OK, so I am not a fitness expert and I don’t have a lot of extra time to do research or educate myself so I rely on the advise of my brother and a few friends who are into fitness. I am new to this game but am always interested in learning… Todd tells me that a very intense 20 minute cardio workout is better than a more moderate 40 minute workout. I suppose heart rate is the only way to measure that intensity. My heart rate usually gets above 140 in first 10 minutes and then gradually increases to about 153 or so by the end of my 45 minutes… Today, I chose to try the more intense 20 minute workout so I got on the recumbent bike and warmed up quickly and then went straight to level 14 and cranked hard and fast… My heart rate this time went above 150 fairly quickly and I saw it as high as 166. I have seen lots of charts that put this rate in the “anaerobic zone” (for my age) or some other term that I don’t understand… It was hard and fast and I had to lower the resistance for 30 seconds a couple times to get my muscles to recover, but I felt good after. I am just trying to be fit and healthy and weight loss is part of that of course… I suppose doing both types of workouts would be the best but I don’t understand how the target heart rate affects the results of your workout…
Siechen.com
Leaner. Faster. Stronger. Bigger.
Oh the aerobic/anaerobic thing just means that when you start really pushing hard in a cardio you starting changing the energy system your body uses from one based primarily on oxygen to one involving much more muscle based stored energy. Weight training is anaerobic(without oxygen) which is why you aren’t breathing heavy and sweating nearly as much as you are with cardio which is aerobic(with oxygen).
Well the research claims (and I say that with a grain of salt) that harder shorter cardio increases your metabolism. Certainly nothing wrong with longer low intensity cardio, but my general advice for someone with time crunches is to maybe do a long 40-60 min session once a week on a weekend or on a day when you have more time. I also HIGHLY recommend hitting every major muscle group with weights 1-2 times per week. Much of fitness isn’t about doing it the right or wrong way necessarily as much as it is learning about what works for your body and what you enjoy. I will try to blog more about this later.