Anaerobic Exercise. Since you have already learned that aerobic means with oxygen, you probably guessed that

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1 VOLUME 5 / February 2008 GARY SCHULMAN Certified Fitness Trainer & Weight loss Specialist Private and Group Instruction, In-home, Corporate, and On and Off-Site Training Anaerobic Exercise In the last newsletter, you learned that The Recipe for Fitness Success incorporates two distinct types of exercise: aerobic and anaerobic exercise. After learning about the amazing benefits of aerobic exercise, I hope you all found ways to incorporate it into your regular routine. The benefits to your emotional, mental and physical health are just too valuable to deny yourself. Now that you understand the need for aerobic exercise, let s move onto the next essential ingredient, anaerobic exercise. Ingredient #3: Anaerobic Exercise Since you have already learned that aerobic means with oxygen, you probably guessed that anaerobic means just the opposite, without oxygen. While that certainly make sense in terms of vocabulary, it is hard to understand what that actually means, especially regarding exercise. Basically, anaerobic denotes a state in which you have worked your body so hard that it cannot meet Your body does not become the body s full demand for oxy- completely deprived of oxygen. human body can only push so gen. Initially that sounds like a The hard until it has to stop as a result bad thing, since we all know that of its physical limitations. the body needs oxygen to survive, Anaerobic exercise entails pushing but here we are operating at a your body to that point right when much lower level than survival it starts to give you the signals mode. Anaerobic exercise tem- that you have to stop. These telltale porarily depletes oxygen at the signals of the anaerobic zone are cellular level, enacting beneficial Gary Schulman (201) non-oxygen-dependent processes.

2 The Importance of Building Muscle fairly simple to notice. The two most important are: 1) feeling out of breath and 2) feeling a slight burning in your muscles. You probably know these signals all too well, and most likely you experience them as very uncomfortable. So, like many others, you may have been trying to avoid them most of your life. Nevertheless, you will learn that there are great benefits to putting your body into the anaerobic state (safely). As with aerobic activity, virtually any activity can be pushed to the point of reaching the anaerobic zone. However, we want to stay focused on exercise here. Anaerobic exercise includes exercising in short, intense bursts. Examples of anaerobic exercise are: 100-meter sprints, lifting dumbbells or machine weights to the point of failure, and doing push-ups, pull-ups or sit-ups until you feel that telltale burning sensation. It can get very confusing, because you can do any of these same exercises in your aerobic or anaerobic zone. For example, ever notice people at the gym on the weight machines who barely break a sweat and do not struggle at all to complete their sets. They can even chit chat while working out. These people are working in their aerobic zones. In contrast, I m sure you also notice other people at the gym who are completely drenched in sweat, huffing and puffing (even grunting) and truly struggling to get the last few reps of each set completed. These people are working in their anaerobic zones. Now, you may want to pass on the grunting, but you still need to push yourself. Remember, the body has a comfort zone, and in order to build muscle, you have to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. This is precisely why all of my clients always hear me shouting, push yourself out of your comfort zones, to motivate you during workouts. If you just stay in your aerobic zone, as most people typically are inclined to do, then you will miss all the benefits of the anaerobic zone. Let me stress here, that I am not telling you to go nuts and injure yourself. Physical pain is not the same thing as feeling the burn or getting out of breath, far from it in fact. All of my clients know, I do not believe in the no pain, no gain, mentality. Burning and breathlessness are uncomfortable, yes, but pain is in another category altogether. Pain is pain no matter which way you slice it, and I tend to interpret pain as a signal that something is wrong. Listen to your body. If you feel pain that is a signal for you to stop or adjust what you are doing. Along the same lines, you certainly do not need to push yourself to the point of feeling nauseous, sick, dizzy, or faint. I also see those symptoms as alarms that should not be ignored. Some

