The Aerobic Deception?

Image courtesy of crazyhealthyfit.com

Note:  This post is more of an update on what is running through my head (scary) than an actual factually-based post.

For the longest time I was under the deception that aerobic exercise was "bad".  From creating poor hormonal profiles for muscle building to being an inefficient means of calorie expenditure to the consequences of the almost certain mechanical stresses that were being inappropriately applied to a system, I was not very "pro-aero".


Enter the content being presented in my current graduate program, and some shifts in perspectives are starting to take place.  I do not currently know the research well enough--nor do I have any desire to tediously seek out different research studies to post right here (eventually I will, not today, too much time on Google Scholar already this afternoon)--but there is some VERY interesting information out there as far as the effects of certain intensities for certain durations of aerobic exercise on topics such as cancer prevention and diabetes management.

Image courtesy of ideasforahealthylifestyle.blogspot.com

The challenge with most of this research is that the studies are often performed using the traditionally thought of means of aerobic exercise:  swimming, biking, running.  However, when I think of clients of mine who are diabetic or who may be interested in the possible cancer-prevention benefits that may be gleaned from aerobic exercise, I am at hesitant (understatement) when it comes to actually prescribing these means of exercise (running, biking, swimming) to any of these individuals because of the aforementioned mechanical stresses that may accompany each.

So, potentially, my job as the exercise professional, as the prescriber of force, is to figure out how to appropriately apply forces to these individuals in a manner that is within their ability and tolerances while still progressing them to be able to exercise under the necessary conditions in which these disease-fighting processes are potentially taking place.

This does not mean that my clients are now enrolled in a half-marathon training program.  But it may be as simple as monitoring rest times more closely such that we go from one exercise to the next without a drop in heart rate but while still giving each of the challenged tissues enough time to recover before the next set of challenges is presented.

This does not mean that now all of my clients' workouts with me are high reps and low weights so they can perform sets for longer time periods.  But perhaps by strategically deciding in what order to have them perform the exercises they can go from (for example) sets of three reps reaching momentary muscular failure by the third rep for seated knee extensions and then seated rows and go back and forth between those exercises with minimal rest in between each respective set.

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This does mean that something new has entered my world in terms of a potential end-goal to consider--is increased tension production the end, or is there more that can be done with that?  I'm not sure, but as time goes by I think I will have a better idea, and I'll be sure to post what's going through my head in the process.

Your body.  Your training.

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