Question

How do you think your aerobic exercise efficiency would be affected if heavy leg resistance exercises were added to your routine? Is there a relationship between aerobic fitness and leg strength?

Answer 1

Aerobic exercise is sometimes known as "cardio" -- exercise that requires pumping of oxygenated blood by the heart to deliver oxygen to working muscles.

Aerobic exercise stimulates the heart rate and breathing rate to increase in a way that can be sustained for the exercise session. In contrast, anaerobic ("without oxygen") exercise is activity that causes you to be quickly out of breath, like sprinting or lifting a heavy weight.

Examples of aerobic exercises include cardio machines, spinning, running, swimming, walking, hiking, aerobics classes, dancing, cross country skiing, and kickboxing. There are many other types.

The average sedentary adult will reach a level of oxygen consumption close to 35 ml/kg/minute during a maximal treadmill test (where you're asked to walk as hard as you can). Translated, that means the person is consuming 35 milliliters of oxygen for every kilogram of body weight per minute. That'll get you through the day, but elite athletes can reach values as high as 90 ml/kg/minute! How do they do it? They may have good genes for one, but they also train hard. And when they do, their bodies adapt. The good news is that the bodies of mere mortals like the rest of us adapt to training too. Here's how.

Aerobic exercise. Walking, stationary cycling and water aerobics are good low-impact options to improve blood flow and leg strength. Try to exercise for 30 minutes five days a week or work your way up to exercising that much.