A beginner's guide to exercise — aerobic exercise

Previous: A beginner’s guide to exercise — getting started and the basics

Introduction#

In the previous article, I mentioned that I once lost around 50 jin in half a year through exercise

And the exercise I chose to start with was running

From only managing a few laps at first, to gradually completing 3 km, 5 km and eventually 10 km — running witnessed a lot of the changes in my body

But this article definitely isn’t meant to get everyone out running, haha

There are actually many kinds of aerobic exercise. Besides running there’s brisk walking, cycling, swimming, stair climbing, the elliptical, and each has its own characteristics

Through this article I hope to help you understand the differences between them, and find a kind of exercise you like, that suits you, and that you can keep doing long-term

1. How should you train aerobic exercise?#

First, a quick recap: aerobic exercise usually means activity you can sustain for a while that relies mainly on aerobic metabolism for energy

It helps improve cardiorespiratory endurance and physical capacity, and can also be a way to manage body weight

However, many people who are just starting out — especially with running — easily fixate on distance, pace and how many calories they burned

For beginners, I’d actually suggest focusing on three things first

1. Intensity#

Aerobic exercise doesn’t have to leave you gasping to be effective

There’s a very simple way to judge intensity, called the talk test

If you can talk easily, or even sing, while exercising, the intensity is usually low
If you can talk but singing starts to become difficult, that’s usually moderate intensity
If you need to stop and catch your breath after a few words, you’ve usually reached a higher intensity

This method comes from the exercise guidance of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

For people just starting to exercise, I’d recommend beginning at a moderate intensity you can handle, or even lower

There’s no need to chase your limit, and certainly no need to run until you’re out of breath right away

2. Duration#

If you’re just starting out, there’s no need to hold out for half an hour or even an hour the first time

You can start with 10–15 minutes and gradually increase once you’ve adapted

The World Health Organization recommends that adults aged 18 to 64 accumulate 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, or 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity

But that’s only a reference target you can work towards gradually over the long term

Even if you can’t reach it for now, any increase in physical activity over your past level still brings health benefits

3. Frequency#

For beginners with no exercise habit at all, you can try exercising three times a week first, then adjust gradually according to how you recover

You can also build rest days in between, especially when you’ve just started something like running

If you feel clearly fatigued after several sessions in a row, you can lower the intensity or shorten the duration

References:

2. Recommended forms of aerobic exercise#

Now we get to the main part of this article

I’ll introduce several common forms of aerobic exercise in terms of how hard they are to start, what facilities they need, their characteristics, and the things to watch out for

1. Brisk walking: the easiest place to start#

Who it suits: people without an exercise base, people for whom running isn’t suitable yet, or people who simply want to add more daily activity

Brisk walking’s biggest advantage is that it has almost no barrier to entry

All you need is a pair of shoes that fit and a road you can walk safely

Compared with running, brisk walking usually has a lower impact load, and it’s fairly easy to control the intensity

For people with a higher body weight who want to ease into exercise step by step, brisk walking is a very good starting point

If ordinary walking feels too easy, you can gradually pick up speed, walk for longer, or try routes with some incline where that’s suitable

2. Running: simple and direct, with a real sense of achievement#

Who it suits: people who like being outdoors, want to improve cardiorespiratory endurance, and can handle the impact load of running

Running is the form of exercise I know best

One of its biggest advantages is how easy it is to see your own progress

The first time you finish a kilometre, the first time you run three kilometres without stopping, the first time you take on five…

These experiences are part of why I’ve been able to keep running long-term

But running’s impact load is relatively high, and beginners especially should avoid suddenly increasing how much they do

I’d suggest that people just starting to run learn to slow down first

Don’t look at other people’s pace and feel you have to chase it, and don’t decide from the start how far you must run

If you can’t run continuously, try a run-walk mix — I’ll cover that in detail later

3. Cycling: exercise while taking in the scenery#

Who it suits: people who like exploring outdoors, want less landing impact, and have a bicycle or a spin bike

