Top 5 Anaerobic Exercises

It took nearly 10 years of lifting weights, research, and experimentation to learn not only are there exercises that are more important (and effective) than others but also performing anaerobic exercises are way more beneficial than aerobic ones.   To say top 5 is tough because these top 5 exercises will vary with respect to your experience - Olympic movements are the elite exercises but extremely difficult to master.  These are the Top 5 Anaerobic Exercises that you can do!

What is an Anaerobic Exercise?

To understand what an anaerobic exercise is we must first understand what it means to be anaerobic.  Let’s take apart the word Anaerobic, An – is a Greek prefix that means “without”, and Aerobic – comes from the Greek words aero “air” and bios “life” and means in the presence of oxygen.  So, we say anaerobic is to be without oxygen.  Ok, so now what separates an Aerobic exercise from an Anaerobic exercise?  Aerobic exercises tend to be what we would consider cardio exercises: jogging, walking, swimming, etc.  Generally it’s cases where the oxygen you use is less than or equal to the oxygen you intake.  Anaerobic exercises, however, would involve exercises where you are using more oxygen than you intake.  These exercises would be what we would consider more intense exercises.  Intense exercises would involve weight training, and any form of Tabata (High Intensity Interval Training) movements.       

So, here are the... 

Top 5 Anaerobic Exercises

(That A Beginner And Intermediate Can Pick Up - Plus A Bonus At The End):

1.        Weighted Dip:

Find either a set of parallel bars or dedicated dip bars.  Grip the bars as hard as you can, with your arms fully extended begin to lower yourself to the bar.  The bottom of the movement is when your chest is at the same level as the bars.  No worries if you can only do your bodyweight, as soon as you can do at least 8 reps get yourself a weight belt (a padded belt with a chain attachment allowing you to hang weights from your waist essentially making yourself weigh more). A great exercise for TOTAL upper body development.

2.       Weighted Pull-up/Chin-up:

Find a pull up bar, Monkey Bar, a Tree branch, or whatever; essentially you need something that you can grab with two hands and pull yourself up to. With a firm grip on the bar, start each rep from a dead hang (arms fully extended) and literally pull yourself up to the bar.   Once you can perform at least 8 clean reps, grab that same weight belt and perform this exercise with the best possible form (no cheating). Another great exercise for total upper body development.

3.        Squat:

You’ll need some real gym equipment for this one, and there are a few variations (High Bar Back Squat, Low Bar Back Squat, Front Squat, Regular Stance, Narrow Stance, Wide Stance).  The squat is a very difficult movement to set up properly, but the idea is to squat down as low as you can and then explosively lift to the starting position; no half reps will count here.  The barbell squat is the king of lower body development. Enough said!

4.       Deadlift: 

Grab a barbell and some weights, the instructions to this movement are in the name.  You are going to lift the barbell off the ground from a dead stop; proper form is key.  As essential as the squat, this exercise will emphasize back development as well as a great hamstring exercise!

5.        Standing Overhead Press:

From the same set up as the Squat (Barbell on a Squat Rack, set to chest level), grab the bar with a firm grip lift the bar off of the rack and let it sit on the front portion of your shoulders; this is the starting position.  Press the weight straight up until your arms are locked, bring your head forward through your fully extended arms, and then reverse; that’s one rep.  One of the toughest movements a beginner to intermediate can perform. However, when done correctly you’ll be working nearly every muscle in your body: Shoulders, Chest, Core, and Legs!

BONUS – Sprinting:

Take a look at Olympic sprinters and distance runners.  Do you notice any differences?  Sprinters tend to be much more muscular.  Thanks to anaerobic exercises. 

The take away here is: Regardless of the exercise – sprinting, weight training, Tabata, etc. – as long as you’re keeping it intense and challenging you will have a great workout, with great results!

If you’d like, check out the workout generator on our homepage for free access to over 150 trillion workouts!

As long as you’re keeping it intense and challenging you will have a great workout, with great results!