How do you "keep weight lifting aerobic"?

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CleanUpWhatIMessedUp
CleanUpWhatIMessedUp Posts: 206 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I was at the gym today and I was doing some inner thigh exercises with weights on a machine. Some asked if he could give me some advice and I said sure and he advised me that I should 'keep it aerobic.' Now, I know what he meant, which is that I should keep my heart rate elevated and make it an aerobic exercise, but my question is, how? How do I get my heart rate up when I am lifting weights? I know that aerobic exercises burn way more calories. But I don't see any way to get my heart rate up to 160 or 165 when I am just lifting weights. Should I lift more? Lift faster?

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  • ahowe07
    ahowe07 Posts: 12
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    Does your gym offer less mills body pump or another type of body barbell class? Excellent in both cario and muscle building/toning. As for making inner thighs aerobic ? I have no idea.
  • Miss_james1990
    Miss_james1990 Posts: 214 Member
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    Personally I'd ignore his advice and keep aerobic and weight lifting separate ..If I wanna get my heart rate up I do cardio so when I'm lifting I can go heavy at a steady pace with correct form. Cardio does burn more calories correct but you stop burning calories as soon as you stop what you're doing but lifting weights can keep you burning calories for upto 36 hours after! :)
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Rather than ask how, did you ask why?
  • ForeverWest
    ForeverWest Posts: 3
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    I would interpret that as taking shorter rest breaks between sets to keep your heart rate up.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    I don't.

    I lift to lift and do aerobic stuff when I want to do aerobic stuff.

    DO NOT TAKE ADVICE FROM RANDOM GYM PEOPLE.
  • MrGonzo05
    MrGonzo05 Posts: 1,120 Member
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    So I was at the gym today and I was doing some inner thigh exercises with weights on a machine. Some asked if he could give me some advice and I said sure and he advised me that I should 'keep it aerobic.' Now, I know what he meant, which is that I should keep my heart rate elevated and make it an aerobic exercise, but my question is, how? How do I get my heart rate up when I am lifting weights? I know that aerobic exercises burn way more calories. But I don't see any way to get my heart rate up to 160 or 165 when I am just lifting weights. Should I lift more? Lift faster?

    His advice and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    If you "make weight lifting aerobic", then it really isn't weight lifting anymore.

    The idea that keeping HR elevated during strength training will make it "more aerobic" is not true. Elevated heart rate during moderate/heavy strength training occurs due to a different mechanism than the HR increase during cardio and there is little increase in VO2 when heart rate is elevated during resistance training. So if you are messing with your strength workout--faster movements, decreased recovery intervals, etc--to make it "more aerobic", you are just messing up your strength routine for no added benefit.

    Whether a movement is "aerobic" or not depends a lot on the amount of resistance involved. The greater the resistance, the more the strength benefit and the less cardio effect--and vice versa.

    If you lower the resistance enough to make the movement a true "cardio" movement, you will greatly diminish the strength training effect.

    At some point on the continuum, there are movements that are sorta kinda strength and sorta kinda cardio--that's usually one form of circuit training. That type of training can result in some strength and cardio gains, but usually to a much smaller degree than if you did each type of workout separately.

    Overall, it's better to keep the strength side strength, and the cardio side cardio. There is not a really effective way to get both cardio and strength benefits from the same exercise movement.

    The person who gave you the "advice" was well-intentioned, but was repeating a commonly misunderstood idea about heart rate and resistance training.
  • shmerek
    shmerek Posts: 963 Member
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    Smile politely and ignore their "advice"
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
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    Yeah, you don't NEED to "keep weight lifting aerobic." The cynical part of me suspects this guy's advice was a variation on "UR a girl why are you strength training?"

    If you WANT to burn more calories while strength training you can "make it aerobic" but that will typically come at a cost of you having to use less weight / resistance and you won't get the same strength gains from it. It depends on your priorities. But moving faster, less rest in between sets, stuff like that will make your strength work more aerobic.
  • busywaterbending
    busywaterbending Posts: 844 Member
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    aerobic means you are in fat burning mode, at a calorie deficit, if you keep your heart rate at about 20 - 40% of your maximum heart rate.

    you can go to 41 - 55% of your maximum heart rate if you want to go for steady state cardio, but may risk burning off muscle mass if you are not fueling your body with enough BCAA and EAA prior to and during the lifting.

    - happy training,
    from your Advanced CPT
  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
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    Weight lifting is catabolic. It breaks down muscle. Period.

    Food we eat is anabolic. We eat food to recover. This makes the muscle grow back slightly bigger next time.

    Just how it is.
  • CleanUpWhatIMessedUp
    CleanUpWhatIMessedUp Posts: 206 Member
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    Thanks for the advice guys.

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