Just wondering...if you planned an experiment to compare the effects of two different types of exercise on aerobic fitness, which two types of exercise would you choose?

running would deffinately be one as it is the main and most popular form around.

I think running is certainly one of the best.

 

Do not, however, buy a stopwatch and time yourself, at least for the first year or so--better yet, never.

 

Run (jog) at a pace where you are comfortable and it is not at all an unpleasant experience. Try to push yourself beyond your athletic ability and it becomes unpleasant and you will find yourself dreading it. Find yourself dreading it, and sooner or later you will most probably give it up.

 

Alternatively, biking is more fun and ever so much more social, what with organized weekend rides of 25-100 miles and more. Plus one has the advantage of spending $500 to $1500 on a new bike every year or so. New equiptment seems to revive a waneing interest.

 

Swimming is also a great way to get areobically fit if one has access to a pool, and also is a little more a social activity that running. Also, if one has access to a pool, he/she will probably also have access to a weight room which is nice too.

 

A good brisk walk 4 or 5 times a week is a good one, but walking, because of the intensity of the exercise, requires more time if weight reduction is one of the goals.

 

If one is overweight at the start, then I would say walking or swimming or biking is the way to begin because it is not a good idea to try to jog when one is carrying an extra 50 lbs. or so.

a bike last me a good 5 years before it falls apart from abuse (my road has a lot of unavoidable potholes especially when your going at about 40mph downhill)

Great thanks for the help!!

One thing you might want to try is to set up two groups of people, one with a training program in running and another in swimming. Test their aerobic capacity in both running and swimming at the start and end of the program. Then see if there's much improvement in the improvement in swimming for the runners and running for the swimmers.

Just wondering...if you planned an experiment to compare the effects of two different types of exercise on aerobic fitness, which two types of exercise would you choose?

 

Well if your experiment is going to be scientific, your goal should be to find forms of excersise which can be standardized. Swimming would not be a good example of this, as there are all kinds of different strokes and stuff you can use, some which are more tiring than others.

 

One should be stationary bike machine. Especially with a digital one, it tells you your distance, difficulty, calories burned and stuff like that.

 

The other machine should be similar. Treadmill works, but there are also rowing machines, stair machines, etc.

 

For an experiment you want to get as much data as possible, and you want other people to be able to re-create the experiment. Using machines in this way makes your data a lot more exact, it would be "Biking 15km at difficulty 5 for 14 and a half minutes" instead of "swam for around 15 minutes". The biking one can be re-done exactly by anyone (with a bike machine) while the swimming one can depend on your technique, waves in the water and other stuff.