manifold,but they are not my focus here.
The reality is that the idea that weight training is not aerobic is only true in the most micro sense. When you pick up a weight and move it, you will not be using oxygen.But when you move it over and over you will not only start to use it, but, if the weight is heavy enough, you will begin not only to use oxygen,but even tax you breathing. Suddenly what is not aerobic is aerobic. This is so obvious that I can only conclude that those who suggest weight training is not aerobic have never seriously pursued it seriously.
Seriously? Let me explain. Seriously means that you do sets of weight training with an eye on the clock. You do your sets with moderate or even short rest periods between. You always seek to do you sets with the maximum amount of weight your program can allow. In fact, you do your sets with enough ferocity that sometimes you have to add extra rest time because of your rate of breathing and not muscle fatigue. You order your workout so that you can proceed from exercise to exercise and not stand around waiting to do the same exercise again. If you do not enter into some aerobic stress with workouts built around these principles you are kidding yourself about your commitment to work.
The fact is that weight training has so many benefits that aerobic exercise doesn't that learning to do it aerobically is really learning to get the best of both worlds. I do not mean drop aerobics. I mean maximize weight training and go from there.
If you want proof of weight training's aerobic potential, drop by the gym and locate the leg press machine. Put some weight on it-enough to challenge you a little. Start pressing. Keep pressing. What is happening? Legs hurt like the deuce? Forget them for a second. You are breathing pretty hard, aren't you? Your servant, as always.
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