What are aerobic exercises?

What we often call aerobic exercise is essentially endurance exercise in which the oxygen supply can completely cover the energy consumption of exercise. The most common criterion is that you can speak short sentences smoothly during exercise without being out of breath and unable to speak complete sentences.

For example, you walk slowly and briskly around the community for 40 minutes after get off work, ride shared bicycles with friends to have a picnic in the suburbs on weekends, even the half-hour square dance performed by the aunts downstairs in the community, and the low-intensity exercises you practice with fitness blogger Pamela, most of them fall into the category of typical aerobic exercise.

Don’t think that a certain exercise is inherently aerobic or anaerobic. Many people now debate whether jogging and burpees are considered aerobic. In fact, there is no fixed answer at all - if you jog at a pace of 6 and can still chat with your fellow runners for half an hour about whether it’s cool or not today, then it’s standard aerobic.； If you rush to a pace of 4 and you are gasping for breath and bending over after running 1 kilometer, then the energy supply mode has switched to anaerobic. The same goes for burpees. If you do it at a slow pace, leave enough rest time between sets, and breathe steadily throughout the whole process, you are aerobic. If you rush 20 times a minute, it must be a mixed mode of aerobic and anaerobic.

When I first came into contact with sports, I always thought that there was a fixed list of aerobic exercise, and it had to be running, swimming, and elliptical machines to count. Later I discovered that when I was too lazy to change into sportswear, I could climb stairs at home for 20 minutes, control my cadence, and keep my heart rate stable at around 130. The fat-burning effect is no worse than running outside for half an hour, and the pressure on my knees is much less.

I have seen people argue before that "if you don't sweat, it doesn't count as aerobic." It's really not necessary. Walking outdoors in winter can burn enough calories, but the temperature is low and it's not easy to sweat. If you are really unsure, wear a sports bracelet to measure your heart rate. As long as it stays within the 60%-80% range of (220-your age), it is basically an effective aerobic exercise. Anyway, when choosing aerobics, you don’t need to stick to categories. Find an event that you can stick to, and don’t rush into intensity. It’s more practical than anything else.