Aerobic Vs Anaerobic Essay

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When it comes to the topic of exercise, a very important question is, “Aerobic, or Anaerobic?” Most people wouldn’t even know what the basic definitions of those terms are. Today, however, we will shed some light on this topic. The main difference between aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise is that aerobic exercise requires oxygen during respiration and is more efficient, while anaerobic exercise doesn’t require oxygen during respiration and is less efficient. Let’s get started with aerobic exercise and its respective respiration. The main process of aerobic respiration relies on oxygen. The first major process in aerobic respiration is glycolysis which means to “break down sugar.” First, in glycolysis, the glucose molecule is …show more content…

To put it simply, ATP moves our muscles. One functional unit of a muscle is called a sarcomere, and it is made of Actin and Myosin filaments. These filaments slide past each other with the help of ATP (Adenosine Tri-Phosphate) and myosin heads. The myosin filaments bind to special sites on the actin filaments. Troponin, tropomyosin, and other contractor proteins are involved in this process, but the big picture is as follows. The Myosin Head, when in a resting state, is not bonded to the thin actin filament. When the muscle receives a signal to contract [from the neuromuscular junction], however, ATP comes in and bonds to the active site on the myosin head, causing it to “stand up,” and bond to the bonding sites on the actin filament. Like a basic motor molecule, the myosin heads work like feet and “walk along” the actin filament. This is done by extremely quickly bonding with the actin, breaking the bond, and bonding again to a different site, several times a second. Now that we know how the muscle works at the molecular level, we can understand why so much trouble went in to making ATP. Without ATP, our muscles wouldn’t work, we couldn’t move, and we surely couldn’t exercise for that …show more content…

Some sports that can fall under the aerobic category are Olympic sprinting and Boxing. This is because in both, you reserve your energy into short bursts. Some sports that fall into the anaerobic category are marathon running and cycling long distances. This is because they both require energy to be released over a long period of time. One asset of an athlete who trains aerobically is that aerobic training will prevent heart conditions and strengthen the lungs and heart. A hindrance of this type of training, however, is that if you only train this way, your endurance will lack. An asset of anaerobic training is that it improves your muscular endurance. A hindrance of this type of training is that your muscular strength may

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