Analysis of the differences between aerobic and anaerobic exercise: key steps to scientific weight loss

Can you distinguish between aerobic and anaerobic exercise?

Let's talk about exercise. Exercise can help you lose weight, so if I do 20 sit-ups right away, will it work? No. What if I do it for a month straight? Yes, it will work; your abs will feel firmer, but your weight won't change.

Why? Because you're doing anaerobic exercise.

Many TV stations broadcast gymnastics programs around 7 or 8 am. My mom once asked me, "Why are there still aerobic and anaerobic exercises? Without oxygen, people die!"

While her question is funny, it's quite representative. The concept of aerobic and anaerobic exercise initially confused many people. Actually, the "oxygen" here doesn't refer to the oxygen we inhale, but rather the oxygen supply within the body.

We know that exercise requires calorie expenditure. When exercise isn't too strenuous, the body can gradually allocate oxygen, break down fat, and provide the necessary calories. In this state, the body doesn't tire easily and can burn a lot of calories, effectively reducing fat. This type of exercise is called aerobic exercise.

However, when exercise is too strenuous, the body becomes very "busy" and can't keep up with oxygen production. In this case, the body can only break down sugars without oxygen. Compared to aerobic exercise, anaerobic exercise provides less energy per unit of sugar and accumulates more lactic acid. A large amount of lactic acid makes the body feel tired quickly. Therefore, although anaerobic exercise also burns calories, it burns fewer than aerobic exercise. Before burning many calories, the muscles become sore and unwilling to move. Therefore, anaerobic exercise is not suitable for weight loss. However, anaerobic exercise is beneficial for building muscle, and people who want to build muscle in the gym often do anaerobic exercise.

While sit-ups are not a very strenuous exercise, they put a lot of strain on the abdominal muscles due to their characteristics. Therefore, sit-ups are anaerobic exercise. Evidence of this is that people easily feel abdominal soreness when doing sit-ups; before even breaking a sweat, their stomachs are already too sore to move. The main function of sit-ups is to build muscle, usually resulting in muscle development without fat loss.

In other words, if you want to burn fat through exercise, the best approach is aerobic exercise. This is the true "kingly way" to lose weight through exercise.

What kinds of aerobic exercise are there? Jogging, playing ball games, hiking, skipping rope, gentle gymnastics, swimming, hula hooping, etc., are all aerobic exercises. Generally speaking, you need to be able to maintain an exercise routine for at least 20 to 30 minutes to qualify as aerobic exercise. We often see older women dancing in our neighborhoods for one or two hours without rest; this is aerobic exercise.

Losing fat first, then shaping your body, and then improving your physique will allow you to stay slim for life.

I used to be obsessed with painting and practiced sketching diligently. Later, for various reasons, I couldn't continue, but the process of learning to paint left a deep impression on me.

In my opinion, weight loss and painting are quite similar. The process of painting involves first outlining the shape, then gradually adding details and enriching the colors, and finally adding a finishing touch to achieve a harmonious and beautiful artistic effect.

The process of weight loss is similar. It starts with the whole body, reducing the overall shape, then gradually refining the body lines, and finally using maintenance methods to maintain the weight loss results.

The first step, I call fat reduction.

The second step, I call body shaping.

The third step, I call improving physical condition.

These three steps, like the three vertices of a triangle, firmly support "weight loss." Neglecting any one of them will make it difficult to maintain the results of weight loss.