Have you ever wondered why some fat people can be playing tennis, swimming and jogging often, yet they never lose weight?

Many overweight people began playing tennis, walking, running or swimming because they were told that these activities are aerobic and therefore, beneficial to weight loss.

So, is it really true that aerobic activities promote weight loss?

Technically it is true that aerobic programmes do help.

However, what constitutes an aerobic activity is the real issue of contention.

In recent years, any weight loss program must include an aerobic activity component. Hence, many sports advocates attempt to remake their sport to appear to be an aerobic activity to ride on this wave of popularity.

The tennis, jogging, walking, running, swimming, golf industries all want a share of this aerobic market.

However, the truth is that no sport can EVER be classified as an aerobic or non-aerobic activity.


Let’s review tennis and jogging as examples:

Tennis

This activity is far from being aerobic by virtue of the fact that the game mainly comprises of start-stop movement patterns. A player waits for the ball and rushes to return. He then watches and braces himself for the ball to be returned.

Adrenalin rushes when our body constantly rushes back and forth in this staccato fashion. This fast, responsive process is managed by our anaerobic (non-aerobic) sympathetic nervous system.

Tennis is definitely not an activity for aerobic development.

Jogging

In typical jog fashion, joggers focus on speed as a benchmark of improvement. This is perfectly fine if you are training up for a running competition. However, in a weight loss program, an increase in speed results in decreased aerobic performance.


Is there a speed threshold for aerobic activities?

No, there is no universal speed threshold for aerobic activities. Nevertheless, there are independent bio-markers that we can depend on to guide us into our most aerobic zone.

This is the core of this article’s message. There is no such thing as an aerobic activity. There are only aerobic zones in an activity.

The conventional aerobic guidelines for most sports and activities, are in specific numeric benchmarks, like 10km/hour or 50 laps in 1 hour, without due consideration to individual differences.

Individual body differences range from physical size to blood aerobic conversion ability. Hence, an arbitrary level would force participants to achieve the 10km/hour (or whatever other benchmark).

About the Author: The author, Winston Ng, is an avid peak performance coach and CEO of Phenogy Health Advisors Pte Ltd, based in Singapore. His Health Consultancy programmes are renowned worldwide for their efficiency, simplicity and independent unbiased advice. The Phenogy Health Concierge™ is unparalleled internationally in providing cutting edge Natural Health Alternatives to the busy individual.