I gotta confess I thought aerobic and anaerobic were about soil health. Oh, sure, I know about aerobics, which are vigorous exercises. C’mon, it makes sense that I wouldn’t associate aerobic and anaerobic with exercise…I hate exercise.
Nor was that the only surprise…turns out cardio is another way to say aerobic exercise.
Aerobic is all about needing oxygen. Aerobic exercise — swimming laps, running, cycling, jogging, etc. — that lasts longer than two minutes and increases breathing and heart rates over a sustained period of time.
Anaerobic is the lack of oxygen . . . in fact the presence of oxygen could kill. Hmmm, not for me then . . . I know…any excuse… Anaerobic exercise includes weightlifting, throwing, sprinting, jumping — any exercise that requires short, intense bursts of physical exertion.
Cardio is all about the heart, so everything that has to do with the heart is cardio including aerobic exercise which gets your heart rate up into your target heart rate — the zone where you burn the most fat and calories. Woohoo! Annnd, vacuuming and mopping, shoveling snow, raking leaves, etc., are all aerobic exercises! I love it when you can accomplish more than one thing at a time!
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Aerobic | Anaerobic | Cardio |
|---|---|---|
Aerobic Exercise – Public Demonstration, is ShinyFan‘s own work under the CC BY-SA 2.5 license, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Amanda Françozo at the Runner Sports by Sergio Savarese is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Weightlifting is a great anaerobic exercise. |
Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation CPR Training by Martin Brown is in the public domain, via the US National Archives. |
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Adjective | Adjective | Adjective; Combining form; Noun Plural for the noun: cardio |
[Biology] Relating to, involving, or requiring free oxygen
Of or utilizing the principles of various sustained exercises, as jogging, rowing, swimming, or cycling, that stimulate and strengthen the heart and lungs, thereby improving the body’s utilization of oxygen |
[Biology] Relating to, involving, or requiring an absence of free oxygen
Relating to or denoting exercise that does not improve the efficiency of the body’s cardiovascular system in absorbing and transporting oxygen Pertaining to or caused by the absence of oxygen |
Adjective: [Informal] Of or relating to aerobic exercise Of or relating to the heart
Combining form: Noun: |
| Examples: | ||
| Obligate aerobes require oxygen for aerobic respiration.
Running is an aerobic activity while weightlifting is not. My PT insists on a series of aerobic exercises. There are aerobic dances — ballet, jazz, Zumba, belly dancing, etc. — that are low impact workouts because they are slow paced compared to other aerobic workouts. |
Anaerobic bacteria can die if oxygen is present.
Anaerobic exercises are those that involve short, intense bursts of physical activity. An anaerobic digester is on site to consume some of the waste. |
Adjective: The class begins with a slow and steady warmup, and then it switches to a cardio workout. He’s a hugely successful cardio surgeon. The first Bowflex product was introduced in 1986, and has since expanded to produce cardio machines as well. Combining form: The Cardiograph Heart Rate Monitor is an app that measures the pulse of your heart any time you need to know it. Cardiopulmonary disease affects both the heart and the lungs. Noun: Two weeks after surgery, Flo started to do some light cardio. Cardio plays a critical role in keeping you strong and healthy. |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Adjective: nonaerobic Adverb: aerobically Noun: aerobicist, aerobics |
Adverb: anaerobically | Adjective: cardiodynia, cardiogenic, cardioplegic, cardioprotective, cardiopulmonary, cardiorespiratory, cardiovascular Noun: cardiogenic, cardiogram, cardiograph, cardiographer, cardiography, cardiological, cardiologist, cardiology, cardiomegaly, cardiomyopathy, cardiopathy, cardioplegia, cardioprotection |
| History of the Word: | ||
| Late 19th century, from aero- + the Greek bios (life) + -ic. | It was first recorded in 1880–85, anaerobe + -ic. | It was first recorded in 1960–65, from the Greek kardia meaning heart. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Aerobic vs Anaerobic vs Cardio
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: aerobics, cardio
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Jumping Rope by LongitudeLatitude is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr.
Revised as of 18 Oct 2022
By: Kathy Davie