Which should you do aerobic or anaerobic exercise when getting started with fitness for beginners

There is no absolute priority. It all depends on your fitness goals, physical foundation and available time. There is no universal "standard answer".

When I first applied for my first fitness card, I stood tangled between the treadmill and the strength zone for almost ten minutes, and was led by two coaches to give me two completely opposite plans: one said that I had poor cardiopulmonary function after sitting for a long time, so I had to run for three months to improve my cardiopulmonary function. Do not touch the equipment again, otherwise you will faint after practicing two sets of deadlifts; another said that the best way for novices to build muscle first is to increase the muscle mass and increase the basal metabolism. You can burn calories while lying down. The calories burned by running for half an hour can be recovered by drinking half a cup of milk tea. It is a complete waste of time. I was shocked by what I heard at the time. Later, after five or six years of hard work and leading more than a dozen novice friends to get started, I realized that both of them were right, but they were only half right.

If your BMI is over 28 and you are in the overweight category, and your starting goal is to lose weight first, then don’t just rush to the strength area. I had a former colleague who weighed 187 pounds. In order to lose weight for a wedding photo shoot, he followed the Internet celebrity tutorial to practice squats and deadlifts. The movements were not very standard, and all the weight rested on his knees. After three days of training, he was so painful that he trembled when walking down the stairs. He went to the hospital to take a film and said that the meniscus was worn out, and it took less than half a month to recover. In this case, it is more appropriate to start with low-impact aerobics, such as elliptical machines, brisk walking, and swimming. No running or jumping is required. It is friendly to the joints. If you insist on it for 4 weeks, you will lose 5-10 pounds in weight and reduce the pressure on the joints. Then slowly add strength training, which is much safer.

But if your BMI is within the normal range, or even on the thin side, and you just want to develop some lines when exercising, and you can support your shoulders when wearing a T-shirt, and have a hip line when wearing jeans, then you can start directly with anaerobic exercise. Don't listen to people's nonsense about "you can't lift iron if you don't have good heart and lungs". You don't want to bench press 100 kilograms as soon as you start. Start with 2.5 kilograms of dumbbells and the lightest fixed equipment. Do 12 to 15 times in each group to failure. There will be a minute and a half between groups. At most, you will be a little breathless, but there will be no problem at all. My BMI was 21 at the time, and I had some soft flesh on my belly. I wanted to practice some right-angle shoulders, so I started with chest push-ups and high pull-downs from a sitting position. In the first month, I clearly felt that my back, which was usually slumped after sitting for a long time, straightened up. My shoulders were no longer slumped when I wore the tight T-shirt I used to wear. The effect was much better than when I ran around for a month.

Two factions are quarreling fiercely on the Internet right now. One faction is the "useless aerobic theory", saying that aerobic exercise will reduce muscle mass, and that as long as you control your diet and exercise, you can lose weight. This statement is actually true, but it is really only suitable for ruthless people who can strictly control their mouths. We ordinary people have just started working out, how can we give up milk tea, hot pot and barbecue all at once? Occasionally, if you go out to dinner with friends and eat a few extra bites, you can burn almost all the extra calories by riding the elliptical machine for 20 minutes when you get home. On the contrary, it is less likely to have the mentality of "I'll just break the pot when I'm done", and it's easier to persevere. The other school is the "anaerobic body injury theory", which says that beginners who don't know how to move are prone to injuries, so it is better to run for half a year first. This is too extreme - you can either find a reliable coach to take three or four classes to understand the power of the basic movements, or practice slowly by following the training videos of the sports academy or officially certified, and the weight is lighter. The probability of injury is really much lower than if you run on the hard cement floor every day and wear your knees.

Oh, by the way, if you already have exercise habits, such as playing basketball twice a week, or climbing five or six floors every day for commuting, then you don’t have to worry about it at all. It doesn’t matter what you choose first. Your body’s adaptability is much better than that of people who have been sedentary all year round. You can find a rhythm that suits you after two or three exercises.

If you really can't make up your mind, you don't have to make an either/or decision. You can do both together. When I take newbie friends to get started, I usually ask them to warm up on the elliptical machine for 10 minutes, and then do strength training for 40 minutes. Finally, if they still have the strength, they can do aerobics for 20 minutes. If they don’t have the strength, they can go home directly. There is no need to set strict rules for yourself.

To put it bluntly, the most important thing for beginners to exercise is not whether to do aerobic or anaerobic first. Just like if you have just learned to cook, there is no need to worry about whether to buy a wok or a steamer first. The most important thing is to cook noodles first to fill your stomach. Many people are stuck in the entry process for half a month. They have applied for a fitness card for two months and have not stepped into the gym once. The card is almost dusty and they are still posting on the Internet about "whether newbies should do aerobic or anaerobic first." That is a real loss. As long as you are willing to move, even if you just walk briskly for 20 minutes every day, or do 15 push-ups at home, it is 10,000 times better than lying down and struggling.