When we talk about exercise there are two different types; aerobic and anaerobic. Anaerobic exercise uses short bursts of energy like lifting weights and is useful to raise your metabolic rate (how efficiently your body uses energy) and therefore increase long-term calorie expenditure.
Aerobic exercise, meaning ‘oxygen’, is the best type of activity to instantly burn calories and involves increasing your heart rate over a longer period of time.

Anaerobic exercise tones your muscles and aerobic exercise reduces the amount of fat on your body, thereby revealing your toned muscles underneath, so you can see both are important.

Knowing where to start with a new exercise program can be difficult, the most important thing is that you do actually start. Choosing the best aerobic exercise for you will depend on what you enjoy doing, your lifestyle, how much time you have, your current level of fitness and to a degree, your budget.

It’s essential that you choose an exercise you enjoy. While rock climbing can be highly beneficial in many ways, don’t take it up if you’re scared of heights. Think about what you did at school. If you enjoyed cross country running, then maybe you still will.

To reap the full rewards of aerobic exercise you must be constant and consistent, so don’t choose something that you don’t like because you will not be able to apply yourself for the required amount of time it takes to see and feel the benefits.

If you haven’t exercised for 150 years, then start with some exercise that you can do at your own pace like walking. If your fitness level is average you could consider aerobic classes, skipping rope or swimming, in fact, any exercise that requires the use of multiple limbs is good.

Different aerobic activities will burn different amounts of calories. This will also depend on how intensely you workout and for how long, your body weight and your metabolic rate. Generally, to lose 450g (just under ½ kilo), you have to burn 3,500 calories. It sounds like a lot, but that means to lose nearly half a kilo a week, you need to burn an extra 500 calories a day. If you’re just starting out on an exercise regime, this could be worked off with 250 calories of exercise and cutting back what you eat by 250 calories.

To give you an idea of what you’re likely to burn, a 60kg woman would burn about 500 calories an hour doing the following activities:

Bear in mind, the more you weigh the more calories you will burn as it involves more energy to move a larger mass.

If you think you will get bored doing the one exercise, mix it up. Either try different exercises on different days, or on the same day – go for a half hour walk then jump in the pool and swim some laps for half an hour.

That might sound a bit overwhelming for someone who can’t remember the last time they exercised. If that’s you, start slowly so you don’t injure yourself and you don’t become disheartened by the sudden change in your routine. Start by doing something, anything, walk around the block and then go from there until you are doing some regular, intensive, fat burning exercise.

Another thing to remember when choosing your exercise is to get the right equipment. If you have decided on some regular walking, get yourself some good shoes which have been properly fitted at a sports store, a hat and a water bottle. Having the right equipment will minimize your chance of injury, plus motivate you to try out your new toys.

An MP3 player or portable radio may also prove surprisingly helpful too if you’re walking, running or working out at the gym. Playing your favourite music can inspire you, motivate you, and generally make the time pass more pleasantly.

We have picked out some of the most popular, easy and effective aerobic exercises below, to make choosing your exercise/s easier. Remember, the most important thing to remember is that you actually get started. The best intentions in the world are useless when it comes to burning that fat off your backside, if you don’t actually get into action.

Walking Walking, as opposed to strolling, is excellent exercise, burning about 180 calories in 30 minutes. When you become fitter you can add hills, sprints and a few bursts of jogging to increase the number of calories burned. Remember to walk briskly, like you’re trying to catch a bus, keep your head up, back straight and move your Walking can be done almost anywhere, it’s free, and you can do it alone or with a friend. Only the most basic equipment is required: good shoes, hat, and water bottle.   Running Once you’ve built up your fitness level through walking, running can really turbo-charge your fat burning. A 65kg person will burn 300 calories in 30 minutes by running, more if steep inclines and sprints are added. Running can also be done almost anywhere any time and it’s free apart from purchasing a good pair of shoes. Remember, if you’ve got notoriously bad knees and ankles, give running a miss as you may injure yourself.   Cycling If you’ve got a bike, get on it and you can burn lots of calories, 250-500 calories in 30 minutes depending on how fast you go and how much resistance there is. Cycling is also a great activity to do with a friend. Cycling may be ideal for individuals who, due to arthritic or other orthopedic problems, are unable to walk for an extended period of time without pain or difficulty. A program that combines walking and cycling may provide cardiovascular benefits without inducing the limiting pain as quickly. Cycling is also a good choice for people who are greater than 20 kilos overweight. It helps the heart without the mechanical stress on the back, hips, knees and ankles that walking can cause.   Swimming Swimming is a very low cost exercise and will give you a full body workout, meaning you will burn more calories. Thirty minutes of breaststroke will burn a massive 400 calories. Because your joints are fully supported in the water, injuries are unlikely. Because the focus of swimming is on the smaller upper body musculature and swimming is a less efficient activity than cycling or walking, one can easily exceed their target heart rate range with swimming. Therefore, those with heart conditions should address a swimming program with their physician before starting. Water aerobics and water walking are good alternatives for those with joint pain. The buoyancy provided by the water eases stress on the joints. Don’t be embarrassed if people see you in your swimmers, use this as motivation instead. While you’re swimming those laps fantasize about how great you will look when your perseverance pays off.   Step Aerobics For those who believe themselves to be allergic to gyms, the idea of a step aerobics class maybe absolutely repulsive, however, those who have ever actually taken a class are quite often instant fans. Get down to your local gym and find out what the attraction is. You could burn almost 400 calories in 30 minutes and be toning your legs, bottom and hips at the same time. It might look complicated, but step is easy to learn. You could practice in your own home first with the help of a DVD. You’ll never know until you try it, so don’t short change yourself by making assumptions about what you will and won’t like.   Rowing Rowing on the river can be great exercise, but it can require quite a bit of money and organization. An easier alternative is to use the rowing machine at your local gym. Putting some effort into it will burn about 300 calories in half an hour. Pop on your headphones and 30 minutes will be up before you know it. Using gym equipment will generally involve you having to hire or buy it, or pay for a gym membership. Again, you can use this expense as added motivation – no one likes to waste money.   Elliptical Trainer If you’re looking for the one piece of fitness equipment that gives you the best cardio workout, then this is it. It combines weight bearing exercise that limits the impact on the body while optimizing the aerobic benefits creating a total body workout. Once again the elliptical trainer will require you to buy, hire or join a gym, but it is a great way to build endurance while protecting your joints from high impact activities. The elliptical trainer is a good choice for runners looking for a break from pounding the footpath. It will burn about 300 calories in half an hour. Once you have your cardio organised try the following exercises to target the butt, thighs and hip area.   Squats Gwen Stefani gives credit to squats as one of the best exercises you can do for your hips, butt and thighs. Stand with feet hip-width apart and squat, keeping back straight, pull your abs in.  Keep your knees behind your toes. Squeeze your butt as you stand, using your leg and butt muscles, not your back.  Repeat 8-12 reps two to three times and add weights for a more intense workout.   Lunges Lunges work many muscles at the same time.  You'll work the glutes and hamstrings on the back, as well as quads and calves.   You can vary your lunges from side to side, front and back lunges and walking lunges.   Step Ups For step ups, you simply place one foot on a step or platform, making sure your knee is bent at no more than a 90 degree angle.  Concentrate all of your weight onto the leg that is stepping then push from the step using your heel. This is an excellent exercise for the glutes.  Take it slowly. Lean, toned, healthy physiques are not just for Hollywood types like Madonna. Before you know it, you will be seeing yourself transform in a way you never thought possible, and it’s so easy, all you need to do is to get started and stay focused, everything else will fall into place.

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