Aerobic Training

What is Aerobic Training?

Unless you skipped ahead to this chapter, you should have figured this out by now.

Aerobic means “with oxygen,” which refers to the fact that oxygen is used at the cellular level during sustained, moderate intensity exercise. Aerobic activity is something that you can do for more than several seconds – it is not intense or short-burst like weight training. Examples are running, swimming, cycling, racquet sports, stair climbers or elliptical trainers, basketball, hockey, soccer etc.

In terms of its effect on body composition, it will of course make you lose fat, but it will not bulk you up much at all. It works on the slow twitch muscle fibers (see Chapter 4) which are small in size. If you only do aerobic training you will never get big.

Why Train Aerobically?

There are many good reasons:

An hour of intense aerobic training will burn twice as many Calories as an hour of weight training. Further, there is a limit to how much weight training you can do in a week without risking overtraining, so this allows you an additional way to exercise and burn up lots of Calories and therefore burn more fat.
It is good for your heart, lungs and cholesterol levels.
It can build a functional skill (being able to run fast can come in handy).
It can be a lot of fun it you choose something you enjoy.
It can be used as a form of transportation (cycling to work).
It improves your ability to weight train, by making your heart and lungs more capable.
If you become a hardcore workout warrior, you can safely do more of this in a week than you can lifting weights. You should not lift weights more than about 5 hours a week or it will create undue strain on your body and become counterproductive to gaining muscle. If you start living exercise to the extreme, you can do ten hours or more of aerobic training a week as long as your body is telling you its okay. I do about three hours a week of each running and weight training.

How to Integrate Aerobic Training

Slowly.

It will make you hurt at first, especially anything that involves running like, well, running, and basketball or soccer because of the high impact.

Also, pick something you either like, or think you will learn to like. I’m going to give another plug for running here. Most people hate it at first, but it is something that you can become passionate about. It is convenient, inexpensive, a great Calorie burner, and it allows the mind a chance to wander and deal with personal issues, solve problems, or think about that hot babe in accounting.

Speaking of Accounting Babes: How Long and How Hard

As far as intensity goes, try the “sing-talk test.” If you are exercising at a rate that you feel you could sing, it isn’t hard enough. If you can talk, then that’s a good intensity. If you can’t even talk, then you’re going too hard.

How long is determined by your endurance. Go for as long as you can (both physically and from a time-constraint perspective), bearing in mind that eventually it is something you wish to do three times a week (or more). This is a case of more is better (to an extent). If you go at a high intensity for a long period of time then you burn lots of Calories, make yourself healthier, and improve your performance.

Running

This is something I know a thing or two about, so I’m going to share my wisdom in detail. If you want to become a runner, and AGAIN, I advise that you do, here are some tips:

Go to a running store to gear up, NOT a general sporting goods store. More on this in Phase 2.
I don’t know too many people who run without music. The downside is that most runners are going deaf. I love blasting the tunes while I run, so you may wish to tune up. One warning I have, however, is to expect that sometimes you are going to forget to charge up the battery. Don’t be a pansy and let this stop you from running. Going out without your music for the occasional day isn’t going to kill you.
If you’re a complete, out of shape novice then my target marketing strategy was accurate. Also, you may just want to start off mostly walking. A good plan is to get suited up to run, even though you plan to walk. Walk for a while, then try running a hundred yards – or until you’re out of breath, then go back to walking until you catch your breath. Keep pushing it a little each time until you are running the entire time and pushing your distances and speeds to your limit.
Do it outside. I don’t care if the weather sucks. Man up, already. People who run outside have much higher adherence rates. Treadmills are easy to hit the stop button on and just step off and quit. When you go outside you only have to motivate yourself for the first half. If you run three miles away from home then you need to get back somehow. I suppose you could hitch hike, but running back is a better idea. It also makes it easier to make it a time management tool by running from wherever it is that you dropped your kids off for some lesson, birthday party, or other appointment. Treadmills suck. Better you learn that now.
Since you’re running outside, plan out nice routes to follow. This may involve driving to a better location.
Sidewalks are safer than the road, but it is also a harder surface. I prefer roads for this reason, although care must be taken. Always run facing the traffic, and assume that all drivers are inbred, brainless invertebrates yacking on a cell phone while changing radio stations. If running in the dark get a reflective jacket and maybe a blinking light arm strap.
A better bet than roads is to find a nice pathway with good scenery. Good scenery can include scantily-clad inline skaters.
Think about signing up for races and joining running clubs, but beware that racing can become addicting and lead to injury. I’m not into racing myself, so I won’t write about it. I prefer to have my iPod for company and that’s it. If you decide to get into racing then I’m sure you can find some information on good training techniques.
Consider finding a running partner (this means not listening to tunes).
If you run in a place with lots of off-leash dogs (like I do), then I advise getting some pepper spray so that you can spray the owner in the face when their dog tries to bite you (just kidding). In many years of running I’ve had three dogs come at me aggressively, but I always thrust my palm out and yell “Back!” and thus far it has always worked. Then I hurl insults at the owner for being an irresponsible asshole.
One drawback to running is the possibility of injury. It can be hard for people to start and hard for them to maintain. See Chapter 17 for strategies to deal with this.
I live in Canadian suburbia so I don’t worry about crime when I run, but maybe you live in a place where this is a concern. In that case, you may wish to forego the tunes so you can be aware of your surroundings, plus bring a dog or run with a partner, or take a gun.

