Aerobic exercise is absolutely vital to our health and energy.  Diet alone can only get you so far!  While anaerobic exercise (weight training and high-intensity training) are also very beneficial to our long term health, during the ten day challenge it is important to focus upon aerobic exercise as a way to help cleanse and detoxify the body.

There are obviously many ways to exercise aerobically, however, the key principle is to have a solid understanding of what aerobic exercise actually is.

"Aerobic literally means 'with oxygen', and refers to the use of oxygen in the energy-generating process for muscles. Aerobic exercise describes any type of exercise, typically performed at moderate levels of intensity for extended periods of time that increases your heart rate. Oxygen, fats, and glucose are used to produce adenosine triphosphate, the basic fuel for all cells."
Source: Wikipedia

More practically, aerobic exercise means performing exercise at a heart rate that is no more than 180 minus your age.  Sustained exercise in this heart rate zone will burn fat as your primary source of fuel as opposed to sugar, meaning you can exercise for longer and get in great shape.

In this resource we focus upon two highly effective aerobic exercises: running/walking and rebounding.

As mentioned, the intensity level of exercise during a cleanse/detox should remain within the 'fat burning zone'. By this it is understood that your heart-rate should not exceed a certain level. This is particularly for those who chose running as their form of exercise as it is very easy to exceed your maximum heart rate.

The 'fat-burning zone' is different for everybody. To calculate this zone, we recommend the Stu Mittleman method. Stu is an ultramarathon champion and set the world record for running the 1,000 mile run (he completed it in 11 days) and also holds the US record for the Six Day Run: 578 miles (96 miles/3.7 marathons per day!). Stu also ran across America in 55 days, at a rate of 52 miles per day in 2000. We can consider him to be somewhat of an authority on aerobic training and running!

Calculating your Heart Rate Zones

The method for calculating your heart-rate zones according to Stu is to subtract your age from 180. This defines your uppermost limit before you start burning sugar instead of fat. Have you ever finished a run and felt dizzy and queasy? This is because you were burning sugar instead of fat! When exercising at this level, the exercise actually becomes anaerobic instead of aerobic and serves more to increase muscle strength/capacity. Indeed, while training above this zone has many benefits and uses as part of a wider training regime - it is far too intense while detoxing.

The fat burning zones are broken down into three stages, at the lowest level of intensity is the warm-up zone, followed by the mostly aerobic pace (MAP) and then the most efficient pace (MEP). MAP is the zone where the most fat burning takes place and it is within this zone that you should concentrate your efforts whilst detoxing in order to give yourself a work-out and to help flush your lymphatic system.

Using myself as an example:

180 - my age (25) = 155

MEP Upper Limit = 155 - 10 = 145
MEP Lower Limit = 145

MAP Upper Limit = 145 - 10 = 135
MAP Lower Limit = 135-10 = 125

Warm-up Zone = 125-135

Unless you run frequently, it will probably be fairly difficult to keep within the warm-up and MAP zones whilst running and therefore you may need to intersperse your running with walking, perhaps for 200 meters every kilometer in order to keep your heart-rate down.

Knowing your Heart Rate

Obviously, the best way to know your heart-rate is to wear a heart-rate monitor. However, if you do not own one of these, you can still roughly estimate which zone you are in using the following guidelines:

Signs of being in MAP or MEP:

- you can still talk normally without being short of breath
- your vision is clear and you have heightened senses of smell and sight
- you are in a steady, comfortable rhythm
- you would rate your level of intensity somewhere between 4 and 7 (at the very most)

Signs of being out of the fat-burning/aerobic zone:

- you are short of breath, especially when talking
- you may feel dizzy or nausea
- you do not feel comfortable
- you are looking forward to finishing!
- you would rate your level of intensity as above 7

Rebounding

Rebounding is literally the process of bouncing up and down on a mini trampoline (rebounder).  The benefits of exercising on a rebounder / mini trampoline are astonishing and have been promoted significantly within the last decade. It is a unique exercise in which a weightless state is achieved at the top of each jump and then land with twice the force of gravity on each bounce. This shift in gravity benefits every muscle and cell of the body and provides huge benefits to the lymph system.

Having conducted research into the best and most effective aerobic exercise to train their staff, NASA concluded that exercise on a rebounder is “the most efficient and effective exercise yet devised by man”.

It is an excellent, non-impact, aerobic exercise gained by bouncing on a mini-trampoline.

NASA's research found that a 150-pound individual spending one-hour on a rebounder will burn more calories than the same person jogging for an hour!  This is a great exercise as it is suitable for everyone and is extremely convenient.  If the thought of running is daunting to you, or if you are short of the time needed to go for a run, go to the gym etc, then rebounding could be perfect for you!

Rebounding is great for a the ten day challenge as it:

- strengthens the glandular system

- helps to increase circulation and oxygen flow.

- conditions and strengthens the heart which allows the resting heart to beat less often.

- It provides an extremely effective 'no impact' exercise

- it increases metabolism which assists the body in burning more calories.

- increases the performance of both the heart and the circulatory system

- stimulates the flow of lymph fluid through the lymphatic system

- enhances digestion, relaxation, sleep patterns, nerve impulses and muscle fiber

Energise for Life have a range of rebounder's and fitness equipment in stock - click here for more information.