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Lecture Notes

When we classify activities as either aerobic or anaerobic, we're really talking about the energy systems that are supplying the energy to the muscles needed to produce that movement, and so on the last slide we just talked about aerobic activity, and by aerobic we just mean "with oxygen," And here, the activity, to sustain the activity requires a steady supply of oxygen to the muscles. So examples, again, just like the last slide, running, biking, swimming, walking, all of those are great examples of aerobic activities that require that oxygen. The second type are anaerobic activities, and here we mean "without oxygen." That simply means talking about the energy system that does not require additional oxygen to be taken in by the muscles to move the body. So we're talking about very short bouts of physical activity, so sprinting, lifting weights are option 2 examples. The important key here is that most activities require the use of both systems, but are classified by the primary source of energy used for movement. So, for example, running, biking, swimming, are not necessarily solely fueled by this aerobic energy system, but instead that's the primary source of energy. So it's really both systems are at work constantly, but one source is primary over the other.