Christopher Poe - Did you Know? Cardio isn't Exercise

The following is a small quiz question posted by Christopher Poe on his Facebook fan page, Christopher Fitness Pro.  Christopher Poe is an ISSA Certified Fitness, Physique & Performance Nutrition Specialist  I responded to his question, and he responded back!  This is what was said.  Words followed with a "*" are defined at the bottom.


Christopher: DID YOU KNOW...that "cardio" in itself isn't really an exercise! "Getting in your cardio" is actually a TRAINING EFFECT that certain actions have on the cardiovascular system. With that said, is it better on your body to get this effect MORE through anaerobic* training or aerobic* aerobic training to optimize body composition and why?


Me:  I would say it depends on what your personal goal is for your body. If you want to have a faster (leaner) body, you would need aerobic training. If you want your body to be stronger (muscular), you would need anaerobic training. "Cardio" is just a form of aerobic exercise, is it not?

Although, my understanding of aerobic and anaerobic could be off...

Christopher: 

Not too bad Andy. If you were answering this on a more sport specific question you would be even closer. Let's look at it more from a physique view for the everyday person wanting to change their body composition.

The first overall objective of any good fitness nutrition program should be to preserve or build lean muscle tissue as this (combined with a healthy thyroid) is responsible for keeping your RMR* up. Your RMR burns more calories in the long run than ANY exercise can ever do. Therefore, fitness was NEVER meant to be a means of direct fat loss (weight loss), but as a means that creates a body to burn unwanted calories more effectively ALL THE TIME! With that being said, when the reduction of bodyfat is needed make sure most of the "cardio effect" you get comes through the modification of resistance training (like circuit training) to kill two birds with one stone...so to speak. Next, modify the aerobic training (cardio) you are doing from steady pace to interval training in order to stimualte muscle tissue during exercise and forcing you to decrease the duration. This places the odds in less favor of muscle wasting which in turn has a negative effect on your RMR. Lastly, if you fall into a clinical or chronic obese category stratigicly place steady pace aerobic training as supplemental in your overall fitness program combined with proper pre-training nutrition to protect muscle tissue during the workout.

I don't often give out this much good info, so I hope every body can can benefit from it for the up coming Sping/Summer seasons!

***

Aerobic exercise: physical exercise that intends to improve the oxygen system.  Aerobic means "with oxygen", and refers to the use of oxygen in the body's metabolic or energy-generating process.  It is basically another word for "cardio".  Examples of aerobic exercise include:

• Elliptical Trainers
• Treadmills
• Bikes (Stationary or Free)
• Jogging
• Jazzercise
• Zumba
• Richard Simmons and anything he does

(Source: Wikipedia.org)

Anaerobic exercise: exercise intense enough to trigger anaerobic metabolism. It is used by athletes in non-endurance sports to promote strength, speed and power and by body builders to build muscle mass.  Examples of anaerobic exercise include:

• Weightlifting
• Pushups
• Pullups
• Planks
• Squats
• Interval Training
• High Intensity Interval Training (like Interval Training, both of these can incorporate aerobic exercise, oddly enough!)

(Source: Wikipedia.org)

RMR: Basal metabolic rate (BMR), and the closely related resting metabolic rate (RMR), is the amount of daily energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment.

(Source: Wikipedia.org)