Cycling is also a very common form of aerobic exercise

Compared with running, cycling has no repeated cycle of pushing off and landing, which makes it friendlier for people who want to reduce impact load

And cycling can also be combined with commuting or travelling

That said, cycling intensity depends on speed, gradient, resistance and other factors

Riding slowly can be quite easy, while a long climb can leave you wrecked, haha

Outdoor cycling needs particular attention to traffic safety — get the bike sized correctly and wear a suitable helmet

4. Swimming: low-impact full-body exercise#

Who it suits: people who like being in the water, have access to a safe pool, or want to reduce load on their joints

The buoyancy of water reduces part of the weight the body carries in the water, so water exercise is friendlier for people with a higher body weight or joint discomfort

Swimming also engages multiple muscle groups while training cardiorespiratory endurance

But this form of exercise has one fairly obvious barrier

You need a suitable place, and ideally you should learn basic swimming skills first

If you can’t swim at all, well, you’ll just have to learn, haha

You can also start with water walking or a basic swimming course in a pool with lifeguards on duty

5. Stair climbing: low facility requirements, but possibly high intensity#

Who it suits: people who can handle stepping exercise and want some cardiorespiratory stimulus in a short amount of time

Stair climbing is also a fairly convenient option for me

If you live in an apartment building with a lift, you can climb up the stairs and take the lift down, reducing the burden of repeated descents

Some people get noticeably out of breath after a few flights, and that’s actually quite normal

According to the 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities, ordinary stair climbing is about 6.8 METs, which already counts as higher-intensity physical activity — though climbing slowly lowers the intensity, and it also depends on your own exercise base

So for people who usually exercise very little, even just walking up stairs normally can be quite a challenging activity

If you’re just starting, try a small number of floors first and increase gradually based on how you feel

Another advantage of stair climbing is that you don’t need to go out of your way to a gym, and you can look at your phone while climbing — though do be careful, getting distracted on stairs and missing a step is no joke

For people who already have knee pain or clear discomfort going up and down stairs, stair climbing probably isn’t the most suitable choice

6. The elliptical: the gym’s low-impact option#

Who it suits: people with gym access who want to control impact load, or who don’t like treadmills

The elliptical’s characteristic is that your feet usually don’t need to leave the pedals during exercise, so it avoids the repeated landing impact of running

It also lets you adjust resistance, and some machines let the upper body join in

If you’re already planning to train at a gym, it’s worth giving the elliptical a try

It can likewise provide aerobic training at different intensities, though actual calorie burn depends on intensity, duration and your individual condition

3. If I’m a beginner, how should I choose?#

Introducing all these forms of exercise may have made you more indecisive instead

So I’ve put together a simple selection table

Your situation	Try first
No exercise base at all	Brisk walking
Like the outdoors, want more endurance	Run-walk mix, cycling
Want less landing impact	Brisk walking, cycling, swimming, elliptical
Only indoor options	Elliptical, spin bike, indoor follow-along classes
Only a little time and some stairs	A few flights of stairs
Don’t like repetitive exercise	Swimming, cycling, dancing or ball sports

This table is only a rough reference

Which one to choose in practice still depends on your physical condition, your facilities and your own interests

And you can absolutely do several kinds of aerobic exercise at once — for example running twice a week and adding a bike ride

4. Starting to run from zero: my advice#

Since running is the exercise I know best, I’ll spend a bit more time on it here

For people with no running background at all, I strongly recommend looking into the “run-walk” approach

The UK National Health Service has a free Couch to 5K beginner running plan

It alternates running and walking so that beginners gradually adapt to running

For example, the first week’s session looks like this:

Warm up with a 5-minute walk
Run for 1 minute
Walk for 1 minute 30 seconds
Repeat the run-walk alternation for 8 one-minute runs in total
Finish with a 5-minute walk to cool down

The plan suggests training three times a week, with rest days between running days, and gradually increasing the time spent running continuously

The full plan is 9 weeks, but you can absolutely slow the pace or repeat a week depending on your condition

