Get Fit Basics: Aerobics

We all know that aerobics is good for overall health and fitness. A calorie burning activity? A slimming schedule? An activity that makes your heart strong and increases your stamina? All true but do you know what exactly happens when you do aerobics. The word "aerobic" means "with oxygen" and oxygen is something that you need for almost everything.

Your energy store

Let's start from the beginning: whatever your lifestyle and daily schedule, from a simple housewife to a busy executive you eat food. When you eat, energy comes into your body and gets stored in a chemical form. Much of this energy is stored in the fat cells of your body and remains there until you (your body) need it.

How much oxygen you need

Although the energy reserve that you have is real but just because this energy source is present in your body doesn't mean it can be used involuntarily. Remember this energy cannot be consumed automatically when your body needs it. You actually need one more thing to release this energy? You need oxygen. The more energy your body uses, more the oxygen it needs. During energetic physical activities such as running or rowing your body may need 15-20 times more oxygen than the rest. That's the reason why your aerobic fitness is so vital. It is basically improving your ability to process and deliver as much oxygen as you can. In other words, the more fit you are the more oxygen your body can take in.

Your working systems

Any aerobic activity actually activates your cardiovascular and respiratory system (heart, lungs and blood vessels). These systems are responsible for processing and delivery of oxygen and are benefited more than any other system of the body. You can feel that these systems are actually working during and after an aerobic activity.

Improve the systems

To get the best out of your cardiovascular and respiratory systems you have to make them strong and efficient. Your heart and lungs, the key players of these systems, improve if you put them to hard work. However, you have to keep them working at the higher rate for at least 20 minutes. To deliver more oxygen and make the system strong you can do various activities like cross-country skiing, running, skating, cycling, rowing, brisk walking and swimming. Your heart, lungs and blood vessels all get involved to meet the demands of greater oxygen and in the process all of them become strong. The greatest benefit of aerobics is in the improvement of your heart muscle. It becomes stronger and pumps more blood with each heart beat.

In a nutshell then, it is very important to increase your aerobic capacity (the amount of oxygen your body can deliver to your active / working muscle) as this has a direct impact on your total energy activities and fitness.