3 people can and like to push themselves that hard, but it s clearly not necessary to get the benefits of anaerobic exercise. Stay tuned into your body and push yourself out of your comfort zone, while staying away from your pain zone. Be sure to remember, it is very important to stretch properly, warm up and cool down with both aerobic and anaerobic exercise in order to prevent injury. Anaerobic exercise shares many of the same benefits as aerobic exercise, but there are some very important differences that will help you to understand why you need to do both. First, is the obvious, the more you push yourself out of your comfort zone with anaerobic exercise, the stronger that you will become. Getting stronger obviously requires your body to build more muscle. Anaerobic exercise builds lean muscle mass and this building process helps with fat loss in a number of ways. In fact, this is the primary reason that it is ingredient #3 in the Recipe For Fitness Success. You see, the process of building muscle takes a tremendous amount of energy. As we know from the past newsletters, anything that requires energy burns calories. Do you remember that important formula that I mentioned in the last newsletter? In order to lose one pound of fat, you must burn an average of 3500 calories (from fat) over and above what you put into your body without dieting. Well, anaerobic exercise is yet another way to burn those 3500 calories without putting your body into starvation mode (fat-lock-down). Let s review. The first ingredient entails burning calories through the act of digesting thermic meals and keeping that calorie-burning fire stoked by eating them every 3-3½ hours. The second ingredient is aerobic exercise, which enables you to burn an incredible amount of calories while performing the exercise and for minutes afterward during the afterburn period. Now, add anaerobic Interestingly, anaerobic exercise not only burns calories during the action of exercise as with aerobic exercise, but it could keep your body burning at an accelerated rate for an impressive hours after you stop exercising. That is a hefty amount of time for afterburn. When you work your muscles in the anaerobic zone, they have to be repaired and then re-built stronger. This process takes a tremendous amount of time and energy (remember energy means calorie burning). And it doesn t stop here! You will burn even more of those 3500 calories to further maintain the muscles that you just repaired and built. Here s the reason: muscle is considered metabolically active tissue, so it requires substantial calorie burn in order to be

4 maintained in the body. Muscles are constantly The women bodybuilders who resemble men being accessed and utilized and thus require a follow growth-producing workouts and eating remarkable amount of energy to keep up their regimes for years and years and typically take blur of activity. Fat, in contrast, is a storage hormones to achieve those results. If getting tissue, which means that it requires minimal huge were so simple, every guy in the gym would calories and is easy for the body to sustain. Fat, be absolutely ripped. Clearly this is not the case. like your typical attic, is where your body stores So, this idea is just a misconception. Now, I can things that you will not need for a long time and attest to some minor initial bulking that some as we unfortunately know, it is quite difficult to women may experience as their muscles begin to access. So, the lesson here is that the more grow. However, this is very slight and it is muscle you have, the harder your body works temporary. Minor bulking occurs because there (even at rest) just to keep that muscle is still a layer of fat lying right on top of those maintained. Consequently, there is a strong growing muscles. As we know, anaerobic relationship between the amount of lean exercise will help to shrink that layer of fat, but muscle mass you have on your body and your naturally this takes time. Of course, if you truly rate of burning fat. This is not surprising when follow the Recipe for Fitness Success by also you look around at different body types and doing your aerobic exercise, eating, drinking and consider how some people just seem to have an sleeping properly, then you will most likely not easier time losing body fat than others do. experience any bulking whatsoever. As you can see, muscles are extremely important to fitness. Not only do they boost your metabolism to burn more calories for fat loss, but they also naturally give your body a more attractive and sculpted appearance. Although this sounds like what everyone wants, I find that some people are still reticent to build muscle. I know a lot of men who are gung-ho about building muscle, but I know even more women who say, But, I don t want to look like a guy. My response to them is always, good luck looking like a man without loads of testosterone running through your veins. Gary Schulman (201)

5 Anaerobic exercise also helps with fat loss by directly stimulating the body to release fat-burning hormones and enzymes. It also stimulates the body to release Human Growth Hormone, which is known as the body s revitalizing hormone. It has anti-aging and beauty-enhancing effects. Health and beauty benefits you can t beat that! Anaerobic exercise also benefits your health in other ways. Anaerobic exercise not only strengthens your muscles, but it also strengthens your tendons, ligaments, and even your bones. This is very important, especially for women, who are more prone to brittleness in their bones. In fact, research has shown that anaerobic exercise can actually help to prevent Osteoporosis. In addition, over time anaerobic exercise can improve your VO 2 max, also called aerobic capacity, which has been said to reflect the overall physical fitness of a person since it involves your cardiovascular and respiratory systems. It also gives your body greater capacity to withstand the build-up of certain waste products (i.e. lactic acid) and to remove them from the body. This helps with your overall endurance and ability to fight fatigue. So, for all of these reasons and more, be sure to include ingredient #3, anaerobic exercise, into your Recipe for Fitness Success. Kaplan, P. (2005). Transform! A Fitness Masterpiece. SunRise, FL: P.A. Kaplan & Associates. Schwarzenegger, A. (1998). The New Encyclopedia of Modern Body Building. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. REFERENCES/SUGGESTED READING As I mentioned before, the ideas and suggestions in this newsletter are not intended as a substitute for proper medical advice. Always consult your physician or health care professional before performing any new exercise technique, changing your intensity level or beginning any new food regimen. Unfortunately, not everyone is healthy enough to do certain types of exercises or to make abrupt changes. I certainly do not want you pushing yourself when your body is not able to handle it. Venuto, T. (2007). Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. [On-line]. Available: *Newsletter written and designed by Michelle O Neill with information provided by Gary Schulman and references.