Cold Weather Running

In Canada it gets pretty friggin’ cold in winter. I also refuse to use treadmills. Guess what that means? Two weeks ago I ran six miles in minus 22F (minus 30C). Also, the wind chill was minus 40. I did this to prove how tough I am, but I almost froze my penis instead.

The benefit of running in the cold is that you don’t let weather interfere with pursuing regular exercise. It doesn’t burn any extra Calories, however, unless you are shivering and your teeth are chattering, in which case you either need to run faster or put more clothing on. Also, I’ve read that people have a tendency to overeat after a cold run because they feel they’ve earned it or something like that. Beware of this.

For me, another benefit of cold-weather running is the feeling of accomplishment. If it’s brutally cold and I head out anyway when most other active people stay inside it makes me feel like I’m doing pretty good for a middle-aged guy. Also, the hot shower afterwards feels great.

Here are a few things you should know about running in extreme cold:

Lung freezing is a myth. You can run in minus 40 if you’re tough enough. It will constrict airways a bit and you won’t be able to run as fast, but it won’t do any damage to your lungs.
You probably don’t need to cover your face. From experience I have found that your face gets plenty of blood flow to it during hard exertion so that this prevents frost bite. The first half mile feels pretty cold, but as long as you are pushing it hard this will stop. If you’re a wimp you can buy a mask that is tailored for runners.
Gloves of moderate thickness are okay for the same reason as above. You don’t need to wear ski gloves. Also, just your regular running shoes and socks are fine.
On your torso, go for multiple thin layers rather than few thick ones.
Beware the frozen penis. I talked with some other guys who do this and they’ve all had the same experience – once. I had on a pair of underwear, tights, and a pair of thin track pants over top. It wasn’t enough. Next time I’m wearing my thick track pants over the tights.

The above two sections are enough information to help you get started with running. Truthfully, it represents most of what I know, and I run plenty. If you want to know more, I’m sure the folks at your local running store can give you some advice and recommend a book or two.

Cycling

This can be an expensive sport – my sister-in-law has a bike that cost $5,000. However, if you use it to get to work and back you can save a lot of money on gas and parking.
Cycling is great fun because of the fact that you can go fast. My bike is a piece of shit, but I still like it because I can take a few hours and see a large part of the city. Sometimes I go so fast I scare myself. Wear a helmet.
Intense cycling burns a little more than half as many Calories per hour as running, but it is something that most people can sustain a lot longer – if you’ve got the time.
If you decide this is your thing, go to a cycling shop and get properly outfitted. Again, see Phase 2 for details.

Aerobic Classes

If you ever decide to do a step class or a prancing-around-the-room type aerobics class, then it better be because of the hot babes.

Scratch that. They’ll just think you’re gay [insert oft-used Seinfeld line here].

There are some classes that are well suited to guys, such as boxing circuits, spinning classes, and boot camps. Check out what your gym has to offer and give them a try. They can be fun and motivating. Plus, they can burn a lot of Calories (intense running still burns more in most cases).

Swimming

I hate this.

I hate that it dries out my skin. I think it’s boring. I suck at it. It’s too inconvenient.

Nevertheless, some people love it. It burns a little more Calories per hour than weight training, but far less than running. The benefit is that it is no impact so if you have lots of pain issues it might be preferable.

Or maybe you just like it. It takes all kinds.

I should mention that I do like taking my kids to the wave pool and watching some of the moms check me out.

Sports (i.e. Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Lacrosse etc.)

These can be great motivators if you get into a regular routine and have a team that depends on you. They can burn a lot of Calories too.

I hate team sports. It comes from my traumatic experiences in junior high school gym class.

Still, if you like these types of things then I suggest you go for it. Try not to hurt yourself.

Racquet Sports

These can be fun and burn about 60% of the Calories of a good run. If motivation is an issue then this could be a good sport for you because some people find them to be a lot of fun. The drawback is finding reliable partners who are around your skill level. My wife and I used to play squash quite a bit, but she got sick of me beating her all the time, even with my non-dominant hand.

I should warn you that many squash players end up having knee issues.

Stair climbers and elliptical trainers at the Gym

I guess the primary benefit of these is that you often have a lot of attractive company exercising next to you.
They aren’t too bad for Calorie burning and some have TVs.
Some people seem to like them and do them intensely and frequently. I suppose it might be worth a try.

Conclusion

The above are just a sample. Use your imagination and pick something that challenges you, gets your heart rate up for a sustained period of time, and that you enjoy. Then do it over and over.