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Fit Exercises
Introduction
These
exercise classes are a specialised form of exercise
aimed at strengthening the body's cardiovascular
system without overly stressing any particular
part of the body. Aerobics involves a lot of bodily
movement (of course), but the movement is designed
to be not overly repetitive. As such, it often
involves a lot of specialised choreography, which
is intimidating to beginners.
Nonetheless,
aerobics is an attractive form of exercise. Women
like it because these classes burn calories and
doesn't lead to grotesque musculature. Men (probably)
like it because these classes contain lots of
women !
The
Definition of Aerobics Exercise
There
are two major categories of exercise based on
two forms of chemical reaction that produce energy
within the human body - one form requiring oxygen,
one not. The aerobics form that requires oxygen
includes all casual activity as well as all activity
that doesn't exhaust the muscles.
Anaerobic
exercise is the opposite of aerobic exercise.
(Well, actually, no exercise is the opposite,
but hopefully you get the idea.) It occurs when
a part of the body's muscle tissue runs out of
oxygen stores during exertion. The lack of oxygen
exhausts and slightly tears apart the muscles,
forcing them to rebuild with more mass. Weight
lifting is an example of anaerobic exercise. As
may be imagined, aerobics exercise is a prerequisite
for anaerobic exercise. You have to burn the oxygen,
before you can run out of it.
The
body's cardiovascular system consists of the lungs,
heart and veins. These are the body parts which
get oxygen to the muscles. The better the cardiovascular
system works, the longer the body can last before
it has to draw on anaerobic energy reserves. Aerobics
exercise is meant to reinforce this system, thereby
enhancing the body's endurance.
The
usefulness of aerobic vs anaerobic exercise is
debated. Anaerobic reactions are better for building
strength, but aerobic reactions release ten times
as much chemical energy. Really, it depends on
what you want from your exercise. To put it as
simply as possible: for strength, go anaerobic;
for endurance, go aerobics.
Kinds
of Aerobics Exercise
There
are two major kinds of exercises offered in classes.
Step
aerobics uses a step or riser to stress the leg
muscles somewhat. The step is roughly four feet
long by two feet wide by six inches high. Risers
can make it up to one foot tall.
Floor
aerobics involves moving around on the ground.
It's usually titled something like 'Cardio Challenge'
to make it sound more exciting.
In
recent years, step aerobics has been more popular
than floor exercises. This is largely because
step aerobics classes can play slower music and
get the same cardiovascular benefit. Plus, step
aerobics actually involves 'work' by the muscles
in the gravitational sense. Many gyms now offer
only step aerobics, not floor.
more
on aerobics even
more on aerobics
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