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A Vote Against Aerobic Exercise?

February 25, 2008 11:43 AM ET | Katherine Hobson | Permanent Link | Print

My inbox has been filling up with PR pitches on the ineffectiveness and/or evils of steady aerobic exercise, which most academic fitness experts have preached as the best way to control weight and improve heart health. (I've written about one specific no-cardio plan before.)

I'm tempted to dismiss most of these pitches as gimmicks to sell more books, DVDs, vats of protein powder, or whatever, but there are enough studies cited as supporting evidence to make it a topic worth looking into. Some of the arguments offered up against lots of steady aerobic exercise: Working out for a long time can cause impact injuries and possibly promote harmful bodywide inflammation; people tend to overeat after cardio workouts because they overestimate how many calories they've burned; weightlifting may boost your metabolism more than aerobic exercise in the period after you've finished working out; and—the one that makes intuitively the most sense to me—it's more efficient to do interval training (alternating shorter periods of intense exertion followed by recovery), because you burn more calories in less time.

I'm going to investigate these arguments, as well as any others you send me at onfitness@usnews.com. Please send me your personal stories, too, if steady aerobic exercise has helped or hurt you in losing excess baggage or maintaining your current weight.

Survey: What do you think?

Tags: exercise and fitness

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Reader Comments

exercise MAKES ME HUNGRY.

I ALWAYS GAIN WEIGHT IF I START A NEW EXERCISE PROGRAM. IT HAS GOTTEN TO THE POINT THAT I AM AFRAID TO DO ANYTHING.

Am I the only one out there who has an out of control appetite after exercising? I cannot be the only one.

ALice of PA
Mar 17, 2008 13:12:48 PM [permalink] [report comment]

Intervals and weights

I wonder if so many people cling to aerobic exercise because it doesn't seem as "hard" as interval training or really exhausting yourself with heavy weight training.

Walking on a treadmill at a pace that elevates the heart rate but does not leave you gasping seems a lot more appealing to some, I am sure, than the interval running plan I use of 1 minute sprints followed by 2 minutes of recovery, repeated 5 to 7 times (and where I am definitely into anaerobic, very taxing work during the sprint phase).

Another person posted about "The New Rules of Lifting". I, too, found it useful. Since switching to a weight lifting plan based on that book, I have seen definite improvement. I do think they key there is to go heavy and try for constant improvement.

Andrew of DC
Mar 12, 2008 12:45:03 PM [permalink] [report comment]

I believe that too much of anything is not good. You should certainly not push your body to a limit it cannot withstand, but daily exercise is healthy and should be practiced by everyone to remain fit and healthy.

Kendall of AR
Feb 27, 2008 20:01:58 PM [permalink] [report comment]

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