If even one minute of running is hard at the start, you can build a base with walking first — there’s no need to force your way through the plan

I quite like this approach, because it turns running into something you can learn step by step

You don’t need to prove how impressive you are right from the start — being willing to keep improving is already good

5. Distance, pace, time — which matters more?#

When running you’ll often come across three numbers:

Distance: how many kilometres you ran in total

Pace: the average time it takes to run one kilometre, e.g. 6′00″/km

Time: how long this session lasted

For people just starting to run, I’d suggest using duration and how you feel as the main reference

For example, your first goal can simply be to complete a run-walk session you can handle

Then gradually extend the running time

Once your body has adapted and you can run continuously with relative ease, then consider increasing distance or speed

After all, running faster isn’t necessarily what suits your current training goal

Also, don’t forget the warm-up before exercise and the cool-down at the end

You can spend 5–10 minutes gradually raising the intensity at the start, and walk slowly for a while at the end so your breathing and heart rate come down gradually

If you want to improve flexibility, you can also do static stretching after exercise while your muscles are still warm

For example, gently stretch the front and back of your thighs, your calves and your glutes, holding each for about 10–30 seconds — you should feel a stretch, but not pain

References:

6. A few common questions about aerobic exercise#

1. Which exercise burns the most calories?#

If you’re just comparing calorie burn over the same amount of time, there is actually research compiling reference figures for different activities

Here I’m referring to the 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities

It uses an indicator called MET (metabolic equivalent), which you can roughly understand as a reference value for exercise intensity and energy expenditure

1 MET roughly corresponds to your metabolic level at quiet rest; the higher the number, the more energy is typically spent per unit of time

Below, assume a 70 kg adult exercising continuously for 30 minutes, estimating total calorie burn using MET

Exercise	Example intensity	Estimated 30-minute burn
Brisk walking	about 5.6–6.3 km/h	175 kcal
Jogging	about 8 km/h	310 kcal
Cycling	leisurely riding below 16 km/h	145 kcal
Swimming	slower leisurely front crawl	215 kcal
Stair climbing	normal pace	250 kcal
Elliptical	moderate intensity	185 kcal

Note: these are rough estimates at specific activity intensities, not what every individual will actually burn, and the figures also include resting metabolic expenditure during the exercise

If body weight, speed, resistance or duration differ, the burn will change too

And half an hour of continuous stair climbing may be extremely hard for a beginner — the table is just for comparison, there’s no need to go and complete it

If you’re purely after short-term burn, high-intensity exercise tends to be higher

But in practice it also depends on whether you can keep it up, whether you have the time, and whether your body can adapt

Rather than only looking at which burns more, choose the exercise you’re more likely to stick with and more willing to invest time in

References: 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities

2. Does aerobic exercise need to be done every day?#

For beginners, you can schedule a few sessions a week and gradually raise your total activity

If you want to be active every day, you can make easy walking a daily habit and adjust higher-intensity training according to your recovery

3. Can aerobic and strength training be done together?#

Of course

Aerobic training improves cardiorespiratory endurance, while strength training helps build strength and maintain or increase muscle mass

Both are important parts of a healthy exercise plan

If your main goal is fat loss, you can combine both with a reasonable diet

7. Final thoughts#

The range of aerobic exercise is actually far richer than what I’ve just introduced

Dancing, badminton, basketball, hiking — even some kinds of physical labour — can all contribute to our daily physical activity

You don’t necessarily have to pay for a gym membership to start exercising

I still hope everyone can find the form of exercise they genuinely like

Because exercise is something that needs long-term commitment, and finding enjoyment makes it much easier to sustain

I started with a few laps of running myself, and slowly ran distances the old me wouldn’t have dared to imagine

If you’re also getting ready to start, why not try a ten-odd-minute brisk walk once, or look for a sport you’ve always been curious about

Next time, I plan to keep talking about strength training

From push-ups and squats to the various machines in the gym — let’s look at how to make your body stronger

Main references

Next up: A beginner’s guide to exercise — anaerobic training and strength