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Examples of aerobic exercise include fast walking, jogging, vigorous bicycling and cross-country skiing. Weight training is an example of anaerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise produces benefits of cardiovascular fitness and burns fat, while anaerobic exercise tends to build muscle. Aerobic exercise will increase your energy and stamina, improve your sleep and immune function.
In order to obtain the maximum benefits from aerobic exercise, certain guidelines must be followed. Ideally, the exercise should be continuous, and sessions should last a minimum of 20 or 30 minutes. Shorter sessions such as 10 or 15 minutes at a time may produce some of the same benefits, however. Even brief periods of exercise such as walking your round of golf rather than riding a cart will provide some limited benefit.
In addition, it is essential that exercise be performed at a certain heart rate. If your training sessions are characterized by heart rates below this target range, then you will not be pushing your body hard enough to obtain the benefits of the aerobic conditioning. If, on the other hand, you exercise too vigorously, and push your heart into rates above your target aerobic range, then your muscles will enter into an anaerobic metabolism, and, once again, you will not obtain the aerobic training benefit.
To determine your target heart rate for aerobic training, the following simple formula can be followed. The goal of aerobic training is to exercise at a heart rate of about 65 to 75 percent of your maximum predicted heart rate. Therefore, you need to know how to calculate your maximum predicted heart rate (MPHR), which is simply 220 minus your age. So for a 20-year old, the MPHR would be to 220 - 20 or 200. For a 70-year old, on the other hand, the MPHR would be to 220 - 70 or 150. Then, all that remains to be done is to calculate 65 to 75 percent of these numbers. The following table shows what these target heart rates are for each age:
| Age |
MPHR |
65-75%
MPHR |
| 20 |
200 |
130-150 |
| 30 |
190 |
124-143 |
| 40 |
180 |
177-135 |
| 50 |
170 |
110-128 |
| 60 |
160 |
104-120 |
| 70 |
150 |
98-112 |
One proviso is that if you are over 40 years of age, have not been exercising recently and want to start, it is a good idea to have a physical exam along with an exercise treadmill test. Once this is out of the way, find an exercise you enjoy, get a wristwatch, and get going. The best time to start is today.
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