Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Exercise - A Breakdown

To contextualise this post, I have been going to be a small, personal-trained directed gym for five months. Before this, exercise to me involved running around and huffing and getting sweaty. Anything that could achieve this was satisfactory. I had no goals other than ‘run really far and don’t stop and make it look effortless’. When I was in Year 4 I came fourth in Cross Country. I had been clinging to the hope that my past endurance capabilities were lying in wait for their chance to re-emerge and there I’d be: this vision of athleticism, who would not be defeated by cramps and breathlessness.



For reference, the gym that I go to works by starting off with 10 minutes use of a cardio machine (e.g. rower, bike, treadmill etc.) Forty minutes are then devoted to resistance and weights, and it ends with another 10 minutes of cardio. The day after my first session, I couldn’t lift my arms above my head. For all intents and purposes, I may as well have been a tyrannosaurus rex, minus the other awesome bits.



Slowly, the weights I was using were getting heavier and it was getting easier. The cardio side of it, however, seemed to improve more slowly. This perplexed me – my heart is a muscle, so logically shouldn’t it be strengthening at the same rate? After all, my heart rate is raised for the entire time, thus disputing any argument to do with time spent on cardio vs weights. So, I Googled.

Particle Zoo

Particle Zoo is the brainchild of Julie Peasley, a super talented lady with an interest in particle physics and cosmology. Who wouldn't be interested in physics after cuddling with a tiny soft universe?