Many people use an aerobics routine to lose weight and condition themselves. Aerobics is a type of exercise that involves nonstop movement such as leaping, sliding, stretching, sprinting, and so on for a defined amount of time. The stereotypical image of a middle-aged woman in a leotard hopping around and stepping on and off a short stair is common. The majority of these programs need a sophisticated series of dance-like maneuvers as well as a high level of coordination.
The truth is that an aerobics routine does not have to be half dance and exclusive to women. Aerobic exercise is any type of movement that uses a lot of oxygen and gets your blood flowing and heart rate up for a long time. This might exercise as little as 15 minutes or as long as 2 hours, but most aerobics programs last between 45 and 60 minutes. So, for example, you could do a half-hour of jumping jacks and call it an aerobics exercise.
Reminder: The opposite of an aerobic workout would be an anaerobic workout which is more along the lines of weight lifting or short distance running. These programs focus on strength, and power as opposed to endurance and getting the oxygen pumping.
Now that being said, if you go to the video store and ask for an aerobics routine you are going to get something that is rhythmic, has some kind of warm up and cool down, stretching, and may even incorporate some weights. This is just the nature of the beast and there is really nothing wrong with it. Personally I prefer to get my conditioning from circuit training or interval running as I'm not highly coordinated.
I also have never seen an aerobics instructor that I really wanted to be in the same shape as. Bodybuilders, strength trainers, Olympic sprinters, and gymnasts tend to have more of the body that I want to work toward. I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule so don't get all bent out of shape but normally those who focus on things like yoga, aerobics, long distance running, and weight lifting with high reps have a body that is more skinny than muscular and this site is about lifting heavy and building muscle so it shouldn't come as too big of surprise.
Anyways, if an aerobics routine is the kind of workout you are interested in, then so be it. The best aerobics routine is similar to the best weight lifting routine in that the best aerobics routine is the one you will actually do on a regular basis and do long enough to see results. Don't go out and by a pole dancing tape if you are disgusted by that kind of behavior and can't stand putting a pole in your living room. Same thing as buying one of those Zumba dance tapes if you hate dancing. There are literally thousands of different programs to choose from and buying an aerobics video is probably the best way to go. My best advice is to hop on over to GNC, Amazon and pick out something that appeals to you and has decent reviews just like this https://bestlegalsteroids.co/crazy-bulk-gnc/. I have done some preliminary research and recommend the following handful of videos that all have good reviews by lots of people. I have put the programs into an easy to use carousel of aerobic routines for you to flip through. Enjoy.
If you don't want to buy a program that someone has already built for you and prefer to build your own then that is an option. You are not really limited to anything but your imagination when building your own aerobics routine but here is the basic structure you should follow in order to have a well rounded program.
- Warm up for about 5 minutes
- Do some stretching for about 5 minutes
- Keep moving for 15-45 minutes by varying your exercises (lunge, mountain climbers, jumping jacks, squats, hoping, etc)
- Do a cool down where you move slower for about 5 minutes incorporated with some stretching
